Practice, Practice, Practice

For the longest time I misspelled practice. I used a "s" in stead of the "c". That is typical of practice, it is easy to do it all wrong.

All around my community I imagine pianos playing non-stop from morning till night. Next week is recital week.All my students are feeling the need to work out those mistakes and mental brain freezes for :"showtime".

I thought you might like to know what it is like for the teacher.

Relax, that is not my style. But my hair is standing on end a bit and I have a constant ear worm playing every one's music.We practice at the recital venue the week before. The grand piano there needs some getting used to. The room is big and when the young uns' pound it does sound overwhelming. so we talk about playing musically, sensitively, and with feeling. The piano there gives back beautiful sound to the student who listens and adjusts. For some students these recitals instill within them a desire for a new level of playing.

At the end of the week I start the creative process of choosing the order in which the students play. There are many considerations. Who should go first? It must be someone who is confident and will set the right tone. Tension is contagious and stumbling at the beginning can de-rail the whole evening.

I also consider the style of the pieces and how they will sound together. I do mix up students of different levels. Mostly because my teacher had us play according to ability. I knew if I ever was asked to play last that I had arrived at the position of "top dog" in her studio. This caused unnecessary comparisons which happens, but I wish it did not. Everyone playing started at a different time, at a different age, and everyone has different ability. We bring to the occasion the best we have to offer at that moment which includes me because I have always played something at the end. This is humbling for me and helps me remember the feeling associated with performing.

So here I am on that special night. What, you don't buy it? Okay, this is more likely what I will look like.

I'll be the lady in the corner, close to her students, sweating bullets and praying that all the practice will pay off and that on this day they will "rock"!