I participated in my first recital today, playing a short piece (Dvorak's Humoresque), one of 5 of my teachers students to play.
The world didn't end. I didn't lose my job. And I didn't vomit in front of everyone (or at all, even).
Other than that... well, I'm really disappointed in how poorly I played. I've been playing it pretty well, but today, in front of people, I just didn't. At least I didn't completely fall apart when I made mistakes. I suppose there's that.
Everyone was nice, of course.
But I'm pretty disappointed. Gah.
I guess that's part of learning.
Performing in front of an audience on an instrument is very hard, especially the first few times. Good job sticking with it. I've seen people just get up and leave if they make a mistake! So keep your chin up and keep practicing. Maybe next time, gather a couple of people to do a practice performance. The teacher doesn't count because you play in front of her all the time. It might help to get out the performance jitters with a small group first, though!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Fie. I did about five prep performances for friends. And they were all better than the real thing. :/
ReplyDeleteThe mystery of performance! You can under-prepare, you can over-prepare (the results sound quite similar, actually...), the weather can be a factor, the audience and the performance space are part of the whole thing. You never know how it will go. But you did it--that's really the important thing.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Richard. Indeed, I did. And the more I talk to real musicians, the more I learn that they're rarely super happy with any performance because they know they made little mistakes here and there. We in the audience probably don't know. And mostly, the audience is looking for positives; they're not usually at a music performance (especially a student recital) to be super critical, but rather to with the best for the students.
DeleteTotally part of learning. Bummer. But I'm so impressed that you did it!
ReplyDeleteThanks, What Now? I did do it. And all in all, I'm very happy that I did.
Delete