Lesson 37: Performance Preparation and Stage Presence
- Prepare and perform a three-piece recital end-to-end, with no retakes.
- Listen back the next day; identify one strength and one priority.
The only way to learn performance is to perform.
Choose three pieces, prepare them past comfort, and play them for an audience — even an audience of one. Nerve management is in the reference; this lesson is about doing it.
Choose the programme
Three contrasting pieces — slow, fast, moderate — at or just below your hardest; reach for music you can play.
Slow
- Vivaldi: Concerto RV 443 (Largo)
- Serene Baroque slow movement.
- Pavane: Belle qui tiens ma vie
- Renaissance pavane — dignified, modal.
Fast
- Telemann: Sonata in C major, TWV 41:C5
- An accessible Baroque Allegro.
- The Rakes of Mallow
- Irish jig — bright, lilting.
Moderate
- Bach: Minuet in G
- Courtly Baroque dance.
- Greensleeves
- English air. Lyrical and ornamented.
The week before
Play each piece end-to-end without stopping, once a day for seven days. Mistakes happen — the discipline is to continue.
Performance day — warm-up
Short on purpose. Long warm-ups burn the lips and the focus.
The performance itself
Set up a phone and play each piece once, end to end, without stopping. Listen back the next day; note one strength to keep and one priority for the next level — catalogue nothing else.
When you have a recording of three pieces — slow, fast, moderate — played in one sitting without stopping, move on to Lesson 38.