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My teacher asked me if I would like to play at a recital, and I am planning on it. I will probably be one of the few adults there playing, but I think it will be a good opportunity. If nothing else, I can remind myself to not take myself so seriously if I fall on my face.

I have been playing for about 6 weeks now, so my repertoire is somewhat limited.

I am thinking of:

Romance - Heinrich Wohlfahrt
Little Star - Carl Czerny

Feeling a little fearful, but mostly excited.

Yeah! I am so glad that you are taking advantage of this opportunity---- yes, you will be fearful and also excited That is how I have felt with all instructor-related recitals. BUT it is a great experience, and it does get easier with each time; I can equate it with diving off the high board--easier each time you dive.

As long as you are excited! 😃 Nothing destroys the artistic learning process more than stress and tension. Good luck!

My story, but it's illustrative because it was recent so I remember. I did an easier piece (for me) for my first recital. I messed up when I played, but pulled out of my mistakes! My teacher says you want your first recital to be a success (I'm glad I made errors, because the worst thing happened and I handled it. Also my hands shook like crazy!) So I'm doing a much harder piece for recital 2. I was the only adult. Many parents congratulated me for doing it, which I play piano for myself, but it was real nice of them. I know they could see my hands shaking. Uhhh, 4 minutes of torture that felt so good after! I wish I'd done recitals earlier in my piano adventure. Good for you you're starting right awsy! Hopefully your teacher puts you earlier in the program in case you get anxious. Prep way way beyond when you think you're ready. Your brain may empty out when you get up there. My teacher told me that and she was right!! I rehearsed everything with my teacher the week before. How to approach, what to think before playing, how to bow etc.

Good for you for deciding to do the recital. It actually can be rewarding and fun!

It helps to practice performing as much as possible. Play for your significant other, family, anyone you can. Mentally practice performing, acknowledge your audience, and play.

I agree with the Pianocat3, know your piece very well. Practice it slowly enough that muscle memory is not in control, so that you need to think about what comes next. That way you won't be running on autopilot in the actual performance. Also practice it faster than your performance tempo, so you can handle that if nerves drive you to play too fast. Most of all, relax and enjoy the experience.

I was one of three adults in the first recital, along with about 15 kids. I was also the very last performer before my teacher. I was nervous when I started, but settled once I was into my pieces. I made mistakes. No one cared but me, and I received nice applause, and congratulations from parents afterwards. I have done several recitals since then, and it gets easier over time. Just enjoy the experience!

When is your recital? I have one in May. After learning from past recitals, I will be practicing my songs to death.

the more you play recitals the more you will get over the stress of playing for others and that is such a handy thing to be able to do.

Keep in mind everyone was a beginner once, so do your best and have no recriminations. Best to look at the more advanced players as what you can become with time and practice.

Mine is in May on the 18th. I will certainly be practicing my songs a lot.

I always enjoy reading about people's recital experiences. I am doing one later in the year. (It will also be my first.) Best of luck! Let us know how it goes.

Wow! I can't even play for my iphone without getting nervous! lol Should be fun, have a great time.

Here's some advice on preparing for a recital that may help:

- Still try to work out any areas that are difficult. Your teacher can give you practicing suggestions on how to do this. But about a week prior to the performance, stop trying to fix the mistakes if they still exist. It is time to practice performing it. That means having a Plan B and Plan C. Plan A, of course, is to play that passage perfectly. But should that not happen, you need a Plan B of how you will keep the piece going in spite of the mistake that may happen.

Most of the time, this means just playing through the mistake without skipping a beat. If you practice playing through the mistake, it will be less noticeable and it will also not throw you off guard when you are performing. You will also most likely not be as disappointed in yourself because you planned for it, so it won't disrupt the rest of the piece as much.

- Practice starting from different places in the music. Often, you will want to try playing right after a difficult passage. This would be your Plan C or Plan D: if that passage doesn't go well, just skip to the next part. Being able to start from different places in your music is very helpful to avoid a complete train wreck. If you don't practice playing from different spots, however, it's difficult to do that in a performance.

- If you can, test out the piano you will be performing on. If at all possible, get a considerable amount of time on it, where you can play through your piece or pieces. If you won't have access to the piano except on the day of the performance, see if you can arrive early to test it out a bit. In his case, pick parts of your piece that demonstrate the things that you may need to adjust: if your piece has pedal, pick a spot where you have to use the pedal. If your piece has staccato, pick a section with that in there.

I recently accompanied a voice student for a competition that was held at a Steinway dealer. I played on a Steinway concert grand, but had no opportunity to test it out ahead of time. I'm accustomed to playing on a large piano, but the travel of these keys was not as far down as my own piano. The spacing of the keys seemed similar enough so that wasn't much of an issue, but the shallower travel to press the keys threw me a bit. I was surprised that this was what they had pianists competing on as well. Luckily, I wasn't playing anything technically challenging, but there was another song my student was going to do, and if I had to play that on this instrument without practice, it might have been a mess! Not to mention that the lighting in the room was very dim. Pianists were playing from memory, but since I was accompanying, I had my music and reading with all those shadows wasn't fun.

