Sorry, but I’m really bummed out about my performance in a sort of neighborhood recital that was held about 5 hours ago this evening. I was in charge of it, which makes it even worse because I totally bombed. I sucked! I made so many mistakes, I was so nervous, I looked so stupid - I don’t know why I even bother, anymore. I can’t stand it!

What kills me the most is that I know this piece backwards and forwards and could probably play it with my eyes closed if there wasn’t an audience. I should probably throw in the towel as far playing in public goes. It used to be easier, but as I get older, it gets worse. I hate it! I’m putting this up (temporarily) to see if any of you have ever had such a bad performance as this, or if you can offer anything that will help to get over the aggravation and despair I am left with now. Seriously, I am so distressed. Right now, I hate playing the piano.

That was not to bad really. A bit hesitant but nothing really horrible except for some occasions where you corrected yourself. In performance it is probably better that if you make a mistake, you just play right on as if nothing happened. By correcting it you only draw extra attention to it.

Very nice dress BTW.

Invite me to your recitals!!! By doing so, my playing skills will make you look like Liszt-Rubinstein-Rachmaninov incarnate

Still feeling 'blue'...




And I know that, but did it anyway. What a dope I am.


That's about the only thing that went right.

Thanks anyway, Chris and Julius.

I know how you feel. I feel that way about music almost every day. However you should
consider this: your musicality has reached such a level that even though you think you bombed
it still sounded really freaking good.

Yes I'd go along with that. Mistakes happen, but you need to concentrate on what is good rather tHan what is bad. Give yourself some credit !

That's what my kids and my parents said. But I can't. I know this piece so well and have played it perfectly a hundred times. I got so comfortable with it that I could totally loose myself in the music, literally feel the drama coursing through my veins, pour the passion out through my fingertips, you know...really, really get into it. But did any of that happen last night? No. It was awful! There was nothing good in that performance. That's why I'm so disappointed.

Thanks for trying.

Well, after watching it, I only noticed two detectable errors. The rest sounded really good!!!

And to make you feel a bit better... once I get my DVD of the arts festival I played at a week or so ago, I'll show you the video of me playing. Hard to get worse than that...

I was playing through a really good interpretation of Scriabin's C# Minor etude... when suddenly I forgot how the coda went! I even had the music out in front of me... but it didn't help. I just ended up not playing it, and inventing a little something in it's place. It was PATHETIC.

And then my Satie piece was littered with little slip ups too...

Trust me... you'll feel better after seeing me.

And you shouldn't feel bad to being with!
I still think it sounded great!

What piece is that, by the way? I'd be intrested in learning more about it, as I really liked it.

Sorry about your bad experience, Chris M.

Misery loves company. Maybe we should start a thread about 'Your Worse Piano Experience', or 'Sad Times at the Piano'.

The piece I played is by Granados. It's from a set entitled Escenas Romanticas and this is the first piece in the set. It's a great little piece - not too long, sounds harder to play than it is (usually ) and has room for all the passion you can put into it. I highly recommend it.

Wait... I'll make a list of all my terrible performances. You'll be shocked!

1. Chopin - minute waltz... I think I was 12 years old or so. I didn't know it was the minute waltz, so I played it adagio (:roll:) , because I liked it that way and my teacher didn't say I should play it faster. Oh, and I made a lot of mistakes of course.
2. Some years ago I played violin in the orchestra of the music school. Romeo and Juliet. It was really, uhm, fun. Throwing candy at the percussionist during the performance.
3. What about last week? I played violin, some kind of pianotrio composed by Bridge. I really didn't like that piece of music! (The cellist couldn't play Piazolla, so we had to play Bridge. ) We all made a lot of mistakes and in the end I was playing solo (I wasn't meant to be playing solo, but both the pianist and cellist made a mistake and got so confused that they stopped playing. The public actually didn't notice it and thought it was written like that! ), I was just hoping the pianist and cellist would be able to play the last three notes (and they did play them).

Now I must think... I'm quite sure I had more terrible performances...

You know, it's amazing what a few mistakes will do to one's sense of self worth (not to mention one's ego). You know you made mistakes and they stand out in your mind. However, 99.9% of the people who heard you will remember how well you played, not the few mistakes you made. You're too hard on yourself.

(So sayeth the guy who rushed to fix a recording before anybody heard the mistake in it!)

Ed

Been there, done that (many times)


Ok, well, the cloud is lifting. Like I said before, misery loves company. Anyone else have any sad/funny stories?

Last year in my performance at my teacher's annual pupil concert, I had to restart a passage in the middle of Rachmaninov's Lilacs as it had gone so wrong there was no playing over it. To add insult to injury I even muttered 'sorry'. How pathetic can one get ! The rest went fine though but this was a humiliating moment.

Oh, yes, that's a good one. Pretty pathetic, indeed.

After that moment happened, were you able to get back 'in the zone'? Your fingers played on like usual, but was your head in the music? That's a problem of mine. After a big goof-up, I'm in a sort of stunned frame of mind and feel like I barely have control of things anymore. And also my overall dynamics drop considerably.