First performances n.n

[Bryan]

Can any of u remember ur first performance? I can n.n

FlAsHbAcK...

I was sitting in math class when my guzheng teacher came in and I was like WOAH! She told me to come out of the class and she told me about my performance and tht it was a solo one. I practically had a heart-attack. Like omg n.n So my training had to begin and the others were pushed aside

So everyday after school I would stay back from 2:00-7:00 to practice guzheng and even though itz tough I loved it. I love the guzheng. As an extra excercise(pardon my spelling), my teacher would make me carry the guzheng up and down the stairs to strengthen my arms. Lol hated tht n.n

Soon the performance schedule were up all over the school and the performance arts will put up their poster to advertise and when I walked down the hall...

I saw a big poster on me playing the guzheng in the hall and below it wrote" Young star rises above the others" I practically cried. It was TOO GOOD!!!

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You know the rest n.n Post ur memories n.n

[Dick]

In the fourth grade, I had this great idea to present a clarinet duet in "show and tell" featuring myself and a tape-recording of myself. Well, I made the mistake of not realizing there might be (let us say) some advantage to rehearsing more than once with my "partner". And then there was perhaps the matter of my not-quite-mastery of the technology aspect. As learning experiences go, it was humiliating. And memorable.

Hey Bryan (or any other short-hand expert) what means this: n.n

[Bryan]

n.n means happy face n.n

[Charlie Huang]

Other variants include:

^_^

XD
^x^
etc...

Won't tell you about my first performance coz it was a bit of a disaster...

[paulv]

My first performance was at my music school's annual recital. This was back around 1964 and I was playing drums then. My performance consisted of playing along to a record (some of you younger people on this forum won't remember what "records" are!!!). The song was a jazzed-up version of the theme from the movie Exodus, with some jazz guy playing alto or tenor sax. I think it took longer to set up the drums than to play along to the song.

I didn't have posters with my picture on them and I didn't consider my drum playing a disaster, so I guess I rate myself between you guys.

Regards,
Paul Valente

[dsouthwood]

My first performance at a guzheng recital was memorable because I stuck out like a sore thumb. I am 63 years old, 6'4", very Caucasian, and--shall we say--stocky. So there I was surrounded by Chinese kids who mostly came up to my belt. But everybody was very kind, and I got through my piece all right. And it's fun to play "Where's Waldo" with the group picture.

The MOST memorable recital was the last one. It was in a regular auditorium with stage lighting. The lights were so bright on the stage that they reflected very strongly off the sound board of the guzheng, making it look very white. Of course, the strings were also white. The result was that the strings all disappeared, and I had to guess where they were in the glare. It was a complete disaster, and I haven't played that piece since.

[davidmdahl]

Welcome to our group, dsouthwood! I enjoyed the photos of your guzhengs from another thread, and am very glad for your participation.

I am a middle-aged fellow, and have had similar interesting experiences performing Vietnamese music with young VN girls. On one such occasion, a group of dan tranh (zither) players performed a few tunes at a Tet New Year program, and I was to follow on my dan bau monochord. The girls did not leave the stage, so the only spot was in front of them all. I did my performance, but later took some grief. The parents of the girls did not appreciate that I performed in front of the lovely young women, blocking everyone's view of them. Sigh.

Regarding the overly-bright stage lights, I have grown more bold over the years to make sure that the conditions for a good performance are met. I try to be as prepared as possible so that I am not distracted during a performance, and bring extras equipment that might be needed. There are other things that are important also, a chair of appropriate height, stage monitors so that I can hear myself, and appropriate lighting, among other things.

When something such as lighting or sound is seriously out-of-wack, there is nothing wrong with asking for it to be fixed, even from the stage. When you know that going forward is going to make you look incompetent, and there is something that can be fixed, it is best to speak up. In most cases, an audience is rooting for the performer and responds patiently when there is a problem. It really helps to have a good sense of humor and poise, and not express any embarrassment or anger.

Of course, sometimes there is something wrong, but the show must go on. We do our best and hope things work out. If there are mistakes, we act like there is nothing wrong, and get on with it. Every performance is a learning experience.

Best wishes,

David