All that is to say, get as much practice time on the performance instrument as you possibly can. There are so many different factors that unless you are experienced in performing and know how to deal with them, they can really throw you off track even when you are fully prepared to play your piece well. Whatever variables you can reduce - the feel of the instrument, the sound of the room, the lighting, etc. - the better you will feel when it comes time to perform

- Lastly, do a lot of practice performances. Anyone you can coerce into listening, even if it's your family who has heard you playing this piece since you started learning it. Sit them down around the piano and do a mock performance, bowing afterwards and all. Try performing on a few different pianos and for different people, so that this isn't the first performance of this piece.

Hope this helps!

My teacher has me sit down and play thru cold every day for like two months beforehand. This may be because of stage fright or because I'm playing fairly advanced, long pieces or both.

She doesn't agree with practicing faster than ordinary temp. She thinks it becomes habit. So what I did was identify transitions in the piece where I can change tempo slower just in case I sped up or started at a fast clip by accident. You know, use some rubato, audience won't realize I changed tempo.

Strongly agree practice on the performance piano if you can, and get volunteer audience folks. I even escalated it, had them cough or fidget.

Great tips and advice from everyone. I'm never nervous around family and friends but I still get nervous just playing what I've been practicing for my instructor, never mind complete strangers. I have however always enjoyed that awkward jumping out of a plane, impending doom feeling. I used to do a lot of fighting in front of crowds and the energy of the room along with the actions of the sympathetic nervous system make for a truly surreal experience. Sometimes performing in front of others feels like an out of body experience. I've never done a recital but I hope to one day. Good luck with yours and I hope you get a good dose of adrenaline from it.

Did you land on a decision as to which piece to play? For my May recital I've decided on That's Amoré and a Beethoven sonatina. So one popular song and one classical. We hopefully have a group of adults at this recital, so they should appreciate the popular selection.

My recital is coming up on May 6, sooner than I want. My teacher wants me to play Chopin's posthumous c# minor nocturne, a bit of a stretch piece for me. I seem to be following a lot of the advice Morodiene gave above, though. I play it for everyone who will listen (and really, even for those who try not to) and in any piano store or setting where there is a piano and they let me touch the keys. I also have yet to play a recital and not make a mistake so playing through them and not stopping is very important. So far I have managed to do that but this piece is really making me nervous, to be honest.

As always, though, I'll be the oldest student by at least two decades and there is some amazing talent in the kids that play. That's always a lot of fun to see. Helps me be less nervous to see them do so well.

Jandz
Good luck with your recital. That nocturne is a beautiful piece. I played it at my recital last year.

I did decide which piece I am going to play, Romance by Heinrich Wohlfahrt. I had already know this was a piece I wanted to do for sure.

My teacher did not care for the other two alternative choices anyway. I am not sure I would have let that stop me though if those had been my first choices. But her reasons on those were:

Little Star (Czerny). Reason one, it's Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. I love that song, and there is actually a lot that can be expressed with it. Reason two was, the version I am doing is the melody is a little different at the end of the main phrase, and people might think I am making a mistake, especially since it ends on it.

Country Dance (Bartok). It ends on a dominant, which people are not used to hearing.

As far as playing what people want to or expect to hear, I will leave that back in the days when I used to be a gigging musician.

For practicing, in addition to playing it for others and on different pianos, I will be recording myself often. I tend to be fairly 'equal braned' but for some reason, when I record, it triggers my left brain (like performing can) and my left brain gets a little louder and tries to play it perfectly, which gets in the way, and messes it all up. There are many times where I just wish my brain would get along with itself.

Jandz - Good luck in your recital! That is a truly beautiful piece. Have fun with it.

I will also be playing the C# minor p.h. Nocturne soon as one of the pieces that I am playing for my ABRSM grade 7 exam. I played it in a recital a couple of years ago as well. There is so much heart in that nocturne you can do a lot with it.

I guess May is a popular month for recitals! I am not sure if I've ever played either of my pieces with actually zero mistakes, but it's generally as low as one mistake. I'll have to start inviting neighbours over to play for.

I'll play at a recital on Monday. I've been practicing my two pieces for a few months and my teacher has been quite happy with them. I had a piano lesson yesterday, and all of sudden one of my pieces was horrible according to my teacher. She told me that if I wish to play it at the recital I have to fix several things. I know that my teacher was angry yesterday, not because of me, but because of her mood she was quite harsh and yelled at me a bit, which made me very, very nervous about the piece. And now the piece is a train wreck - I can't play it at all anymore. I hit wrong keys, I get stuck, I pretty much fail at everything.

I guess I have to drop it and play only the other one. This is quite disappointing to me, because I have worked on the pieces for months and this came up now, couple of days before the recital. I hope that I won't mess up the other one too!

To try to fix your piece so close to the recital is very difficult...

This is why if I have to play or record something as well as I can, I won't play it to my teacher on the lesson just before. She isn't angry or doing it on purpose, but she tends to find something to improve every time anyway. I cannot assimilate such things fast enough with my busy schedule.

Good luck anyway and if you can forget about this and just play the way you've been playing you'll do fine!

