I’ve found that preparing for a performance requires a different skill set than regular music practice. Practicing usually requires lots of stopping and starting over to analyze rough spots and solve problems. Unfortunately, that stop-start habit and analytical brain are precisely the opposite things you need for a performance. When performing, you need to (1) NOT think and (2) play all the way through without stopping (duh). I have a hard time playing through a piece, even at lessons. The temptation to stop and start over when I make a mistake is overwhelming.
While preparing for yesterday’s recital, two other students and I decided to play for each other earlier in the week via Google Meet as a practice run and yes, the stop-start over habit got its hooks in me again. One student suggested doing cold runs to simulate a performance situation: just sit, tune the guitar, and play through without stopping, no matter how bad things go.
I took her advice one step further and scheduled cold runs throughout the day, including first thing in the morning when I woke up as well as times when I knew I’d be tired or fog-brained or hungry. Although there’s advice out there saying to practice under optimal conditions when possible, I think that advice applies only to skill-building practice, not performance practice. After all, performance conditions are never going to be optimal, so why not prepare for that reality?
Good thing I did, because the morning of the recital, the elevator in my building was broken and I walked six flights of stairs to get to my car. Then a road on my way to my teacher’s studio was closed and required an unexpected detour. At my recital, I still made a few mistakes and didn’t play as well as I wanted to (let’s face it, I never do), but I noticed I wasn’t as rattled as I normally am when performing. The other students who were in the Google Meet also mentioned how much I improved from just a few days earlier, which confirmed the success of my little experiment.
This performance practice tip isn’t new, but I’m glad I let go of my control-freak nature enough to actually try it. It’s a powerful tool in my practice toolbox that I’ll use for lesson prep as well as performances.
Grace Wen 