How to practice performing

In order to learn to play the piano in front of an audience it is a good thing to practice the different aspects of making a successful piano performance. A piano performance consists of playing a piece of music in a musical way without mistakes, and if mistakes occur to minimize the effects of these mistakes. It also concists of meeting an audience and enjoying the experience of seeing real people looking at you and hearing you play.

1. A musical performance. In order to perform a piece of piano music in a musical way it is a good thing to practice this way in the initial steps of the learning process. Probably you will need to practice a difficult piano piece step by step. Let all these musical passages be played and repeated the same musical way you want them to be performed once you have mastered the piano piece.

2. Avoiding mistakes. Of course you want to play the music you practice without mistakes when you will end up playing in front of an audience. I strongly urge you to play the passages of the musical piece you practice with much concentration, focusing on small segments of the piece at a time and very slowly at first avoiding to make mistakes. The more mistakes you make as you practice a piece of music, the more mistakes you tend to make as you perform.

3. Minimize the effects of a mistake. In order to feel confident once you are on stage you need to know that you can handle a mistake. This makes for another way of practicing that is aimed at making you prepared to perform. This way of practicing consists of playing a piece of music from beginning to end as you would perform it in front of an audience. This could be a good way to end a practice session as you play throught the passages you have mastered.

4. Practice performing. In order to minimize stage fright and feeling inadequate when it comes to the actual performance in front of an audience you can do much to simulate the various aspects of a piano performance. If you know how to handle the steps of a performance beforehand you can better concentrate on making a musical performance.

If you do not want to involve too many people you can anyway practice the art of performing in the comfort of your own home. You might as well enter the room where you are going to play your piano the way you would enter a stage in front of an audience thinking about your facial expressions and your relaxation. Practice the way you will react seeing the people, hearing the applauses and cheerings. Learn to relax, smile, bow in front of the public and sit down at the piano and then concentrate completely on giving the audience a great musical experience.

As you start to play the piece of music, try to focus entirely on creating great music. If you make a mistake, try to keep up the tempo and play on with no facial expression revealing the mistake and enforcing the effects of it. You could play for an audience consisting of one person, a teddy bear or some sort of recording equipment to create an inspiring and a challenging environment. As you have completed your performance you can practice meeting the audience, smiling, bowing, showing gratitude for their reactions and finally leave the room in a appropriate manner.

The important thing with these exercises is that you can simulate the actual situation of playing in front of real people and have a feeling that you know how to react to the challenge of meeting real people.