Okay that's brutal. For what it's worth, the first day my teacher ever yells at me, I'll find a new one. Life is too short to deal with a$$h@&:$. No wonder your piece fell apart at this point.

I agree it's too late to make big changes on that piece. Especially if you are feeling pressure about it from your lesson.

I agree about a teacher who yells at her students. Shouldn't happen and should not be tolerated. And to get angry about a piece right before a recital? Unacceptable. She shiuld have kept her comments to few or, even better, none. ,.. or pointed out what you did really well.

Sorry, but I feel like her attitude regarding this recital is all about her, rather than allowing her students to have an opportunity to grow musically. This is what gives recitals a bad name .....and it shouldn't be this way. Ever.

That's rough. It's too late to 'work' on it but maybe try playing it really slowly and relaxed a few times or just listen to recordings of it. You could play it fine before, you'll play it fine again. Maybe still give it a go at the recital?

Thanks for you replies, outo, sara elizabeth, dogperson and sharkeyboard! My teacher is moody and she tends to be very stressed out at the end of semester. I didn't make her angry, she just tends to show her moods. I don't like that, but besides that she is a very good teacher and demands her students to really work on the pieces. Her good qualities compensate the mood swings. This was the first time she actually yelled at me, and she tried to control herself when I told her that I started to feel scared. I agree that she is very serious about the recitals.

She asked me to play the recital pieces and I didn't see any reason to refuse. I just wish she told me earlier to fix the piece. I suspect that maybe the piece was okay, but because of her anger she was super duper extra critical. She was in a better mood by the end of the lesson and told me what I did well, but you know how mind works - I only remember what is wrong

I just needed to vent a little bit here And after all I still have the other piece.

Interesting, she was in a better mood after she yelled at you and put you in a bad mood. You need to charge her for a mental therapy session.

Your teacher is not behaving professionally regardless how good her skills are. She should control her moods and take Prozac or something if needed.. or go and unload on her husband or her own kids after the lesson.

I think you should go ahead and play both pieces on your recital and don't let your teacher intimidate you. You worked hard preparing and now it's your chance to perform, not your teachers.

Meria, I hope your recital goes well, and I am sorry that things went like they did with your teacher.

As far as good qualities compensating, that is not a healthy relationship to be in.

Thanks for your replies PerAspera and Zilthy!

At the moment I don't want to play at the recital at all tomorrow. I don't even want to practice the pieces. Heck, I almost want to quit playing piano! I suffer from performance anxiety and I guess I took a step backwards because of this. I feel very nervous and I didn't sleep well. Feels like I have aggressive and mean butterflies in my stomach. I wish I wasn't this thin-skinned!

I'm so sorry this has happened. I can completely relate to the anxiety and I really wish your teacher was more aware of the impact her words had on you! My advice: get through the recital and then fire the teacher. Or just don't do the recital and then fire the teacher. Either way--fire the teacher. Otherwise you can end up focusing only on the teacher and her "moods" rather than you and your enjoyment of this wonderful hobby. My teacher went through a period of being critical which correlated with her being ill. I almost fired her and I didn't but I took a few weeks off and she's better now. But if she gets that way again I plan to get a new teacher (even though I really have learned a lot from her). Anyway enough about me. I wish you all the best and hope this is just a distant memory soon.

It would not be the end of the world if you miss a recital, just don't quit piano!

Are you studying in music school or is this a private teacher? Are you doing exams? Maybe you should consider how to continue your studies to not let it get too stressful. At the same time I can relate with you, stress seems unavoidable when one puts high demands on oneself. It's easy for people to tell you to fire the teacher, but obviously we don't know your circumstances. Some things also are difficult for people to understand when they are from a very different culture If you want to discuss all this in more detail, feel free to pm me.

Cheers pianosuzemn and outo! I won't quit piano. I'm just tired and worried today, but I know I'll get over it. Playing piano is very important to me, that's why this situation is so stressful. I just hate playing little bit today and probably tomorrow too.

I study in a music school. It's called a conservatory, but it's not a college or university. It's the only one in my small home town. I won't leave the music school, because I don't think I'll find a qualified teacher elsewhere. Most of my lessons are okay and it's important to me that my teacher teaches me properly regardless that I'm an adult and I won't ever make a career in music. Sometimes I suspect that my teacher forgets that I'm still a beginner because I'm an adult. I'm working on repertoire for a Finnish level 3 exam (ABRSM 5ish I think).

Usually I appreciate that my teacher is direct and doesn't sugarcoat things, but this time she kind of crossed a line. I agree that the piece is not perfect, but this should have been discussed and fixed earlier than 3 days before recital. I'll probably play the other piece in the recital. In the first place my plan was to play only one piece, but few weeks ago my teacher wanted me to play these two, because she was happy with them back then.

Good to hear that you are not quitting

I understand your situation, I am lucky to be close to a larger city, but even here really qualified teachers don't grow on trees as we say...

