Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum So...my teacher thought it was smart to enroll me in a comp

That, my friend, is the right mindset. Alas, I am in the United States, but I do have many friends. A couple are on a work exchange in Australia. Let me know where the competition is, and if you happen to see anything bright red flying through the air, do remember to duck.

Job to do, right mind set? I don't believe this.

A job sounds like 'lets play the notes and be done with it'. Hope I get this wrong?

IMHO the right mind set is that both you and the listeners are enjoying the music. Music is more than what the composer wrote down.

You need to use whatever mechanism and mindset will work for you. If what he does works for him, then it is not wrong.

Wouter,
Did you read the OP? Albynism is nerve wracked by the prospect of this "competition." That will make enjoying the playing rather difficult. Sometimes, one simply has to do unpleasant things in life, and on those occasions an "I have a job to do" mindset will help you get through them.

Albynism, In a perfect world Wouter is absolutely right, but you're not living in that world at the moment it would seem. So your suggestion seems like a reasonable approach to me. But if I may humbly make a suggestion, you might consider making that become part of your world a worthwhile goal. By all means, do what you need to be successful at this, and do it again and again until you build enough confidence to say, "yeah, playing in public makes me nervous, but I've got this." When you have confidence, enjoyment can come, and you'll be amazed at how much better and more expressively you can play when you're really enjoying it. It's a positive feedback loop. Success breeds more success.

So no matter what happens at the actual recital in terms of your playing, find the success. And I should point out that if you go through with it, you've already succeeded by facing your fear. That is worthwhile. If you think of it that way, you'll have a built in success to further build on no matter what happens when you sit down to play. There's actually no such thing as success or failure, there are only results. Success and failure are how we choose to interpret results, how we choose to give them meaning. You're playing for you, not for them. So you get to define success any way you want. Find what you did well, what you succeeded at, find ways you can improve, and never give up.

Someone on this forum has a quote in their sig that I adore (I apologize to that person, I can't remember who to attribute it to). The quote is something like,

"Amateurs practice until they can play a piece without making a mistake. Professionals practice until they can't make a mistake."

Much wisdom there IMO.

Warm Regards

Two things ...

First ... you can come up with any sort of mind games you wish to help you get through this. If it works, great.

But, be mindful of the fact that the biggest factor in all of this will be how well you have prepared yourself with practice, practice, practice ...

You should absolutely practice it to a point where you can almost carry on a conversation while you are playing it.

That way, you know you did your absolute best and will have no regrets. Also, if you do freeze up you will have a much better chance of recovering and continuing on.


And Second ... No one is going to LAUGH at you. Get that out of your mind. They are cheering for you. They want you to succeed. They admire your courage. They are happy for you when you finish successfully.

If you do this, try to enjoy it. Otherwise, what's the point.

P.S. WE are pulling for you too. Let us know how it went.

Many years ago, I took some tennis classes. We had occasional informal "tournaments" against other clubs. Participants were in different "skill groups".

My teacher said:

. . . Sometimes, you're going to face an opponent _whom you cannot beat_.
. . . When that happens, keep cool, play as well as you can, and
. . . learn from what he does.

That was a useful hint.

Against talented, well-trained kids, an adult beginner is severely handicapped. That's just "how the world is", and everyone understands it. So give up thoughts of "competition" -- you're not going to "win"!

For _you_, it's a chance to play for other people, and that's worth doing. Pick something that's _easier_ than your "hardest piece", and that you really enjoy playing, and do your best with it.

[This advice is worth what you paid for it . . . ]

. Charles

The idea came about when I was watching an interview with a concert pianist. This guy does about 80 concerts a year. He said something like when he plays for himself it is different from when he is performing for others. So I took it that when he is performing he switches to "work mode" and when he plays for himself he is much more relaxed. I don't think you can ever be truly relaxed when performing in front of large audience, so there has to be a trick/mind games/mindset you need to put on to overcome that.

Let's see, if you were to stand still in a crowded place with a pineapple on your head you would be embarrassed right? But if it was your job, you get paid to do it and people are expecting you with a pineapple on your head, it would be less embarrassing. Am I right?

Anyway that was the worst analogy I can think of.

Thanks everyone for your input, all read and appreciated.

And yes I entered this competition with no intention of "winning" just an opportunity to perform. I told my teacher and she just said "oh you never know, you might win something..."

Call it the Pineapple Competition.

I am very very competitive when it comes to pineapples.

First place goes to...
the Pineapple!

