Tag Archives: musical performance

How to Relax While Playing a Musical Instrument

We’ve touched on this topic a few times but we’ve never dedicated an entire video to the concept of relaxing while playing your musical instrument. There are a number of reasons why this is an important subject and we are going to cover a wide range of aspects as well as some tips in this article and accompanying video.

Above all, being relaxed and comfortable at your instrument will allow you to play better technically. Over time if you develop good habits while playing, you will be able to perform longer and at a higher level while avoiding injury. Playing with tension over a long period of time can eventually lead to damage. More than that, you will have a more beautiful tone when you approach your instrument in a relaxed manner.

Building strength over time by playing and practicing a great deal will allow you to be more relaxed at your instrument. For example, with weak fingers at the piano, it is a challenge to play for long periods of time and you will find yourself contorting your body to accommodate difficult passages. This idea holds true for other instruments as well.

You must take your time to set yourself comfortably at your instrument. Sitting in exactly the right position, having the instrument in the right place, or adjusting your embouchure on a wind instrument appropriately before you play a note is vital.

When you first approach your instrument there are a few things you can do to mentally and physically relax yourself. I personally like to just take a moment and relax my body, take a deep breath and put myself in a very comfortable state. If there is a large audience in front of you, you will probably be a bit tense and nervous. Sitting down and relaxing for a moment and putting yourself into the right mindset will help you immensely.

While you’re actually performing you will want to take every opportunity you can to consciously relax. You can’t shift your focus from the performance, but taking a small breather whenever you can will keep you fresh during the performance. Athletes constantly find moments during games when they relax their minds and bodies or else they would never make it through an entire game. The same is true for musicians.

During a recent trip to New York to celebrate the 90th birthday of my piano teacher from years ago, Madam Ruth Slenczynska, we spoke about how she often makes her hands go limp between phrases as time allows during a performance. This is a way for her to relax and prepare herself for the next passage. At 90 years of age, she is still performing all around the world; so I believe she is on to something!

If you’re playing a violin you can let the instrument rest on your chest during rests as opposed to keeping it in position on your shoulder through the entire performance. When playing a wind instrument, you can let the air out of your lungs and relax your diaphragm for a moment. These “mini-vacations” during a performance can go a long way to keeping you healthy and relaxed in your musical life.

Thanks again for joining me Robert Estrin Robert@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729

Dealing with Failure in a Musical Performance

If you ask anyone who has played music for most of their lives they will surely have at least one experience that was a complete disaster. You must remember that we are only human and sometimes mistakes can and will happen. This blog is designed to keep you in a good mindset with a persistently positive attitude even in the face of failure.

The whole draw of a live performance is to see the randomness of it all. People don’t go to Nascar races in hopes of NOT seeing a crash. Watching a trapeze artist at the circus is something we watch for both the entertainment and the thrill of the prospect of something going wrong. With any live performance there is the element of chance, and it’s something that draws us all in; you never know what will happen next – both good and bad!

The problem is that even though the performers might be confident in their abilities, they can still succumb to random events which end up in failure. There is nothing worse than practicing for a performance and putting in a ton of work only to go onstage and bomb. In a situation like this, ask yourself whether or not you really bombed or you just think you bombed?

Remember this, when it comes to a performance; the things you perceive as wrong aren’t always problems for the audience. Most of the time they won’t know any better – even if you failed in your own mind the audience might have thought you did perfectly well. Even though you might be upset about it, it’s not something you should share with the audience. You must keep these emotions to yourself and put on a happy face when the show is over. You certainly don’t want to point out mistakes and flaws when nobody else noticed them. It is an insult to the audience to tell them they are wrong about their perceptions of the performance. They came out of their house, traveled to where you were playing, sat there for a length of time, they enjoyed the show and they are going to leave happy. The worst thing you could do is put them in a bad mindset once they are about to leave – it is a mistake to let them know what they just dedicated time (and possibly money) to was something you weren’t pleased with yourself; why would they ever come back?

Sometimes failing can be an excellent thing overall. Sure, in the moment it’s going to feel horrible but it’s something you can look back on later and strengthen weak points. It’s a great learning experience. After all, it’s only music – nobody is going to die (unlike a trapeze artist!).

Another thing you will want to avoid is letting mistakes overcome the entire performance. Mistakes happen and the worst thing is to get into a negative mindset which can precipitate more problems – it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy! If something happens during a performance, move on – don’t dwell on it. Focus on where you are in the piece and perform as you know you can. Mental attitude is half the performance and you must maintain your sanity and control.

If you have a performance that ended up badly, the next performance should be low stress. You should put yourself in a comfortable atmosphere and play like you know you can. Maybe an in-home concert, maybe just play for friends to remind yourself how talented you really are. Nothing will build your confidence more than playing in situations where you know you will succeed.

Thanks again for joining me, Robert Estrin Robert@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729

5 Tips for Improving Stage Presence – Part 5 Take Your Time

Welcome to our new series for developing your stage presence in 5 easy steps. Even if you are shy or uncomfortable in front of large audiences you can improve your stage presence with a little bit of practice and a few easy tips.

This series was inspired by an experience I had in high school. One year there was a performance of outstanding young musicians in our school. Everyone was taken with a singer named Judy – her performance was spectacular! A couple of days later I was excited to hear the recording but was left a little underwhelmed – it wasn’t as good as I remembered it.