My teacher is always friendly and nice, but also very demanding and often I feel she overestimates my abilities. She loads so much stuff onto me every lesson and that with my perfectionist personality causes a lot of stress. That's both a good and a bad thing. On the other hands stress makes me work better. But sometimes it causes moments of self doubt and frustration, even anger (which for me can be a great motivator). So I am not looking for a different kind of teacher since my teacher's expertice is on a very high level compared to what I have seen myself and heard from the few adults I know who are also taking lessons. I also feel like when it comes to music we can communicate really well, it's only the physical and memory difficulties I have that she does not seem to quite understand...

So it's not always a smooth ride, but what is in life?

BTW. If you only have a couple of recitals a year, it really does not help getting over excessive stage fright. It would help to seek other opportunities to perform. For a few years I did not take part in any of my teacher's recitals or group lessons, but I do now try to go to the group lessons as often as I can. That's where we play to other students in an informal way. I still don't go to the recitals but there are other reasons than to be worried about my playing.

I think a big step for me was to take part in the recitals here on the forum. Before I did that no-one besides my teacher had heard me play. After submitting my less than perfect recordings here it sort of felt not such a big deal to play for others live, because the moments of disaster will be gone and forgotten quite soon. And here you will mostly get support and positive comments which do now harm whether you actually believe them or not

So maybe you could consider recording something yourself if you can, it can be quite liberating. And since you work hard on your pieces, if seems like a waste that so few poeople can hear them.

Yeah, couple of recitals it is, twice a year. Last one went actually very well, I didn't stumble at all and my teacher praised my playing. Maybe that set standards too high!

I go to group lessons every time the teacher lets me in. You have to have somewhat polished piece to play and it takes time to polish a piece. I always feel little bit stupid in group lessons and recital. Bunch of kids and me

I've thought about recording and submitting the recitals here. I just need to figure out how to record. My digital piano records only MIDI-files and I have absolutely no idea what to do with them. On the other hand I don't mind that only few people hear my pieces. The joy is in the playing (most of time, not today).

Your groups lessons sound more like master classes...I can play whatever WIP on mine if I want to...but I do try to practice something to "can somewhat perform" level. I have one in two weeks and no idea what to play...

My teacher has at least 4 other adults that come to those regularly so it's not so bad.



You can use a free software to work on the midi. People here can help you, I haven't used the midi myself.
Does your digital have speakers or do you always play with headphones? If you can play with speakers you could even record with a smartphone. It's even possible to record from the headphne outlet with the right gear.

I don't really care for performing either, but I do find it sort of a measure on how well I have learned the pieces to try to perform them. And after messing up in public I get new motivation to practice them more

The recitals here are also about sharing the music with people who may not have heard it before.

I have a recital on May 22. I read Jandz's post and had to chuckle. I will be the only adult and I am 6 decades older than most of the students. Jandz mentioned 2 decades.I will play a few pieces by Alexandre Tansman from his Pour Les Enfants 4 part series.

I was actually pleasantly surprised to see an older woman walk up and play the drums (!!) during my recital yesterday! She and I had a good laugh afterwards. So this marks the first time I was not the oldest person by quite a lot who performed there. Love of playing the music is far more important than is your age, though.

Thanks to the well wishers also. I did passably well with the nocturne. It has so much color to it, I couldn't resist trying it, even if it is right at the edge of my current ability. Chopin is so intricate and I always play last so I have a long time to ruminate on it (and in this case, forget everything I know) while waiting to perform. I've just crossed my two year anniversary playing, though, so I'm rather proud of how well it came off. The scale passages at the end of the piece were actually pretty even and speedy but I flubbed some of the easier spots so it's all in balance.

Meria, I'm both sorry to hear about your issues with your teacher and glad to know that they won't cause you to leave the instrument. My teacher is also demanding. She wants desperately for me to be more experienced than I am and to be able to speak in terms she understands. I'm just not there, but I sense her frustration at times. She does not yell at me, though, something I might not tolerate. I'm an adult beginner and I don't do this for a living (and probably won't in the future) so I don't need that kind of tension in my life.

Regardless, I wish you and everyone else the best in your recitals. I personally love getting up there and playing. It is a different kind of connection than is playing at home or in a music store. Everyone is focused on and listening to you. It's a great means of communication and enjoyment, and most people there have a great time regardless of how well you play.

Ugh. I am scheduled to play in the recital in a few weeks time. At the moment, I'm not in a great state of mind about it. I feel like no one there is really interested in hearing me play. The beginner kids are cute, the advanced students are interesting, and as for me, all I've got to show for myself is that I'm not dead yet.

You'll do fine. Worst case you flub up ..you are doing something most adults wouldn't have the courage to even try and that deserves respect.

jandz, t's great to hear that the recital went well! That's amazing, playing nocturnes at recital after two years of playing. I've played for 2,5 years as an adult and couple of years as a kid, but I'm not yet at nocturne level.

malkin, good luck! You can do it! I understand what you mean though. In recitals I always have a feeling that the audience is just waiting to get out of there after their kids have played

The recital was yesterday and I failed miserably. I couldn't focus on music or the piano. My mind was all about me, me, me. Me on the stage, me trying to play. I can't even count how many mistakes I did. Lots of stumbling, wrong keys, ghosting notes. I feel so bad that I really think this was the last recital I'll ever do. I've lost my confidence completely.

