How to Recover from a Bad Performance

“Good recovery,” someone said to me after the recital was over.

I already knew I hadn’t played my best. The mistakes piled on, and each one made me play worse, like a domino effect. To have someone else acknowledge it as well didn’t help. Others gave me the generic “good job”, but that also deepened the negative experience. I decided then that I’d never do a performance again.

Of course, I did. I didn’t want that to be my last experience, and here’s what I learned by not giving up.

1. Don’t despair

Everyone makes mistakes, even professionals. Each mistake is a learning opportunity and a way to improve yourself in the long run. Also, chances are that not many people will remember the details of the performance as well as you. Ben Zander has a good approach to mistakes: say “how fascinating!”

2. Assess what happened

Did you miss too many notes? Did you freeze up? Did nerves get the better of you? These are the most common reasons for things to go south during a performance.

3. Realize why it happened

Was the weather or your physical condition impacting how you played that day? Could and should you have practiced more? Whether or not it was something you could control, be honest about why it happened.

4. Acknowledge the good parts

When you can communicate the music over the notes, that is what people will remember the most about your performance. The good parts are crucial to recognize because they can literally save you from giving into the bad. In my teaching, I always strive to acknowledge the positives before constructive criticism. There are always good parts.

5. Fix it

Get a new performance on the books asap to replace the bad experience. You’ll be proud of yourself for overcoming this challenge. I know I was, and I push my students to do the same.

 

There is no such thing as a perfect performance or audition. Even professionals make mistakes. Consider it one little blip in the whole musical composition of your life. You have so many notes left to play.

Perhaps one day, you can look back on it and laugh.

Or at least laugh at things like this: The most intensely funny fails in classical music 

For tips on how to avoid a bad performance, these tactics I outline in How to Audition come in handy.

The Case for Music Lessons in Adulthood

“It’s too late for me.”

“I’m no virtuoso and never will be.”

“I’m afraid of performing.”

“I’m slow to learn new things.”

Those are common statements I hear from adults who are trying to convince themselves they should not take music lessons. They are usually faced with one of two things: learning music for the first time in their lives or picking up something they quit during childhood.

Music is often primarily studied during formative years. In adulthood, when synapses are closing and motor skills are slowing, starting anew can feel like volunteering for a needless root canal.

Don’t worry, my friends. I am here to show you why each of the above statements is not true.

Debunking the myths

  1. “It’s too late for me.”

    Is it too late for you to win the Tchaikovsky violin competition, the age limit cut off of which is 32? Perhaps.
    Is it too late to learn to play a piece on the violin? No.
    Is it too late to play in Carnegie Hall? Not necessarily.
    Is it too late to get immeasurable enjoyment and satisfaction from learning to play music? Absolutely not.

  2. “I’m no virtuoso and never will be.”

    Okay, I’ll give you that. This is likely true. However, here are two reasons why it doesn’t matter.

    1. I have two music performance degrees from some of the top schools in the country, have been playing for 24 years, and I have never been, nor will I ever be, a virtuoso.
    2. Musicality does not require being a virtuoso. The most meaningful performance I’ve ever witnessed was from an adult student who started learning the cello after being seriously injured in a car accident. She played so beautifully that her entire family was in tears at the end and she got a standing ovation. It was one of the most wonderful things I’ve ever seen. Think about the pride your family and friends can feel for you, and you can feel for yourself, without having to be a virtuoso.

  3. “I’m afraid of performing.”

    You don’t need to be a performer to be a musician. If you would rather learn music just for yourself, that’s 100% acceptable and encouraged. If you would like to perform but are afraid, find a teacher who can help you overcome this fear.

  4. “I’m slow to learn new things.”

    Who are you racing against? If it’s yourself, you should be putting in no unnecessary time limits. Learning is, truly, different for everyone. Speed is not the point.

Going for it

The most common reasons for studying music as an adult are the following:

  1. Live without regrets

    If you quit music as a kid, start up again now. You’ll be glad you lived it out.

  2. Be a “cool” older person

    This is a statement one of my adult students said was her reasoning for taking flute lessons. In your golden years, imagine how much richer your life will be with an instrument!

  3. Stay sharp

    Many studies show the positive effects of music on the aging brain. Things preventing loss of memory or improving cognitive skills and speech are just a few.

  4. Enjoy health benefits

    The therapeutic and health benefits of music lessons have a universe of information both studied and not yet studied. Playing a musical instrument as an adult will be good for your health in countless ways.

 

There are many other reasons why taking music lessons as an adult will pay off. Do you have more to add to this topic? Leave a comment here or write to me.

How to Audition

Auditions can be scary. They are packed full of nerves, which in turn makes you do the two exact things that are counterproductive to playing music: 1) losing your sense of time, and 2) not breathing. How do you combat that? Well, you might think “duh,” play slower and breathe more.

Yes, but there’s much more to it than that. The thing is, no matter how many rituals you do, the difference between winning and losing an audition is usually how well prepared you are. That means you just have to practice.

So, you’ve worked hard for months to prepare. The big day is coming and you’re getting excited but also very nervous. This is normal. The thing about auditions is that nerves can actually be a good thing if you control them and therefore use them to your advantage.

Here are the methods I’ve found work best before, during and after an audition:

  1. Be committed to your rituals

    What do you do before a big test or sports game? Get a good night’s sleep and eat a good breakfast. Exercise to get out pent up energy, Do deep breathing (something I swear by) to relax, slow your heart rate, and give your brain and heart fresh oxygen.

  2. Warm up correctly

    When you wake up on the morning of the audition, do NOT just grab your instrument and zoom through all your repertoire really fast. Why? Because it allows mistakes to creep in. There’s nothing worse than practicing for months only to start making unexpected mistakes the day of the audition.

