The best place to get performance experience is at church. My teenage daughter was a late intermediate/early advanced pianist in the classical genre and hadn't done any public piano playing except a few recitals and syllabus tests. Then, the pastor's wife needed to be gone for over 6 weeks at church and had no backup pianist. I told my daughter to do it, it would be wonderful performance experience. There were 75 people there, and she had to follow a song leader that isn't trained. They talk in-between verses while she has to keep playing and then knowing to get back to the root when the song leader jumps back in and starts singing. If you have 75 people singing along to you, it will force you to not stop when you mess up, learn to drop hands or notes if you start getting in the weeds, and to keep the tempo going no matter what. She has hit wrong notes or chords in the middle of songs, but doesn't bat an eye and keeps going. Then, they have a prayer minute where she has to take the last congregational song that is song and play in a soft and angelic way as background music while the prayer is said and people have a few moments to be in prayer silently so everyone is listening to her as they pray. Then of course if offertory and she plays solo while they pass the offering plate around. This has forced her to improvise and once you get your keys down and improvisation is more comfortable, if you glitch in a memorized piece of music, you can "wing" it until the memory comes back and most likely no one but your teacher and maybe fellow students who know that piece will even know. Also, if you are nervous playing with a small group of people simpler songs to get used to that before you go solo is helpful. I have my daughter play violin along with me if I have to play at church and it takes the pressure off because I think they are more focused on her than me, my playing is more background. Also most churches have two pianos, and if the pianist is gracious enough they will let you on the other piano during the congregational singing. My church does.

I have a degree in music piano performance. Nothing ruins your performance like entertaining stage left, tripping over a microphone wire and landing under the piano. I get up, make myself to the piano and seat a an applauding/ laughing audience, look down and realized I was wearing sneakers. I had arrived with enough time to change, apparently I didn't change my shoes. Nope, not an anxiety dream. Hopefully that will never happen to you, but I had practice deep breathing, relaxation and easy self hypnosis from a therapist. My leg shook while playing, but I was able to perform the whole piece.

I'm so grateful that my piano teacher always has her students play in multiple recitals each year, including practice recitals for competitions. I definitely still have some performance anxiety, but it's not nearly as bad as I think it would have been if she didn't encourage us to play for other people, Whether it be in coffee shops, retirement homes, or concert halls. Since I've gone to college, not majoring in music, I've had fewer performance opportunities, but my roommates and friends still make a wonderful practice audience when I need it! My piano duo partner is also kind of a built-in practice audience and is probably the person in front of whom I am most comfortable playing, even when it's an absolute disaster. I'm currently learning my first piano Concerto, which I'm hoping to use in some competitions at my college and in the surrounding area, and this video confirmed that I need to start planning practice performances now, given that the piece provides seemingly endless opportunities to ruin a performance if nerves are running high. Thanks for sharing this advice!

A very good video. I’m 67 and have been taking lessons for nearly 5 years. I’ve played in 2 recitals and bombed in both of them. I knew my songs very well, but when I sat at the piano, my hands, especially my right hand, started shaking uncontrollably. I took a deep breath, but it had no effect. I struggled through my pieces just trying the best I could, however the shaking was something I didn’t anticipate nor prepare for. I’m afraid I’m just not cut out for performing, at least not in front of a large crowd as there were probably around 70 or 80 people there. It’s too bad because I always felt that I would want to play for people.

Thank you for the insights Josh! I've had 4 recitals so far, in the 2 years of piano journey. I have unlocked a new fear, this stage anxiety. There is always a mess up (most likely because of difficulty of pieces). The last one might have been the one I stumbled the most, but it was the one I had more fun. For the first time, I didn't shake! I hope it will keep getting better over time. To anyone struggling with it, one thing I heard that helped me get past a bad performance was "No one else at the event remembers it badly, if they're musicians, they should understand the struggle, if they're not, they only remember how wonderful was to listen people sharing their passion. Only I was carrying it. "

Bardzo Ci dziekuję za świetne porady. Wszystkiego dobrego.

I have been taking piano lessons for 5 years, I had my final performance and butchered Nocturne op 9 no 2. I felt awful but had pushed myself through it in front of about 60 people. It bothered me for weeks.

Thanks Josh. Great info as always.

Thank you Josh. In February I had a major meltdown at a regional piano gathering...the Chopin waltz just disappeared from my brain. Happened again at a different group with the Bach invention in June...it didn't disappear but was awful. I'm following the step by step build my performance skills you suggest. Recording is brutal at first to listen to but I'm trying to listen objectively and find one spot or two to work on. I believe the big awareness is that performance is a separate skill.

Thank you so much for this.

What about public piano playing to help with nerves? It's worked well for me. I play daily on a piano in a hospital. I look upon it as doing my daily practicing there, rather than a performance. It's experience on a mechanical piano in front of people. And because most people aren't really listening, I can make mistakes and go over and over a bit to fix it and it's not big deal.

@atxpianist

16 күн бұрын

Most public pianos are horribly cared for, and in most cases intentionally made to sound dull and quiet so as to not bother passersby. You will only be frustrated by them and heighten your anxiety. So, I wouldn't recommend this unless you know of a specific public piano that is kept tuned and well-regulated. I have never seen one myself.

@IainInLondon

16 күн бұрын

@@atxpianist fair point - most are rough as toast! There's 2 very nice ones in London, but I keep their locations quiet, so they don't get hammered.

Thanks for this video. I have a performance in late September and am terrified. When I practice, even if I just try to imagine having an audience, I freeze up and my hands start shaking uncontrollably.

My performance anxiety worsens with exposure therapy as a pianist of 45 years. As I've advanced, I worry about dumb things like if I can't make it to the venue to perform, if there won't be enough lighting for the 200 pages I'm playing, who I will let down if I mess up. But perhaps I can see that that is specific to the performance, and not to the playing necessarily. I will have to look at it from this different perspective. Thanks!

An excellent and very practical video on performance anxiety. I haven’t done this extensively but I’m going to. Thanks so much,Dr. J🌟

Excellent video, thanks for addressing this topic.

very useful . Thanks Josh 🎉

Great advice

Some conservatories offer night classes for people who work full time and they’re 4:1 student teacher ratio so it’s a weekly masterclass basically and you get used to performing in front of people albeit it’s only 4. Wish private teachers would offer something like that.

@pompasduris

10 күн бұрын

The reality is that you are performing in front of the same people multiple times, so the anxiety goes away after the first few performances. If a whole new crown shows up, the anxiety level is off the charts again. The best way would be to perform in front of a different crowd all of the time and never the same one twice.

@nevetsny1

10 күн бұрын

@@pompasduris True. If it’s the same piece it feels like a comfort zone established. New pieces or difficult ones I was more aware. Also given the variability of the schedules of adults, sometimes the makeup of the class changed and students from other classes sat in so there were new faces. And a coincidence, discovered some independent teachers in my area who do group classes.