I began to understand that it was not the actual singing that captivated the audience but the way she presented herself. It was exciting and breathtaking as she engaged herself incredibly well with the audience and commanded attention.

So today we start with the first tip in the countdown, number 5: Take Your Time.

When you are in a performance it’s true that all the eyes are on you. In many cases performers will feel a sense of urgency – that they should rush to their instrument and begin playing as soon as possible. This is not in your best interest.

Your time perspective is different from the audience’s. They are there to enjoy themselves and they want to be comfortable. If you walk out onto the stage and give yourself a few moments to relax and prepare yourself, the audience will do the same. They will end their conversations, get comfortable in their seats, and after a few moments they will be ready for the show.

While you don’t want to make the audience wait too long, after a few moments of silence there is a drama and anticipating that builds within the audience. If you harness this effectively they will be completely captivated by the time you play your first note.

Be on the lookout for the rest of this series in the coming weeks. Thanks again for joining me Robert Estrin Robert@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729

How to Give a Tuning Note on the Piano

You might think this sounds simple. (All you have to do is play a note, right?) but there is actually a lot more to it. Tuning correctly with other musicians is vital to a good sounding performance.

I can’t tell you how many times my wife Florence (florenceflutist.com) and I have attended a concert where we see the musicians barely pecking out notes when tuning. Many times we look at each other wondering how they can possibly be sure of their tuning. That’s because they aren’t playing the notes anything like they will play in the performance.

One great technique when tuning is to play the tuning notes separately so you can compare the pitches. It may be easy to tell if you are in or out of tune, but to know whether you are high or low can be difficult when playing at exactly the same time. You can certainly overlap the notes, but have at least some time where you can hear the pitches separately.

The best way to play a tuning note is to alternate notes and play them out – just like you would in the performance. On a piano you can add D and F below the A forming a D minor triad which is easier to tune to. (You can also provide an A Major Chord, A – C-sharp – E and the A an octave above.)

For an example of this technique watch the video included with this article. Florence and I demonstrate our technique for you that we use in every performance we play.

Sometimes soloists are squeamish about tuning – they don’t want to play too loud if they don’t have to. (They seem concerned about alienating the audience). But it is far better to endure a few moments of tuning than suffer through an out of tune performance!

So remember to take your time with tuning and make sure the soloist is comfortable and has time to adjust their instrument as needed. You should never rush a tuning and you should always make sure you are tuned properly before you perform. Your audience will appreciate it!

Thanks again for joining me Robert Estrin Robert@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729

How to Hide Mistakes in Your Musical Performance

Everyone practices a great deal to avoid mistakes but we are all human and sometimes mistakes just happen. I don’t care who you are or how accomplished a musician you are, there are a myriad of reasons that could create a mistake. There could be a problem with the instrument, there could be a distraction in the audience, a finger could slip, your memory could fail for a moment; the list goes on and on of potential problems that could lead to a mistake.

The best thing you can do as a musician is to play with continuity. Let’s just say there is a really big train with a lot of cars. If the train derails, there would be utter chaos – the cars would go everywhere and you would have a huge mess. But if instead of the train derailing, it simply slipped back onto the track and kept its course, while the event might be scary, it would not lead to disaster; instead the train would simply chug along almost as if nothing ever happened. This is how you need to think about a musical performance. It must keep moving along!

The worst thing you can do as a performer is to stop and dwell on a mistake. It’s absolutely crucial that in the event of a mistake you continue to maintain the proper time of the piece and make sure that you don’t stop playing. If you make a mistake that is jarring for the audience, everyone will notice no matter what level of musical sophistication they have. Just like if you are watching a movie and the frame skips even a few seconds forward or back, it is much more jarring than if there is a moment of blurriness or garbled audio.

The most important thing is to keep the music moving. This is essential when you are playing with other musicians because you will not be playing together if you lose or gain time! Even if you miss a note or crack a note you must keep moving; don’t let a mistake slow you down or stop you mentally. If you pull this off correctly nobody in the audience will be offended by the mistake. You just have to keep the flow and the time of the music intact and everyone will enjoy the performance even if it’s not perfect.

Thanks again for joining me Robert Estrin Robert@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729

How to Adapt to Room Acoustics in a Musical Performance

This is a very common problem for many performers and it can be a challenge to overcome. Learning the correct playing methods for different room acoustics can be tough but I’m going to give you a few tips to help you out.

I performed a concert recently at the Laguna Beach Art Musuem. The room was incredibly loud – it was in a museum gallery with wood floors and a tall ceiling. The sound reverberates incredibly well in that room and with too much volume it can be overwhelming to the audience. So how do you cope with something like this?

The general key to adapting to room acoustics is that the more “live” (echo and reverberation) a room is, the more clean and detached you’ll have play. For example, if you are performing the Schumann Sonata in G minor in a loud room, you will want to limit the use of the pedal and delineate the notes to make things clear. You don’t want to play too legato in a loud room, it will muddle the notes. If you are in a quieter room with carpet and dry acoustics you will want to use more pedal and play legato; it will produce a better sound for the environment.

The ultimate way to test this is by playing in the environment in which you will perform. If you have the opportunity you should get to play and test out the piano in the room before performing. A big challenge is that once people are in the room the acoustics change because the bodies absorb sound! If you are unable to get into your performance space early and get intimately familiar with the room, just follow the general guidelines listed above.

Thanks again for joining me Robert Estrin Robert@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729