58
votes
How to avoid stopping when I play a wrong note on the piano
The source of the problem
The most common cause I've encountered for this kind or problem is practicing primarily from the beginning a piece.
The "mechanical" solution
Beginners tend to ...
- 80.1k
44
votes
Is there a way to rehearse being in a stressful performance situation?
You've hit on a very important point. I give this speech often to my students, that we "practice practicing," but rarely "practice performing." Especially for a non-professional, a ...
- 15k
43
votes
Can a flute soloist sit?
Absolutely. Nobody ever expects (extreme case) Itzhak Perlman to stand.
Personally, I'd be a happy audience if a flautist sat on a barstool, as many guitarists tend to do.
Now, performing while on a ...
- 14.8k
40
votes
Forgetting the musical notes while performing in concert
For some reason, practice isn't always enough for prepare us for a performance. That's not unusual. Some things that have helped me and others I've talked to include:
"Practice" performing in ...
- 55.8k
36
votes
Fermata over a rest at the end of the piece?
Do you sit there and prevent the audience from clapping until you want that rest to finish its extended duration?
I've always thought this is pretty much what a fermata like this is about. When ...
- 55.8k
35
votes
Accepted
Can piano studies be played as a performance piece?
Well pretty much anything can be played as a performance piece but many of them would be very dull to listen to. Personally I find Hanon extremely boring and I believe many other people do too. ...
- 5,001
33
votes
Accepted
I feel like I don't evolve, and sometimes shamed when playing with someone better than me
I find any learning process goes in cycles:
At first, you're pretty bad. And you know it.
Then, you start getting better. You're playing pretty well. Everything is great.
And then you realise that ...
- 9,569
31
votes
Can a flute soloist sit?
I've never seen a flutist sit, but I've also not seen very many flute soloists.
What I have seen is plenty of soloists that do sit, so you'd be in good company!
And keep in mind that cellists, ...
- 83.7k
30
votes
Accepted
How do you play this measure on piano? Are unwritten polyrhythms a thing?
Here's how I'd interpret it. Excuse my lack of drawing skill.
There are four beats in the right hand, each a crotchet in length. I've drawn lines between each beat to make them clear.
The left hand ...
- 9,569
23
votes
How would you live perform a piece whose recording has a faded ending?
I'd recommend just finding a number of fade-out songs and looking for live videos on YouTube (etc.) to see how they're handled.
There are a number of ways, but here are some common ones:
If the ...
- 83.7k
23
votes
Why don't bands try to fade out songs live like they do in the studio?
There might be many different reasons for different bands. So I will be able to point just some possibilities.
Studio recording and live performance are different ways to present the songs. Recordings ...
- 15.5k
21
votes
Accepted
Which would benefit my band the most, learning covers or writing originals?
You should do both! When I just start working with other musicians, I like to get a cover or two under our belts so we can feel each other out and learn to play as a group. Literally at the same time, ...
- 55.8k
21
votes
How to dare to whistle or to hum in public?
I think it’s important that you should not in any way feel like you have to be able to do this. Singing, whistling and humming should be a means of expressing yourself because you are in the mood for ...
- 18k
20
votes
Forgetting the musical notes while performing in concert
Dealing with pressure
Get a sound recorder or use your phone and record your performances. The extra pressure of recording yourself will cause similar pressure to an actual performance. Also practise ...
- 3,892
20
votes
Vocal range of a crowd
One other place where we find large crowds of people singing songs together is worship music- so perhaps we can find relevant advice there.
The general consensus* is that the most friendly keys for ...
- 7,225
18
votes
Accepted
What does it mean for music to be technical?
"Technical" means that it requires an impressive amount of sheer technique (that is, muscle control) to play. Paganini frequently pressed the possibilities of the violin to the extreme. His music ...
- 22.2k
17
votes
How do you not get lost between measures?
A few ways:
By counting the measures! It really is that simple. You start on measure 28, so measure 29 is your first measure of rest, then measure 30, then measure 31, etc. By the time measures 38 ...
- 83.7k
17
votes
How would you live perform a piece whose recording has a faded ending?
Another option is to actually overplay the fade out! The singer slowly stepping away from the microphone, the drummer dramatically only slightly touching the drums, etc. This kind of "comic overdoing" ...
- 548
17
votes
Accepted
What can I do to stop getting nervous before and during a performance?
How often do you practice in front of others? You could try asking people to join you while you practice, or find a public piano and jump on to practice. The idea is to have more experience playing ...
- 7,419
17
votes
Can piano studies be played as a performance piece?
I have taken a few works from Czerny, slowed them down and played them as prelude pieces in church. One day a woman commented how gorgeous a piece was that I played and I told her it was by Czerny. ...
- 3,252
17
votes
Can a flute soloist sit?
Orchestral flautists sit the whole time so it's clearly possible to play the flute to a high standard while sitting. It's the 21st century and people are used to legislation that requires employers ...
- 311
17
votes
Accepted
Why was no first prize awarded at a competition?
This actually happens more than you might think. If you Google it you might be surprised by how many results you can find.
The reason is usually to do with the overall standard of the competitors. ...
- 5,001
16
votes
Is there any way for my to become a better judge of my playing? Especially while I'm playing
This is a terrific, and very important, question!
Have you ever heard a recording of yourself speaking? Did it come across as odd to you? Did you ever think "that's not how I sound!"? The same is ...
- 83.7k
16
votes
Forgetting the musical notes while performing in concert
A good practice exercise I've found to help with this is to play along to a metronome and not play every other bar. For example, play bar 1, then sit in silence for bar 2 whilst imagining the sound in ...
- 569
16
votes
Why don't bands try to fade out songs live like they do in the studio?
There are two different ways this can be done:
a) The band plays at a quieter and quieter dynamic level, until none of the players can be heard anymore (over the crowd etc. noise).
There are a couple ...
- 35.2k
15
votes
How do you determine if you're ready to join a band?
Just going to paste Dave Grohl's take on this:
When I think about kids watching a TV show like American Idol or The
Voice, then they think, ‘Oh, OK, that’s how you become a musician, you
stand ...
- 151
15
votes
How would you live perform a piece whose recording has a faded ending?
If a live all-acoustic band is trying to perform such pieces, it's not really feasible to do a fade.
It's a little-known fact but most acoustic instruments and even vocals are capable of producing a ...
- 151
15
votes
Accepted
Why was Le Concert Spirituel playing out of tune at Proms 2012?
You are right, it is because they are using very old horns known as natural horns which had no valves or holes. They had known limitations and were quite difficult to play. You can see and hear a ...
- 829
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