“Oh god, I’m performing next,” as musician is nervous – Nicole

Concert Class – the most intimidating experience you will ever experienced in your performance life so far. You go out on stage, and BOOM, all these people staring at your every move, every step, every action you make. It’s scary! But it’s okay! Nicole will rescue your worries!

Here’s some tips before and after you perform in Concert Class!

NIGHT BEFORE CONCERT CLASS

GET A GOOD NIGHT SLEEP (at least 8 hours of sleep)
I sleep in usually whenever I have a Concert Class performance, as I wake up at 6AM to practise at the basement (the con) at 8AM every weekdays. So therefore, I wake up at 7AM, which is 8 to 9 hours of sleep.

PACK WHAT YOU NEED FOR THE NEXT DAY
That means your ML/WAM assignment in your bag, and other necessary things.

DAY OF CONCERT CLASS PERFORMANCE

PRACTISE/WARM UP BEFORE HAND
This is so crucial and important for any other performances in general. I usually practise from 9AM to 10:30AM, because you wouldn’t want to tire yourself out. In that one and a half hour of practising, I do my normal routine of practising (warm up [scales, arpeggios, contrary motion, hanon, double octaves], and my technical exam pieces).

Here’s my usual rehearsal (in my perspective, as a pianist) before my Concert Class performance:

9AM – 9:15AM
Warming Up
Scales (major, minor, harmonic, melodic), contrary motion and Hanon

9:15AM – 9:45AM
Working one of my technical pieces
*NOT on the piece that I’m going to perform today*
For example, I’m going to perform my Étude by Chopin today, therefore, I shall work on it last in my session.

5 minute break

9:50 – 10AM
More warming up
Arpeggios (major and minor with inversions, dominant sevenths and diminished sevenths) and more Hanon exercises

10AM – 10:30AM
Preparing for my performance up hand (Trios Nouvelle Étude by Chopin)
So firstly, I start with going through my piece by myself, following by, fixing some phrases, pedalling, and what so that I need to do. THEN, you do your one last performance practise in front of an audience. Luckily, I know a whole lot of people at the con, ranging from first year to even master degree students. So, it wasn’t hard finding someone who was practising at the basement. Haha.

From 10:30AM
The waiting game
This is the most daunting part. I mostly relax, trying to calm the heck out of myself. I remember my first solo performance, which was last week, and I was trying not to freak out in general backstage. HAHAHA.

This week was the worst round of waiting; I was three-quarters into the set list. It wasn’t that bad in general, as I’m usually last in past performances. During my time waiting, I finished my Music Language assignment, had a nice snack, and chatted with this week’s Concert Class performers. It was nice, but I felt so sleepy before my performance. It wasn’t a good feeling in general. During when I played, ‘the waiting game’, I assumed that my adrenaline would wake me up. It didn’t really. Oops. I think that’s probably why I couldn’t concentrate during my performance. 😐

DURING YOUR PERFORMANCE…

Remember to…

Keep yourself collected and calm
Don’t worry about anything in general (memory lapses, mistakes, audience, etc.)
Take deep breaths
Imagine yourself somewhere in an auditorium where you feel so comfortable.
“For instance, your high school’s auditorium, a stage you frequently performed at. It calms your nerves down by heaps. You tend to feel more comfortable performing in a new environment!”
Take your time to collect yourself before playing!
“It’s okay to sit there for a few seconds, but not really forever. HAHAHA.”
Remind yourself of what you’re going to play
Go with the flow
Believe in yourself that YOU CAN DO IT!
annddd most importantly, HAVE FUN!

AFTER YOUR PERFORMANCE?

CELEBRATE

What is done is done, there’s nothing you can change about it. You did your very best, and it’s okay if you made mistakes. Not one performance can be perfect. Go have that hot chocolate. Go party with your muso friends. Just make sure you’re not partying TOO hard before your classes though. HAHAHA.

Here were my thoughts before, during and after my Concert Class performance this week, just to make your day/week?

NIGHT BEFORE MY CONCERT CLASS PERFORMANCE
“GO TO SLEEP NICOLE! MY GOD! DO YOU KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS?!?!?!”
*Spider Pig Theme Song tune* “Pack your bag, pack your stuff, everything goes in me bag”
“Got my ML, WAM assignment, anddddd BAAMMMM in you go, bag.”

DAY OF MY CONCERT CLASS PERFORMANCE

BEFORE
“I need to practise, I need to do my ML assignment, so many things. Help.”
“ML , DONE. WAM, DONE. In yah go” *Slots my assignments in one of the boxes*
“Can somebody please be my audience in my last performance practise? Plz?”
“THAT PHRASE. MY GOD. I better get that right in my performance.”
“Shoot, was that a memory lapse. Oops. Better fix that bar.”
“Oohhh. I’m going to perform soon.”
“Just shake it off. Shake it off.”
“BRRRR. It’s cold in here! There must be something in the atmosphere.”
“I’m getting sleepy.”
“I’m getting hungry.”
*Eats fruits and muesli bar* “FOODD GLORIOUS FOOODDDDD.”
“How long is this performer?”
“What time is my performance?”
“Where’s everybody?”
“Hmm… I should’ve came later.”
*sings tune of my Étude continuously*
*reads my score continuously*

DURING

“Remember, you’re playing your Étude.”
“Ohhhh… which inversion is the first bar. Oh crap.”
“WOAAAAHHH! I’m on the second page now? That was fast. HAHAHA.”
“I’m not sure whether I’m going too fast, or too slow.”
“Hit that note. Why am I not playing that bass note? :(”
“Oh my god. I had a memory lapse… QUICKK play the next bar so no one notices!!!”
“Don’t let them in, don’t let them see. Be that good pianist, you always need to be. Conceal don’t show, don’t let them know. Well, now they know! LETTT IT GOOOO!”
“Rubato. Rubato. Do your rubato.”
“I slowed down a tad too much. HAHAHA”
“I’m not sure whether my pedalling is good enough, but it sounds good?”
“I’m ready to get off stage now. Hahahaha”

AFTER

“That was a horrible performance I did.”
“I think I’m done with performing for now.”
“I’M HUNGRY!”
“That was probably one of the crappiest performance I’ve ever had.”
“Hey, it wasn’t so bad. Don’t be that hard on yourself.”
“I’M NOT LETTING THIS PIECE GET AWAY! I need to perform this piece again soon. I want to walk out of stage like I owned that piece.”
“Better luck next time.”
“Steinways – your enemy when playing a piece from the Romantic period? No, just any piece that involves heavily on the pedal. AHAHAA. Ha…”
“Whatever, today is Thursday. I SHALL MAKE IT A GOOD DAY!”

Yeap.

Music suggestion for this post? I feel guilty for this, but I’m going to suggest ‘Shake It Off’ by TSwift, because why not?

I’m joking. This week’s music suggestion is ‘Nothing’s As It Seems’ by Gordi. It’s a good artist to listen to.
ENJOY YOUR WEEKEND!

-Nic