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I'm in for it now I have a 40 minute piano performance jury this Friday in front of the piano faculty where they will decide whether I should be advanced to Junior status or not. I will play my pieces and I have to be prepared to play scales and arpeggios in any key major or minor (harmonic minor or melodic minor for the scales). The arpeggios must be played in root position and first and second inversions.

My pieces are Bach's Italian Concerto, Beethoven's Op. 53 Sonata "Waldstein", Chopin's Op. 10 No. 8 Etude in F, and Rachmaninoff's Op. 23 No. 10 Prelude in Gb. The last one was self-prepared, so I'm more nervous about it than the others. I also have to accompany the last movement of Tchaikovky's Violin Concerto.

It's a lot of music, but for the most part I am satisfied with my preparation. Actually, the amount of music doesn't have me nearly as concerned as does my frame of mind - I'm hoping I can relax and enjoy presenting my music rather than freaking out and entering a state of panic, which is something I've been known to do!

I'll let everyone know how it goes. Well, if I don't you can probably assume the worst!

Ryan

Ryan, I read on this thread recently that the performance adrenalin rush lasts only about one minute. I think that knowing that as a piano student would have helped me a lot. When I played juries or auditions and the adrenalin hit, which it inevitably did, immediately, that horrid feeling seemed interminable - but it wasn't/isn't. I had a similar experience giving birth - the worst pain was during the pushing and after it was done, I mentioned to my husband - GAWD, I must have been pushing for over an hour!" He smiled, pointed to his watch and said, "Five minutes." Maybe this won't help for you at all, but for me, keeping in mind this little fact - that that awful, probably inevitable moment of adrenalin over-production will be very, very short, would help immensely.

You're very prepared, so once you're past the rush, you'll sail! Good luck!

Hi Kathy,

Thanks for the advice, I will keep that in mind! That is good to know, and I hope it's true

My panic is not so much based on adrenaline as it is insecurity about my technique. I have made some concious changes to my technique in the past two semesters (even in the past 4 weeks), which have helped me out a ton. But it has also lead to overthinking my mechanics at times, especially when I feel insecure such as when I am under scrutiny. And if something has gone haywire in my mechanics and I haven't had time to figure out what it is and fix it, then panic sets in. So what I think I need to do is to push aside all thoughts about mechanics (it will be too late anyway!) and instead just focus on making music.

Ryan

Yep. Good luck!

Hi, Ryan:

I hope that you make beautiful music on Friday. Will think good thoughts for you.

. . . Linda

Hi Ryan,

We'll all be pulling for you.

The suggestion in the book I read (re adrenalin rush) was to use the large muscles of the upper arm much more, in the first few minutes, as the fight-or-flight mechanism redirects more blood to the larger muscles in preparation to flee ... or fight!

After things calm down a bit, blood distribution will normalize and the smaller muscles of the fingers should work better. [That's what the author said, anyway.]

Hi Ryan.
I have my performance Jury on Friday too! I play in front my prof and two other faculty (piano is not their main instrument, but they do play). This jury will decide if I get a Junior recital next semester.
I'm really excited because I've worked really hard this semester but nervous because I don't want to mess it up. I think it's best to just try to enjoy the whole situation... as hard as that may be.
Have fun and Play well!

My jury is tommorow (Tuesday!). I was ready for it last week...and then..(cue Beethoven's 5th)
I got the flu! Aghh! It hurts just to get out of bed..and even worse, I haven't touched the piano in days! My jury is about 15 minutes long...there is NO way I am going to survive. I can barely even open the cap on a soda bottle, nevertheless play Rachmaninoff!
We'll see how it goes...sigh...

^^^

Good luck.

Not impressed.



Seriously though, good luck. I know how difficult that Tchaikovsky is.

Sorry about the slight off-topic comment(but what else can I do, start another topic about complimenting signatures?), but Pianomuse, I love your quote from Rachmaninoff.

Good wishes to Okat47 and PianoMuse, as well. Hoping for a miracle cure for PianoMuse!

Hehe! Would you be more impressed if I said I was going to balance a stack of plates and sing Row Row your Boat during the whole thing?

Thanks for the good wishes! Situations at work and home have made this a very tough semester to try to get any real practice time. I will sure has heck be happy to have it behind me.

Ryan