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.
- Lesson 10 — first performance.
- At least one piece ready to perform.
- Pre-performance preparation.
- Stage presence basics.
- Recovering from mistakes.
The only way to learn performance is to perform.
Choose three pieces, prepare them past the point of comfort, and play them for an audience — even an audience of one. The technique of managing nerves is in the reference; this lesson is about doing it.
Choose the programme
Three contrasting pieces from your current repertoire — one slow, one fast, one moderate — at or just below your hardest. Performance reveals weaknesses; 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. Record one run-through each day; listen the next morning and note one thing. 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. Play each piece once, end to end, without stopping. Stop the recording, walk away. Listen back the next day — perspective takes time. 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, and have listened back calmly the next day, move on to Lesson 38.
For technique — managing nerves, what to do mid-mistake — see preparing to perform.