Archive for recital preparation

recital preparation worksheet

{ May 27, 2008 @ 4:22 pm } · { practicing piano, recital preparation }
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Here is a copy of a worksheet I go through with each student in the weeks leading up to a recital, as an overview of performing. 

Recital Ready!

Ideas to help you prepare for our upcoming recitals: 

1.  Preparation.  The key to having a great performance is to be confident with your music.  You can accomplish this through the practicing you do at home.

● When you are practicing, start at the tricky sections–not always at the beginning.

● Play your pieces for your family to test your memorization.  Keep going no matter what.

● Play through your pieces while imagining yourself at the recital.  Make yourself feel nervous; it will be good practice for the actual performance.

● Even after you have memorized your pieces, practice with the music in front of you sometimes to reinforce your visual memory.  

2.  Before you play.  It’s completely normal to feel nervous when you are waiting your turn to perform.  Try these ideas to keep your nerves under control.

● Remember to breathe!  Breathe slowly and deeply while you are sitting in the audience.  Breathing quickly will increase your heart rate and stress your body.           

● Relax your muscles.  Pretend you are a floppy rag doll with no tension.           

● Imagine yourself playing wonderfully.  Do not imagine yourself playing poorly.  

3.  While you perform.  This is the point where you get to share all the hard work you’ve done with your friends and family.

● When you sit at the bench, wait a few moments until you begin.  Make sure you are at the proper distance away from the piano.  Also, wait a little between pieces so the audience knows you are playing a different piece.

● Before you begin, imagine the mood or emotion you want to create with your music.

● If you have a memory mistake, jump ahead to a later point in the piece rather than going back to the beginning.  Do not be discouraged if you make a mistake.  Even professional concert pianists hit wrong notes and have memory lapses sometimes.  

4.  After you perform.  Congratulations–it is quite an accomplishment to perform in front of others.  I am proud of you.           

● Enjoy yourself.  You did it!           

● If you are disappointed in your performance, that’s okay.  What would you do differently next time?                                                                                  

● Talk to some of the other performers.  Encourage them by telling them what you enjoyed about their pieces.           

● Take a break from practicing.  But not too long of a break…………

adjudicate your own playing

{ March 6, 2008 @ 2:09 am } · { piano lessons, practicing piano, recital preparation }
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judge yourself, lest you be judged!  as we approach the upcoming recital and festival dates, test and score yourself in the areas below to track your progress.  pianists are typically scored in these categories for competitions and festivals, so it looks very similar to an adjudicator’s sheet.  if you were the adjudicator, how would you rate yourself in each of these areas?  I have also included a few questions to get you thinking………..

Polishing your piece for performance–be your own judge 

● Memorization    

     Is your piece securely memorized?  Are you able to continue playing and finish your piece even if you have a memory slip?  Have you practiced “slipping” and continuing?  Have you tested your memory by performing for people multiple times? 

● Accuracy           

      Are you playing the correct notes and observing all the written details of the score? 

● Tempo, meter, and rhythm           

     Have you settled on an appropriate tempo?  Is your piece “felt” in the correct meter?  Is the rhythm precise? 

● Interpretation-  contrast, mood, phrasing, style, expression           

     Is your piece convincing in its mood, atmosphere, and contrasts?  Are you successfully expressing something, or are you rushing through to get finished? 

● Dynamics           

     Are you conveying the dynamics?  Do your softs sound different than your fortes? 

● Pedaling           

     Are you using the appropriate pedaling for your piece?  Is the pedaling clear and clean, or mushy? 

● Touch- legato, staccato, accents           

     Are you observing each of these details, and any others marked in the score? 

● Continuity, flow           

     Does the piece sound like a total work, or like a bunch of different pieces strung together?  Is the piece totally steady? 

● Tone-  beauty, control

      Is your tone wimpy or strong? 

 ● Other-  stage presence, appearance

     Have you practiced walking to the piano and taking a bow in front of a mirror?  Have you practiced your piece in the shoes you plan to wear for the performance?  These things may seem trivial, but at the performance you will need to be confident and solely focused on the music, rather than worrying about how dorky you feel when you bow or trying to remember how exactly to walk in heels.

Piano Recital Etiquette, or What to do when you attend a Classical Music Concert

{ September 16, 2007 @ 2:43 am } · { fairy tale recital, recital preparation }
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Before the recital begins you should:

  • go to the restroom if you need to
  • talk to your friends
  • turn off your cell phone (or ask your parents to turn theirs off!)
  • look at your program (a program is the sheet of paper you receive when you arrive, which lists the pieces about to be played)

Here’s how to enjoy the music once the recital starts:

  • some people like to watch the pianist play.  Notice how the pianist uses their fingers, hands, wrists, arms, legs, feet, and even their head and face!
  • other people like to close their eyes and just listen to the music.  Your imagination will make shapes, like bugbears and landscapes, when you do this.

Here are some important points to remember:

  • once the music starts, it is essential that you do not talk or make any noises with your voice or anything else.  Here are 3 reasons why:  1.  other people are trying to enjoy the music, and you don’t want to distract them.  2.  the pianist can hear you, and they are trying to concentrate on performing.  3.  it is rude, dude!
  • You should clap only after each piece is completely finished.  Sometimes this is confusing, because some pieces are divided into different movements with a pause in between them.  Do not clap until all of the movements are finished.  If you are not sure, look at the pianist.  The pianist will stand up and bow when the piece is finished.
  • if you absolutely must leave the auditorium during the concert for some reason, please exit quietly between pieces rather than in the middle of a piece.

After the recital, if you want to, you may congratulate or say hello to the performers.  You might tell them what your favorite piece was, or what you enjoyed most about the performance.