Oh no! I'm sorry it went so badly. I know how you feel.

https://youtu.be/HE8ewam8AcA

This might help you feel better.

At Meria, I am sorry it went bad, and I know just how you feel.

Back when I first started gigging, I had a really bad night. I completely forgot all the words to one song I was singing, and it kept trying to spiral worse the whole night, playing guitar was a struggle. At the end of the night the owner said to the others "Your band actually isn't bad, just get rid of her."

I felt really horrible and was ready to give up. I am glad I did not though, and I have had some great, wonderful, and amazing performances that I would not have had if I had given up.

I'm sorry Meria! That's always tough. No matter what, though, one poor recital diminishes you not a bit as a person or a pianist. Everyone has days like that, and you had some really unfortunate things with your teacher just before it, too. I wouldn't hold it against yourself. If it were easy, everyone would do it.

If they are not mandatory just don't. Until maybe one day you feel like trying again. If your teacher wants you to, just be frank and tell her that she made you lose your confidence with your playing just before the recital and you don't want to go through that again. Maybe she needs to learn something too...

Meria,



I completely understand where you are, because I was there for decades. I feel the sting.

I implore that you do not abandon performing entirely. Lick the wounds a bit but consider playing for friends at some point not in the too far distant future.

I have found that a big part of performing is accepting that you are fallible and letting go. That is hard. You can take a certain amount of pride in being knocked down and getting up and getting knocked down and getting up ... for a long time.

There is beautiful music in you, but birth is not painless.

Thanks for your sympathy, sara elizabeth, Zilthy, jandz, outo and Whizbang. I've played at four recitals: 3 failures, 1 success. I think the last failure was the worst, probably because I did well in the recital few months ago. I'm discouraged at the moment and I don't think a hobby should cause this negative feelings for days. I was distressed beforehands and now I feel so bad I want to cry.


Oh my! That was a horrible thing to say. The owner is a jerk, really. That is not how a human being should behave! It's good to hear you got over it and have more pleasant experiences.


It's not mandatory. The teacher won't even let students to play if she thinks that the piece is not good enough for her. I have to tell her that her behaviour was not acceptable.


I don't have any friends who would be interested to hear my playing. Maybe performing just isn't my cup of tea - I'm actually a coffee drinker

What a pity! You are welcome to come and play to me

Actually I have two friends/collegues that we get to together with from time to time to just play a little. It's good, but I sometimes wish I could do this with someone a little bit more serious about piano playing (technique and actually progressing and expanding musical knowledge). It's just difficult to find others like me, so most of my "piano friends" are online. It's not quite the same, except those rare times when we are able to meet.

Meria, I'm so sorry it didn't go well 😒 I'm also sorry that the experience brought you down so hard. Don't let it spoil the enjoyment of your hobby and being proud of your achievements. Remember, $&@$ happens, and it happens to everyone more often than we think. I bet your teacher herself has a few memories to share. I would stop appearing at this particular teacher recitals, though. Not worth it. If you don't have anyone to listen to your play maybe just start posting recordings on YouTube? Start a Meetup group maybe?

You should be proud of yourself for doing something that many adult people don't do. I remember getting an email from PianoTV saying that are looking at setting up virtual/live get togethers. I hope she follows through with that. The idea is get a group of people together, via Skype or some other similar platform, and everybody can play something while others watch. It's certainly a technical challenge, everyone would need the appropriate equipment. Maybe PianoWorld could set something up, that would be cool. I think if we spend more time playing for others, it will help the recitals go better. At some point, your body will realize it's the norm, and stop producing adrenaline.

One of my teachers does not hold recitals at all; the other holds what she calls 'piano soiree' in which some of her students meet and play for each other in her music room. Drinking, eating and a little music for those that want to play. She provides NO FEEDBACK on the performance but just is an active listener like the others. The set up is great in that it is a non-threatening performance environment: 'play if you want', 'listen to those that play'.

She started this because when she was a teenager she had a traumatic recital where her teacher was quite angry with her. She vowed never to have her students in that type of environment. I would recommend the thought.

Really, isn't the problem your teacher's inappropriate behavior at your lesson the week before the recital? That would take the confidence level out of the toughest among us--- and self-confidence is what you need to do well!
I hope you do talk wtih her

Meria - I am sorry to hear that your recital did not go well. Recitals are very challenging, and you should be congratulated for having the courage to do it! It really does get easierr with each performance, and remember, it always sounds worse to you than to the audience!

Sorry to hear of your negative recital experience, Meria. Your teacher could have been more tactful and supportive since there was so little time before.

I've had some awful recital experiences, such as forgetting the first note and having to try out a few before I could start (!!) but most of them have been ok with some errors and stumblings. I've only had a couple "pretty good" experiences.

I used to be terrified talking in front of groups, knees buckling and complete panic, but with lots of practice in my job, it doesn't bother me at all now. I hope I'll eventually feel the same way about performing music. The adrenaline rush has at least gotten less with time.

What's helped me the most in the last few years is that before I play I always say a couple sentences about the piece (general information, parts to listen for, difficulties in learning it, etc) Having a chance to speak to the audience before I play, even just briefly, establishes my humanity to them. Even if I completely mess up my piece, at least I've had a chance to connect to the audience.

