AND I am on time to be there early this time, last 2 I was late and wasn't able to "play" before hand.. We also made a Piano Cake so we'll post up pictures later on
- SC

Break a leg! Let us know how it went!

Cathy

Good luck! And I'd love to hear all about the BANANA thing.
(That's what caught my eye and got me to this thread.)

I never heard of it till the documentary came out about the amateur Van Cliburn competition (it's called "They Came to Play"). They have a few people in there mentioning about the "banana" thing -- it's pretty funny the way they have it.

And even though I know all those people (and I'm in that flick a little) :-) I never heard of this banana thing before.

I was tempted to try it after I saw it, but was afraid to do something different from what I ever did.....

Break a leg and enjoy the banana but save room for the cake! (And room for that 3rd live piano recital medal thingy when you're done.)

That'll be 3 more than I have!

Cool -- TTigg has 2 medals?
Whatever the medals are for, it's also 2 more than I have.

Those little grand piano medals are to show the number of live recitals played. The other medals we use to indicate number of ABF online recitals.

All are completely optional, of course.

Good Luck!
I've never done a live recital; don't know if I even could lol.

Good luck TTigg! Knock 'em dead!

Is the banana to throw back when the audience starts throwing rotten tomatoes?

JF

Mark,

Bananas contain natural beta-blockers, which are supposed to help with anxiety.

Rich

Good luck! I curious to see the piano cake. What are the natural beta blockers in bananas? Anyone know the exact compound names?

Good luck

I think it's not anything related to beta blockers, but just the element POTASSIUM.

11-21-2009
Bethesda, M.D.

According to FDA warning letters, several companies in the US are selling an unauthorized product that contain a potent drug used to treat high level of anxiety.

FDA Warning: Bananas contain beta blockers. Beta Blockers are an active pharmaceutical ingredient present in several hypertension medications. Eating several thousand bananas per day can result in significant hypotension, erectile dysfunction, and death.

Due to the federal government being in the pocket of the pharmaceutical and insurance industry, the FDA recommends only becoming addicted to Xanax and Klonopin for your performance phobias and other mental health disorders.

FDA has a stringent set of rules and regulations to protect the public it serves. According to their regulations a product that contain a previously approved drug and that claims that has health benefits can not be marketed as dietary supplement.

(Well, some of this is actually part of an FDA warning about Red Yeast Rice, a dietary supplement used for over 1000 years in China, which the FDA effectively took the original form of off the market a few years ago because it competed with the pharmaceutical industry. Studies in Asia have actually shown benefit from the substance beyond the natural statins, from which Lovastatin was isolated and patented. I've witnessed the FDA doing stupid illogical things like this and would not be a bit surprised if they did it for bananas!)

So.....bananas DO contain beta blockers???
I'm a doctor and I didn't know that!!
Gotta go check.....

Edit: I just checked some online references, and from what I can gather .....despite that thing from the FDA, it looks like bananas indeed don't contain beta blockers.

Whoa "holy thread jack" batman

OK so the Banana "worked" ! Just have to remember to eat it a little later. I had mine at approx 12:45 but I wasn't actually on (since I'm last) till approx 1:30pm so next time I'll have it a little later (or have 2)

Managed to get through just over 1/2 my piece (A Good Question) before the nerves really god bad. Fluffed one note but other than that, success (my best live to date) wOoT!

The piano cake was a huge hit (badum chish) and we may end up making this for every recital from now on. Also want to have a SoCal "Piano Party" before New Year so maybe we'll make v2 then.. Lots of people took pictures and were asking how we made it and the smaller kids adored it - was very cool Hell it was so popular we didn't even get a slice!

(Facebook mobile uploads)


@ the Recital


So I've chalked up another medal (and is now added). Since it's our Birthdays next week (we're a day apart) it's off to a Birthday Benihana dinner.

Cheers and thanks for the good wishes, it certainly helped!
- SC

Congrats on the success -- now on to the important stuff: Are the black keys on the cake Kit Kats? Because now I want a Kit Kat cake.

Sorry re the thread jack. Awesome cake and I'm glad your performance went well!

Congrats. We knew you could do it

Now I'm hungry for cake, too

Cathy

I've certainly never heard of bananas containing beta blockers in my pharmacology courses either. I did a quick search of Pubmed and Google scholar, and no references about bananas and beta blockers turned up. I can't find any papers examining potassium for performance anxiety either. It might be just an old wive's tale that contributes to a placebo effect.

Hurray for the cake, and Hurray for getting halfway thru your piece b4 getting (really) nervous. ONly one fluff is brilliant going *thumbs up*. That cake looks sooo good that I had to go out and buy bikkies (gingernuts - like me).

I've only had one public performance and I was nervous before the first bar grrrr. If I do a performance sometime, can I ask for a medal too, or do you have to sign up to something?

The banana thing sucked me in as well. But to drift OT again, bananas are used by distance runners and cyclists to good effect so I think i'd be tempted to take bananas when i have my first big performance (on piano). And the packaging is very convenient.

Congrats -- and sorry!

I didn't think I was hijacking, actually I thought it would help your thread get more hits!
Really!

Yes -- and I suspect that the above "quote" from the FDA is totally fake. (If you google the first sentence, together with "FDA," the 1-and-only match is this thread.)

OK, back to our actual subject.

So what was the recital TTigg? Is it a teacher's recital, or a group who get together for the sake of performing and eating cake? I like to hear about the opportunities and experiences of adult players.

Congratulations! Awesome cake!

<hijack>Re bananas--I had one before a recent vocal audition and crashed and burned. Could be just that I stink at singing--perhaps not the banana's fault. </hijack>

Just put it in your profile signature. Here's the url:
http://www.pianoworld.com/ABF_Medals/medal_c_1.jpg

Just change the number each time you add a recital.

Congratulations!!! It's always nerve racking getting up in front of an audience to play, but it feels good when you're finished.


Lemme know if there is a SoCal piano party. I'd be happy to join the fun.

No worries
The whole thread jack is a popular term/phrase on the car forums I'm on, nothing really bad was meant for it..


Well actually I'm the only adult performer
My teacher mainly teaches children but since taking on me as her first adult pupil she's now teaching more of us. There was one guy who was supposed to be performing this time around but he decided he wasn't "ready". I'm hoping he'll join me for the next one. However I guess being last is a feather in the cap and some of the kids & parents remembered me from the last 2 and were happy I didn't disappoint with my performance..


For sure, I'm actually going to pop up a thread (date ideas) on the event forum. I want to get 2 gether with like-minded SoCal peeps so "stay tuned" (another great pun)

OH and as for the cake, yes the black keys are Kit-Kats. Next time we'll use dark ones but they are (were) harder to find in the time frame we had..
- SC

A car forum was my first one.

P.S. Don't mean to hijack this again, just saying.

thanks rustyfingers (-my first monor piano performance was way b4 my PW days so I think i'll wait for the next b4 taking an award).

thanks ttigg. Nice to think of you being the only adult and showing all the parents what they are missing out on
I hope that my (occasional) teacher will let me perform with all her young students sometime. I would feel so proud of myself. Actually I would probably melt in a puddle on the floor. I don't know if I even dare to ask her...

Mmmmm Kitkats... mmm chocolate...

Congratulations, TTigg. It is great to see you enjoying the fruits of labor on different levels and venues. Keep it up