    Instead, warm up and play through everything SLOWLY. Why? This reminds your fingers what they need to do when you need them the most and controls the tendency to rush.

  3. Arrive early…but not too early

    We’ve all had the nightmare of showing up late to an important event like a test or audition. Arriving early is a great remedy, but listening to your competitors play for an hour before you go on can feel like torture. My best compromise is to arrive 30 minutes before audition time. That allows you to settle in, warm up a little, and get your bearings without getting antsy.

  4. Embrace the space

    When you arrive in the audition room, get comfortable by speaking to the judges if that’s an option. Smile! The judges are just people, and they’re genuinely rooting for you.

    Tell the judges that you’d like to play a few notes to test out the room. If you like, turn in the other direction and play some notes throughout each register of your instrument. End on the note you’ll start your piece or scale on if you know what it will be.

  5. Treat it like a performance

    Bring the instrument up, hold it there for at least 3 seconds. During those 3 seconds, breathe in and also envision the first measure or two of the piece (how it sounds, what the notes are, and what tempo you’ll take). Those 3 seconds can feel like 3 hours but believe me, you’ll be glad you took them. Don’t be afraid to go slower than you normally might when practicing. In reality, you may not be going all that slow. This is one way to control your nerves.

  6. Have fun

    Remember: you’re making music. It should be fun. When you focus on the piece you’re playing and how it feels, nerves can turn into wonderful musicality, and bring out qualities you never knew you had as a performer.

  7. End it well, no matter what

    Just like how you began, end your performance by holding the instrument up for at least 3 seconds after the final note. It is a subtlety that allows the last notes to linger and shows your poise as a performer. Smile now too.

 

 

Then comes sight reading. Want to know how to do that? Read this post.

Training for an audition is a lot like training for the Olympics. The more you practice and the better you practice, the better you’ll do in an audition. Play for people you know to simulate the real audition. Record yourself to see how you really look and sound.

After all your preparation, go in and leave the audition feeling proud of your hard work, that you gave your best, and all that you are learning from this experience.

Lastly, remember that you’re just there to make music. So forget about all this stuff, and just play.

Learning in groups of various musical skill levels

Playing with other people takes music-making to a whole new level. How can it work with differing levels of skill?  ​In any setting, especially in the classroom or group lessons, here are ways I found to be helpful in managing many levels of skill.

1. Have them teach each other
Give the advanced students a way to practice leadership by teaching the beginner students what they know. This also allows them to solidify their skills. It gives the beginner students an opportunity to learn from someone other than a teacher, and establish a role model in the more advanced student. At times, each will have something to offer the other.

2. Narrow the focus
When playing all together, the beginner students would be given permission to play the notes they know and to otherwise just follow along with those they do not yet know. Alternatively, you can delineate certain notes they should play (i.e. just the first note of each measure, or hold the bass note, etc.). This way, wrong notes won’t be as prevalent, making for the ensemble to sound better as a whole.

​3. Talk about the music
Notes and mechanics of playing an instrument can be learned with time, but musicality is something each individual has intrinsically. Focusing on that will help students to learn instrument technique in the most engaging way.  Ask for participation by generating ideas on dynamics, a story that would flow with the piece, or emotions that they feel when hearing it. Talk about the context in which the piece was written. Common ground can usually always be reached when talking about the artistic messages in the music. This is true both in teaching settings, and…no shocker…in real life! That’s the power of music.

Have more ideas? Share them with me!

Sight-read like a pro in 5 steps

Sight-reading is the necessary and oftentimes dreaded part of auditions. Why is it so important, you might be wondering, after you’ve spent endless hours preparing music that you know? It’s not meant to throw you under the bus after you’ve worked so hard. It’s meant to show how sharp your musical skills really are. If you have good fundamentals, you can do it well.

Here are five steps to follow in the moment to ensure you are proud of your sight-reading performance.

1. Look at key signature
It’s the first thing you see on the top left of the piece, so it’s a good place to start! Absorb it into your soul.

2. Look at time signature
Think this is not as important as the notes? Think again. Understanding what meter it’s in is key to your rhythmic execution.

Life lesson: the number one most important thing to do correctly when sight-reading is RHYTHM. 

Why? Because in the long run, notes are fixable through practice. They are important, and you still want to play them right, but playing with good rhythm means you can play with other people. That is primarily what judges want to hear from you in an audition.

3. Find the hardest part
Spending your entire prep time looking at the first two measures may set you up for success on them, but leave you flailing afterward. Skim the entire excerpt for the part with the most challenging section. See a group of sixteenth notes amidst a lot of quarter notes? Syncopation amidst straight rhythms? Dotted notes amidst straight eighth notes? Zoom in there. What you do next will be the key to nailing it.

4. Decide on your tempo for that part 
At what tempo can you play that hard part a) in the right rhythm (because that’s the most important thing!), and b) with as many of the right notes as possible? Got it? Good. That tempo will be your tempo for the whole excerpt. Not any faster! No matter what happens, keep that tempo for the entire thing, and play the correct rhythms within it.

Another tip: When in doubt, choose a slower tempo. Nerves make us play faster, so go S L O W to give yourself a cushion. 

5. Scan for other details
If at this point in the game you still have time to keep prepping, scan the rest of the excerpt, and expand your focus to notes, dynamics, and articulations.

Prioritizing the details of a new piece in this way will give you a solid foundation for your performance. Remember, you are playing music, not doing brain surgery. You should still be able to enjoy it!

Another way to get ready for sight-reading is to, well, practice doing it. On a regular basis, find music you’ve never seen before and go through these steps. You’ll build the confidence and skills to wow the judges.

​Any other tips for sight-reading like a pro? Leave them in the comments.