I'm not a professional musician, I'm a learner, like other learners in the audience. So if I establish that relationship my actual performance is less important than what we can all appreciate or learn from the experience. Some teachers are completely focused on the performance. They are professional musicians after all.

I don't know if this, or something like this, could work for you. Help with refreshments, chat with the audience members before you play. Do something to remind them and yourself that you're all students.

Meria, I'm sorry you had a bad experience. Don't let it define you. Remember that in three short recitals, you got on top of your game and performed well. That is the measure of what you are capable of, not this most recent effort with your teacher's boot on your throat. Your high points are the best measure of your potential, not the temporary setbacks.

I think a lot of ABF members enjoy hearing each other play. I encourage you to figure out how to convert those MIDI files to music, and post them on this forum. I use Pianoteq to convert my music (MIDI) to music and save/disseminate them as .wav or .mp3 files.

There are a lot of opportunities here (ABF) for posting and sharing music. The quarterly recitals, Monthly piano bar, 40 Pieces a Year Club, and probably others. I love listening to my ABF colleagues, and I think a lot of others do, as well.

And, outo's offer sounds enticing, as well! Keep playing so we can hear you someday!

Thank you all for your support. I know this should not be this big deal but somehow I'm still taken aback because of this and I don't know how to handle the situation.

I tried to talk to my teacher about how her behaviour affected me, but it didn't go well. I explained that her behaviour made me anxious and I hope that she wouldn't raise her voice this close to recital in the future and that I understand she was stressed out that day. She got angry and snapped at me that she is not responsible of how I react or feel and I have to take responsibility of my own reactions. I tried to be tactful, but seems like she refuses to take any responsibility of her behaviour in any circumstances, refuses to hear me out and is determined to look this only in her point of view. This is something I could expect from a very young person, but I think she's in her 50s. I'm worried at the moment, because I have no idea if she's going to hold a grudge against me because of this. I'm sure that talking won't make this any better unless I'm willing to lie to her and boost her ego. I'm not willing to do that. Maybe I have to start looking for another teacher.


Having piano friends would be great. I know what you are talking about, it's not easy to find other adult learners.


Students are not allowed to talk before playing, which is a pity. You just walk on the stage, bow, play, bow, walk out. Speaking and making a connection would make it easier. Audience is not interested in me anyway, they are there just because of their own kids are playing, not because random kids and a random adult are playing. Our culture is not small-talk oriented, we don't chat with strangers, so making a connection before the recital wouldn't be easy.

I'm lost with this situation. This is absurd.

I don't like your teacher and I don't think you like your teacher either. I would strongly recommend you consider finding an alternate teacher, though I know it is not always easy.

This might be the first thread I read in it's entirety. Needless to say, it was a roller coaster of emotions.

Things to get out of the way first -

-> The way to use a MIDI file (Assuming you know how to record it, or, google) is to buy (or, *cough* ...pirate *cough*) a VST piano plugin and a DAW (Or just get Reaper, it's free). I use Cakewalk Sonar and FL Studio as DAWs and Native Instruments The Giant (It's amazing!) and Pianoteq 5 as VST instruments. The idea is to run the instrument through the DAW. Load the midi into it, and use DAW's recording function to record the output of the instrument. The instrument uses midi data (Which keys pressed and how hard) to produce high quality piano sound.

Here's an example I recorded last week with the same setup I mentioned above, with The Giant -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9b4soTz0ek

Notice the kind of quality. It's really hard to replicate something like this without thousands of dollars of worth of recording gear.

Here's a tutorial link for beginners on working with VSTs -

https://www.quora.com/How-do-I-install-plugins-on-FL-Studio

Installation process is one time only. After that, recording is a piece of cake 2 click process. If you're still stuck somewhere, let me know.

---------------

What's with recitals in here at Piano World? Do you guys meet together at pre-decided locations and hold a member's only recital?

---------------

Last but not the least, get a better teacher. I failed to read your very last post but after reading it, she's not the right material to be teaching you anything. I wanted to believe things would get better but apparently not.

It feels plausible that a 50 year old teacher is consistently yelling at a 6 year old for not playing piano properly, but the same with an adult student is something hard to imagine. Part of the reason could be that you might have developed a relationship too informal with your teacher. Avoid that with future teachers. Staying formal and keeping an obvious distance which both of you are clearly aware of makes sure that neither the teacher nor the student crosses any lines. I'm just assuming possible reasons for such a reaction from her, that's all. None the less, about time you switched her over for someone better.

My DP also records only MIDI files, but I am too lazy to set up software to convert it to something decent.
This is what I do:
I record my playing to the DP internal memory (it can hold 3 songs + can take USB memory stick that can hold many more).
Then I plug a male to male audio cable( like this one ) - one end to my DP (in headphone jack) and the other to my laptop (in the microphone input socket).
On my computer I can capture the audio input with Audacity (open source software).

For me the advantage is that the end result is the same sound that I hear when playing my DP

If it works for you that's great. But for those who have very simple, cheap $400 DPs that can only output MIDI (Like me), we have to use virtual instruments.

