Fiddling around

As all of my students know, my wife and I take fairly frequent vacations, usually cruises. Cruises are our favorite form of vacation for several reasons. For what you get, a cruise vacation is surprisingly affordable, and the food is always very good. We almost always take either Carnival or Royal Caribbean, since they are the only two lines that use Galveston harbor, at least up until November of 2012, when Disney Cruise Lines came there. We haven’t been on any of the Disney ships, and since they are substantially more expensive than either Carnival or Royal Caribbean, we probably won’t bother.

Fleur De Lis Trio from Ukraine aboard RC Mariner

One of the things that I like best about Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines (as opposed to Carnival) is that they usually provide some upscale music. On the trip we did in January 2013, I got to hear a trio from Ukraine named Fleur De Lis, consisting of three young women on the violin, viola, and piano.

Of course, as a teacher, there were things I noticed that most people would not. The violinist, in particular, tended to allow the lower joint of her little finger to straighten out consistently in the upper positions, possibly because her hands were a bit small. Also, while the playing was quite good, the violin and viola were not particularly powerful instruments, and the piano tended to overwhelm the strings, since they played with no amplification. The sound was well-blended, and the playing was reasonably “tight” even though the bowing was not always consistent. There were a few passages, typically pizzacato, where the strings were essentially inaudible even from my front-row seat.

Despite all that (and the fact that live venues aboard a ship tend to be a bit noisy), I enjoyed the performances, which consisted mostly of show tunes with a few relatively obscure semi-classical arrangements tossed in. Nothing extremely difficult, but a pleasant sound.

I thought briefly about trying out for a cruise ship gig myself, but quickly dismissed the thought. Cruising is something my wife and I thoroughly enjoy, but we always get an outside cabin with a balcony, and usually pay a bit extra for a suite. Performers and other staff get to sail for free, and also get paid (but not very much), but the major drawback of that sort of gig is that the cabin is going to be a tiny inside cabin with twin bunk beds, and no windows. My wife assures me that would not be acceptable.

The Fall recital got put off due to various circumstances (one of which was my change in employment) until almost Winter! Indeed, it has been cold enough the past few nights to finally kill off the mosquitoes! But Winter doesn’t begin officially until next week, so I still made in under the wire. It will be Thursday at 6:30pm.

Those of you who subscribe to my newsletter have already seen this, but it’s definitely timely and worth repeating:

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What is it about performing for a crowd that makes us nervous? Shaking hands, sweating, thumping heart, flushing, or a number of other things seem to conspire to make it harder to perform.

In reality, the folks who are coming to hear you at your recital are your supporters. They wish you well. They aren’t there to chase you down or beat you up. But you still feel a “fight or flight” response.

Here are some tips that will help with recital nerves:

• Be prepared! Practice the hard parts until they aren’t hard any more. If you haven’t, you’ll know you aren’t really ready, and that will make it worse. In addition to having your piece well-prepared, make sure you have everything you need before you make the trip to the recital hall. Pack an extra set of strings! I always take an extra bow, even though I very rarely need one. But having it there “just in case” is a good feeling. Be sure to pack a soft cloth or handkerchief to use to dry your hands just before you go on stage.
• Practice performing. This is part of being prepared, but is often neglected. The recital should not be your first attempt to perform the piece. Play it for your friends and family. Play it for the video recorder.
• Remind yourself that you are “showing off.” After all, you’ve done a lot of hard work getting prepared, and you deserve the opportunity to show off.
• Give yourself permission to make some mistakes. Nobody’s perfect. When I practice the hard parts, I usually come up with a “plan B” that I can use just in case I flub. Having a “plan B” actually reduces the chance that you will need it!
• If you make a mistake, just pick up and go on. Don’t dwell on it, and don’t let it cause you to stumble to a halt. Most of your audience doesn’t know your piece, so they might not even notice if you left a note out, or reversed something.
• Focus. Focusing is sometimes easier if you make a conscious effort to listen and coordinate with your accompanist or your duet partner. In fact, in my own experience, duets are less nerve-wracking than solos simply because I’m too busy communicating with my performance partner to think about getting nervous.
• Dress appropriately. Don’t wear anything that is uncomfortably tight, especially shoes! But make sure your look is appropriate for the venue. For my recitals, that means a nice dress for the girls, and slacks and dress shirt for the boys (tie optional).
• Relax. Force yourself to take several slow, complete breaths. Do some simple stretches.
• Slow down. In performance, most folks tend to play faster than they really intended. Deliberately slow down and work on making your rhythm very precise. Take advantage of the fact that a precise rhythm sounds faster to the audience than it does to you.
• Perform! Stand up in a manner that says you are proud of what you are doing. Hold your head high, and don’t slump your shoulders. Finish with a flourish, and take a bow!

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Several weeks ago, I got an email from Kelin’s Violin Shop (Kelin Zhang is a skilled luthier who runs a violin shop here in Plano, Texas) with news that he had finished building his new recital hall, and was hosting a contest for local music students to celebrate the grand opening. I immediately thought about getting one of my younger students who has shown unusually good progress to enter. Jennifer has been taking lessons for about a year now, and I thought she would enjoy the experience.

The contest was held a week ago yesterday (Saturday, November 11th). I was able to attend, and I thought Jennifer did well, although the contest itself come off with several glitches, which I attribute to being the first time that Kelin has put on this sort of event, and I expect that future events of this kind will be run more smoothly.

I found out the following Monday that Jennifer won in her age group! Yesterday, she was featured in a performance for the winners of each age group. I have a video of her performance, but I will need to get her father’s permission before posting any photos or videos of her, so that may or may not happen.

It is very rewarding as a teacher to have a student win a contest! This may be an annual event, so I hope that I have other students enter (and hopefully, win) in the coming years.