Performance lessons learned and yet to learn

[davidmdahl]

This weekend was a big deal for me music-wise. On Saturday I performed on erhu and dan bau (monochord) at a recital of my teacher's students. I played Liang Xiao, and Liang Xiao lost. I have worked so hard on this tune and can play it well. Unfortunately there was some rosin on the strings that made it difficult to slide my fingers around, and I became flustered. Next time I will bring a cloth to wipe of the strings before I start playing, just in case.

Fortunately, I followed the train-wreck with a good performance of Liu San Jie on monochord with my teacher on erhu. The Chinese audience was very interested in the monochord.

I have found that by performing I learn what can go wrong. I try not to make the same mistake twice. One thing that did not go wrong is sweat on my left hand making it hard to move up and down the neck of the erhu. Now I carry a small container of body power. A few sprinkles of powder between the thumb and forefinger, and the problem goes away.

Tonight I performed on monochord before a Vietnamese audience, and all went reasonably well. At the time the sound in the big hall seemed to be awful, but my friends in the audience did not notice any sound problems. I guess that the lesson here is not to assume the worst. I will know for sure when I see the video.

I would appreciate other tips for avoiding performance problems.

Thanks.

Best wishes,

David

[calden]

David:

Sounds like a great weekend! Wish I could have been there to support you.

I've performed a LOT, mostly, of course, with my Irish band. But I've got some performance suggestions that might help.

I try to over-prepare the week before. Taking a piece apart, practicing segments, practicing the transitional 2-3 notes between segments, practiciing the beginning measure ( I do this a LOT - get it so I can start it cleanly in my sleep, or while thinking..."Hmmm who is THAT in the audience? I've noticed here at several gigs before. Is she smiling at ME?"), practicing the ending and how not to smile silly if it comes out great, etc. etc. I'll drill patterns, exercises, making sure my musculature is all there for the support. I'll look at the music and think through the piece, trying to conceptualize the tone of each section - dynamics, speed, attack, what I'm supposed to feel while in the middle of it.

I'll NOT practice the day before. Nothing. Nada. I need to let all that muscle work and head work sink in, so to speak. and not clutter up my music brain with more junk.

The day of, I'll run through scales and play the starts and ends, and maybe run through the pieces for fun, but not worry about it.

I eat very light in the preceding hours, if at all. Plenty of water, but not so much to make me need to pee. I might have a banana about an hour before - it supposedly has the right kind of nutrition to keep one calm, similar to L-Tryptophane. I DO NOT have coffee. Tried that once after a long drive to a gig, and it gave me the shakes.

I do not have problems with sweaty hands, so I don't do anything special or have any worries about that. I do need to make sure my nails are clipped, but that ought to be done days before.

One lesson I've learned is that it will rarely sound like what you have been used to hearing, and you need to play from the feel, not the sound. It might be too loud, too soft, too tinny, too bassy, too harsh, whatever - but you need to play with your fingers and not ears, you need to play what your muscles tell you to do. You can be entirely disconnected from your instrument but have to do it by rote. This is where overpractice and over rehearsal comes in to play. It's not enough to practice something until you can do it well in your practice room - it needs to be rehearsed over and over, and day by day, until it's layered into your consciousness. Only then can it sound good while you're on stage worried about positions, hand sweat, bow pressure, monitor feedback, pick control, timing, etc.

My two cents' worth.
Carlos

[song]

Sorry to hear that Erhu lost to the dan bau. But you'll definitely do better next time. Stuff like that happens. I remembered more than 10 years ago when I was in a local erhu competition. I flustered at a fast passage and stopped for 8 bars before I caught up with the accompaniment.....Needless to say I only got a certificate of participation.

I guess the best advice is to calm your nerves before the performance. You can use a cloth the wipe the strings and maintain the bow at a position that is perpendicular to your strings so that you don't get rosin on your strings again. If you're on the stage already without a cloth, try pinching your nose with your left thumb and first finger to get some of that natural lubricant (ewe...) on your strings. And it might be a good idea to stick a piece of velvet like material at the base of your erhu to prevent your erhu from slipping off your thigh.

[davidmdahl]

Thank you, Carlos & Song. Those are all good ideas. I have performed quite a bit over the years, just not on erhu. As you say, Carlos, you can be practice-room prepared, and still not have it all together for playing in front of an audience. I worked on this in the weeks before by snagging friends to listen to me in mini-performances. At first this exposed my insecurities, but by the beginning of last week it was pretty secure. I am just not experienced enough on the erhu to blast through certain equipment problems. Next time will be better.

When performing on dan bau I frequently have to play when the sound is very bad on stage, particularly when I don't have a stage monitor and get the sound reflected back at me from all corners of the hall. This is probably the most disconcerting aspect of performing, since what I hear is so important to how I play.

Best wishes,

David

[paulv]

David,
I'm sure your "next time" will be better -- at least you had some nice opportunities to perform. I always carry a small cleaning cloth in my erhu case to wipe the strings down -- they always collect rosin from being in contact with the bow while in the case. I've also seen many people "disconnect" the bow from the erhu when storing.

I gave up the idea of powder on my sweaty left hand -- it caused my had to slide too much even with a minimum amount of powder applied. I just take a small towel with me (like a facecloth size) because wiping my hand on my pant leg doesn't look good on stage.

Regards,
Paul....

[davidmdahl]

My next time will be better providing I learn from my past mistakes. <g> Fortunately, Saturday's performance was relatively low impact since it was a free student's recital, and not a $20 a ticket recital at the local symphony hall. I was not the only performer who was not quite on.

I do not find that powder on my left hand makes it slide too easily. It has been a big help when sweat makes my hand too sticky. That definitely messes me up. I get used to practicing when I am comfortable, the temperature is good, and I can hear myself well. It takes some experience to play well when the physical and aural environment is dramatically different.

Best wishes,

David

[calden]

David:

Here's another practice-for-performance tip I use a lot. I've noticed that sometimes, if nervous, when I start a song in a performance it feels as clumsy and out of control as though I were not warmed up. So I practice this way - I'll maybe play a few minutes to warm up a teeny bit, then just sit quietly for a few minutes and then - BAM - just jump right in to the piece. This exercise is good for two reasons - one, it gives me feedback on where I'm likely to screw up (and how that will happen) when I do perform it, and two, it gives me practice at playing "raw" without any warm-up, which is often how it feels when I start a song in a performance.

Carlos

[davidmdahl]

That is an excellent practice technique, Carlos. We don't have the luxury of playing through a tune a few times at performance time and choosing which one the audience will hear, as we can when making a recording. I like the technique of playing the tune "cold" to see what needs work.

One thing that has helped me on other instruments is preparing my mind before starting such that I "hear" the first phrase. I don't usually have the focus to keep that going throughout the tune, but it helps to have a good start.

Best wishes,

David