A plus side is, those libraries are huge. Some are more than 60 GBs of pure unadulterated piano sounds. That's a drastic upgrade to the sound quality offered by even the best DPs out there. Secondly, there's so many little things to tweak and so many presets to work with, one can adapt the sound to the piece in question, be it soft and emotional or hard jazz, there's something for everything. Plus if you know what you're doing, there's hardly a piano (or, something way more ethereal) sound you can't reproduce. It's like a guitar multi-effects processor for piano. Only digital and way more practical.

To be honest, from the procedure you mentioned to get your setup working, I find mine a lot easier. It just involves finding a copy of FL Studio, a copy of any decent VST Piano, opening the midi in FL Studio, hooking up that said piano and clicking record. Sitting back sipping coffee.

The next time you have to record, it's the last 3 steps only, excluding the coffee..

Based on that response below, I would get a different teacher. I wouldn't even feel comfortable practicing around a person like that.

It is good to have options, especially free ones.

The one I wrote can be set up in minutes if you have digital piano with headphone jack and a computer with microphone input jack. Audacity is free and open source and very easy to use for capturing audio input.

I do not want to spend a lot of money for Pianoteq (or the other software you mentioned) and high quality piano sounds libraries just to participate in PW recitals, so that is not an option, and I never pirate software (after all writing software is also my livelihood ).

You, sir, would get someone around here to blow their internal sound card to smithereens. Output from a headphone jack of any electronic equipment is line level. On the other hand, microphone jack of any sound card is designed to pick up from a microphone, or an instrument pickup which are much much weaker. Connect a line level output directly to a microphone input and watch how quickly it overloads due to output voltage much higher than it can handle. If it's working, it's barely managing and I don't even know how it's still going on.

You should connect your headphone jack to Line-In in this case, not the microphone in.

That aside, I don't have an income source yet, having passed high school last month and aiming for a university in the fall. To keep up with producing quality content, I have no option but to pirate expensive software as free counterparts are pretty much pathetic. Once I get a stable income source, I intend to purchase legitimate licenses.

I thought this thread was about a recital, not sure where pirating comes in .. maybe I need to read the entire thing. Yea, when I was student I pirated all day long. Then I started working in the software development industry and realized it was nice to be paid for what I did, and that maybe I should stop stealing other people's stuff. So I pay for the stuff now, and being self employed I write it off. Although I can't really say Pianoteq is related to my job, or helps me do my job ;0

There is a sticky thread called Important Topics on the Adult Beginners Forum that links to How to record piano with a couple of methods including the one I described. It works for me quite well.

Sorry that you are in a hard financial situation but that is precisely why it is good to have free options and not resort to stealing other people's hard work.

IMHO, live with what is 'OK' until you can afford to actually pay for what is better. Very sad to me that, not only are you stealing, but you find it to be acceptable to post about it on the internet.

I am not speaking from the perspective of someone with a silver spoon... I have been there where ever penny had to be carefully considered, even for the most simple food.

I know it's wrong. No one would know better.
I don't know one free DAW out there to professionally work on audio. Do you? Audacity? That's an audio editor not a DAW. There's no support for VST instruments and various essential plugins.

Until last year, me and mom skipped lunch and saved $4 every day for 4 months, to collect about $450 for my digital piano. I have big aspirations and still whenever I see an indie developer, I reasonably end up purchasing a license if it's in my financial power.

However, as far as big budget companies are concerned, making literally millions of dollars in an year, a lone sad high school pass person borrowing their software with a promise to pay once some earning starts isn't too out of justification, no?

To be honest, I'm not concerned with "Stealing is stealing". Your freaking government is ripping you off in name of taxes going into pockets of the rich. Those same companies exploit legal loopholes in order to maximize shareholders' wealth and not give those taxes as much as they can. Is using old versions of softwares (no update possible) for a while to somehow start an earning source that frowned upon?

If it is, after all this, I couldn't care less.

Obviously, a lot of us do know better. We use (or have used) what is freely available when necessary.

I know of a couple professional studios that use Ardour.

Audacity actually gets a lot of professional use on a Mac now that Bias Peak is gone. There are many high quality inexpensive versions of software out there also (Reaper)

I ask you now, to please take your entitled justifications out of here, and stop derailing this thread, which is about recitals and experiences, and not about recording or software.

In regards to the somewhat OT headphone jack and blowing sound cards to smithereens ... My last piano was a cheaper Yamaha model which was about to disappear for being outdated, and it had nothing for a jack dedicated to transmitting output from piano to computer. I did use the headphone jack, and it did nothing bad. For audio only I fed it into Goldwave, and for videos, since I have a Logitech camera, the camera's software was set up to take the audio from the jack rather than its internal (poorish) microphone. Both of my sons have studied the electronic (physical) side of computers, and I'll asking them about sound cards getting "blown" - I'm not picturing it. At worst, I'd think you'd get distortion. But I honestly don't know and I'm curious.

