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My student and I had our first duet performance on Saturday for the old folks at the retirement residence near our homes. I've discovered that my nerves always fail me when I'm nearing the END of what I know I will be playing. Normally the nerves hit at the end of the song or two I'm playing for friends or even family at home; this time, the nerves hit at the end of the program we'd designed. It was only the last song which gave me problems, which was a shame because it was our signature piece. Well, it will be even better next time. On an up-note (no pun intended), all my solo pieces went flawlessly with the exception of one mistake. NONE of the mistakes I made were of the nature where I wanted to run and hide or had to start all over again. So all in all I'm pleased at how it went. Preparing for performances is a really good thing because it makes you polish those pieces that still have troublesome spots. You CAN'T just say, oh well, that's good enough. So it's really improved my playing overall. I'm working on polishing three more pieces for the next time we go to perform there.
I have joined our church choir, so more performances are in the offing. My first time singing with the choir will be this coming Sunday. As I can't make the regular practices (Thursday nights), I practice on my own and also I have occasional sessions (private) with the music director of our church, Robert, so that I'm not going in cold. They also practice before the service on Sunday mornings for about 15 minutes, so hopefully that will be enough. I've always wanted to sing in a choir. My secret ambition is to be cantor. I don't know if I'm good enough, but time will tell. For sure I'll have to practice for a long time and receive some instruction before that becomes a possibility. I've also decided to take private voice lessons over the summer with a teacher whom I've heard a great deal about. A friend wants to sing with me, which I find very exciting.
I start my piano lessons again today. My music teacher's mother died this spring, so by unspoken mutual consent, we'd delayed the start of my lessons until now. I'm very excited to be starting them up again. For awhile, I was just fine working on my own, but I realize that my progress will be limited without formal instruction. I'm particularly interested in getting back to the theory. At some point I'd like to be able to improvise: play pieces with melody and chord charts only, perhaps even differently each time I play the piece. Jazz, of course, is generally played this way. I don't play any jazz yet, but that's on my list of things-I-wanna-do, too.
I have joined our church choir, so more performances are in the offing. My first time singing with the choir will be this coming Sunday. As I can't make the regular practices (Thursday nights), I practice on my own and also I have occasional sessions (private) with the music director of our church, Robert, so that I'm not going in cold. They also practice before the service on Sunday mornings for about 15 minutes, so hopefully that will be enough. I've always wanted to sing in a choir. My secret ambition is to be cantor. I don't know if I'm good enough, but time will tell. For sure I'll have to practice for a long time and receive some instruction before that becomes a possibility. I've also decided to take private voice lessons over the summer with a teacher whom I've heard a great deal about. A friend wants to sing with me, which I find very exciting.
I start my piano lessons again today. My music teacher's mother died this spring, so by unspoken mutual consent, we'd delayed the start of my lessons until now. I'm very excited to be starting them up again. For awhile, I was just fine working on my own, but I realize that my progress will be limited without formal instruction. I'm particularly interested in getting back to the theory. At some point I'd like to be able to improvise: play pieces with melody and chord charts only, perhaps even differently each time I play the piece. Jazz, of course, is generally played this way. I don't play any jazz yet, but that's on my list of things-I-wanna-do, too.
posted by Pirate at 8:00 a.m.
5 Comments:
Just remember that no one listening knows you made a mistake. It's always much worse in your own mind. In any event, congrates. I wish I could sing, wife just wishes I could carry a note.
Congratulations. I admire your ambition. Performance was always a love/hate thing for me. Probably why I left the Opera world. It is lots of fun to Cantor although it can be a little unnerving. I haven't been able to gather fully. What do you teach and what is your primary instrument? Piano?
Misanthrope ... these people in particular would not have been able to tell there were errors, at least not in the solo pieces, but I have figured out where I tend to get nervous and hopefully I can address that now.
JDT ... you sang opera??? Wow! What is gathering? See, I know nothing about singing, except that everyone always tells me I should do it. I teach high school precalculus and introductory university calculus and statistics. Yes, piano is my instrument. I bought a grand piano about 2 1/2 years ago. Best heap of money I ever spent on anything.
Wow! Cool.. yes, what Misanthrope said, everybody listening is probably just in awe of people with any musical skill, and they never notice mistakes. :-)
Sorry you still have snow! Ack..
Sorry, should have been a comma after fully in my comment :-) I just meant I haven't been able to figure out from your posts etc. I had to learn some piano for the music degree but never go very good. Always wish I had spent a little more time with it.
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