You might want to look at Kenny Werner's book Effortless Mastery. He has practices that can help you train yourself to shift the focus away from yourself and self-consciousness about performance, back to being in the music. I've gotten a lot of help from this with performance anxiety.

Will look that up! Thanks.

Hmm..let me think of a good comeback to that. In the meantime the pineapple can enjoy its moment of glory.

alby, you've gotten lots of advice but I'm going to stick my 2 cents in, anyway.

If your goal is to be able to play in public, this event is a step to that. However, if that is not a goal, I'd tell my teacher in no uncertain terms that I will not perform in any type of recital/competition/public display of humiliation, ever. But, that's just me. You're the boss and IMO, recitals are more for the teachers than the students as a method of free advertising. Some instructors may disagree with me, and that's okay. These are just my opinions.

If you really want to learn to play in front of people without getting the heeby jeebies, try starting out with something much less threatening than a recital, like visiting a nearby senior living center and practice on their piano. Make it fun for yourself. I'll bet the residence will love it and they won't care a hoot about bloopers.

Sounds like your teacher thinks you got something? Also thinks maybe you learned from your last experience?

I don't mean to argue with the concert pianist mentioned. Remember that book I suggested? That woman has been a concert pianist. Also teacher. Mostly she works with accomplished performers who have injuries. Accomplished people having other problems also. She gives examples of great performers and what they do to be relaxed and at home, so to speak, in the environment of performing. I think you will find it extremely interesting. If you read the book.

I'll also give you an example of mine. I have written this here before. When I was a kid I played two instruments in band at school. Didn't play piano then. My band director asked me to do a solo at contest. I accepted. We were there. All the kids were coming out of their solo's saying: "Oh she's tough! I crashed!" By the time my chance came, I was all nervous. I went in there trying to play all perfect and nervous. Even though the judge acted very relaxed and personable. Somehow, something seemed to sweep through there and just knocked me out, four bars into the solo. I stopped. Then knowing I had blown it. I started again, and played like I played at home. Had nothing to lose. Even at the end. I threw in a litte toot toot te toot. What the heck. I had nothing to lose. Right?
Well... I left the room and went out and sat under a tree. Waited to go home. After a while. My band director came up to me and said: "You won! You got a first rating!" I looked at him rather strange. He said: "Go on up to the judging table and get your medal!" So I got up and went to the table. A lady handed me a medal and my judging paper. I ignored the medal and opened the judging sheet. Scrawled all across the paper in big big letters was: "I ENJOYED IT" Now I was really bewildered. I had to think about this. I stopped four bars into this. And I got a first rating. I checked around. Wasn't able to find any other kids from any of the other schools who got a first rating on a solo. No others from mine did. There were quartets and such who got some first ratings. But no solo! Just me??? Why??? I thought about how my band director loved music. He was a very straight person. But when the music started, it was like he turned on. Loved music. I thought about the judge herself. I thought about some of the other kids I knew. One in particular was great at playing the notes perfect, but often times it wasn't music. What I learned that day was that the judge wanted music. She didn't give a diddily about a mistake. She wanted music!
Now people really don't care a diddily about mistakes. They want music. They don't want to endure a perfect performance that isn't music. They want music! You ain't gonna do this if you're nervous. Worrying about mistakes.
If you go out there and give them music. You will knock their socks off! They won't care if you make a mistake or two. You give them music and you've won!
I might add... People who are all worried about mistakes and perfect copy. Music hasn't started to occur to them.

Lovely story, Rmaple. A great read!

Thank you landorrano...

I'd like to share another example on the biggest scale.

Many people don't care for classical. I'm not that crazy about much classical in general. However, there is one conductor who changed me entirely. Do an experiment for yourself....

Go get a copy of a Symphony doing Beethoven's 9th Symphony. Just the last/4th part. It's popularly called: Ode to Joy.

Now listen to that. I guarantee. Any symphony besides one. I personally will think not much of it. Anybody asks and I would say it's good. I will patronize their efforts.

Then...go get yourself a copy of Seiji Ozawa doing Beethoven's 9th. Just listen to: Ode to Joy. It will knock your socks off. It is a fantastic piece of music. Seiji gets it!

There is a world of difference between Seiji and everyone else. Why? I'm afraid the classical world is filled with people trying too hard to do perfect copy. They fail to make it music. They fail to recognize the intent, the heart of the music.

Thanks got sharing Ron, very inspiring read.

This story is as banal as the other was nice. You should have quit while you were ahead!