try not to panic…
No matter how many times you’ve been up on stage, it’s a completely foreign experience every single time, because there is no such thing as a second chance when you’re performing. In your practice room, if you mess up, you can always go back and fix your mistakes. On stage, what you do is what you do. In a way, that means you’re pretty much forced to think less and steamroll on no matter what happens. Knowing your piece inside out isn’t enough. I’ve been on stage with an orchestra far too many times to count by now, but even now each performance is completely unique and unpredictable. You never know what’s going to happen in the heat of the moment; what spontaneous/simple_tooltip] ideas you might try, what never-imagined mistakes you might (probably) end up making. Because of this, I try to understand the meaning behind every single note and picture what it will feel and sound like on stage. That is the only way I can know what to expect and fine-tune my practice to account for the different atmosphere. Starting with the way you breathe to the way you react to your mind, spotlights influence absolutely everything about you.
Discussion Question:
How would you feel if you were on stage?