At random: This was recorded on the old Yamaha, and fed via cable through headphone jack outlet and into Goldwave:
https://soundcloud.com/usernewtothis/2015-02-27-williams-song

The idea of recording yourself to get over performance anxiety and nerves is an excellent one. Even when you don't share it, the microphone is sort of intimidating at first. Sharing with a few trusted people is a good first step. I sometimes have it running for an hour and then select bits for whatever reason, or just listen, or (with camera), listen and watch. It's also a good learning tool.

Impressions about the recital and pre-recital story described here.

First, about adults near the beginner or not advanced stage, going to a conservatory, because that's where the good teachers must be. I have seen a number of things in forums over the years. The first stage of learning is "formative" - you have to get the basic skills, learn how to approach your music when practising, and the student is "formed" as a student. At a more advanced stage, a teacher will teach interpreting music and such, and the student draws on the skills that she already has. When you get a teacher who is used to teaching performing or interpreting, and you don't have the underlying skills, he may not know how to form those skills. Added to this, the very fact of being an adult can create the association with "advanced student". If you had previous lessons, may not good lessons or you were young and inattentive ... or if you started off self-taught .... then the skills you are missing will be masked. If you need underlying skills, then the teacher you have should know how to give these to you. Someone geared toward performance may not know how to do that.

You also have different "cultures" within the teaching profession: one environment is where everything is geared toward performances (recitals), or exams, or competitions. The teacher may be under the microscope, and judged by how impressive her students play (ambitious parents gossiping among each other, a school that is pushing for reputation, advertisement bringing in students through how many prizes they win). So that teacher is under pressure. How you do becomes a judgment of her. It's not right, but it can happen.

Another thing is that as vulnerable, intimidated, inferior or anything else negative that we may feel toward the teacher who Knows Almost Everything while we are the ones who Know Almost Nothing; that's how we may see it --- they may have their own version of such feelings; especially since you are a fellow-adult, and not a tiny six year old looking up at them. "You made me feel bad." doesn't necessarily engender the response you are looking for: it can well be seen as "You failed as a teacher." "It is your fault that I failed." "You are a terrible teacher." -- because of the tapes playing in the teacher's head. A good defense is go on the defensive, and blame the student, making the student feel bad. .... While we can be thoughtful and diplomatic on our side, you also don't want to be walking on eggshells with a teacher.

I don't know about Ardour. Never used it.
Audacity is absolutely pathetic as far as music production is concerned. I don't have a mac, can't afford it.
The very first DAW I tried was Reaper, because it was free but using it is another thing. I'm still learning and I find FL studio and Sonar much more intuitive.

As I said, I couldn't care less.

As far as derailing the thread goes, my apologies. This is the last off topic post regarding this from my side, and is but a response to your comment.

Remember that the term "conservatory" can mean different things in different countries. Where I am they are places meant to both hobbyists and future performers. Concervatory teachers tend to be well educated and experienced in teaching also the basics to beginners. Whether the teachers can behave well is another matter...

Good advices about recording! I'll try to record sooner or later.


Teacher yelling at little kids would be even worse, because kids won't be able to stand up for themselves. I hope that doesn't happen.

What comes to formality, our culture is informal. For example, people call each other by first names, including students and teachers. Sometimes my teacher has shared her thoughts during lessons like I was her friend. I've not been very happy about that because it's kind of waste of my precious lesson time, but I've listened and said something and then we've played. I don't even know how to keep it distant if teacher starts to chat.


I've used my phone to take videos of my playing. It really is very, very intimidating! It also revealed that I have tension in my hands, so it is useful in many ways.


Teachers in conservatories here teach 6-year old beginners as well as 20-year old musician students. For example my teacher teaches very cute little kids that are almost tinier than piano bench and 20-year old students who play preludes by Chopin and Rachmaninoff. I think you are right about the association as "advanced", I've thought many times that me being this old make the teacher think that I should do better and I must be stupid or mean because I refuse to do better... I don't refuse, obviously I just can't do better yet. That's why I'm taking lessons.


Wise words. I made everything worse by trying to clear the air. Being honest was the worst thing to do I told her that I appreciate her professional skills and her honesty, but yelling is too much for me, but her reaction was like I said nothing positive and all negative or accusations. I'm still puzzled and I'm afraid I can't fix it. Unless she is that kind of person who gets furious fast and forgives and forgets fast. I don't know. This far I've taken her snappiness without saying anything.

Is it possible for you to just request to change teacher for next term? They do have several options in the school I assume?

(Joining this thread very late)

I am sorry to hear Meria had a bad recital experience. If there is any consolation, I can say almost everyone had bad experience at one point, so you are NOT alone. Please don't see this as a "failure" though I can see why this is frustrating. As I mentioned in another thread, many piano students do not fully realize that learning a piece well and performing the same piece in public are two very different things. With more performing experiences, the difference could be smaller and (hopefully) the playing will be more consistent.

In my own experience, I participate recitals regularly. Sometimes they go well and other times not so well. However, I am always glad I did it no matter what the result is. Sometimes I play the same program twice and the second time is worse than the first time. I can not explain this except accepting that anything could happen on stage.

Please don't give up. Good Luck!

Changing teacher might be still possible, I'm not sure. After all I'm little bit reluctant to do that, because starting again with a new teacher is little bit tiresome and it takes time for her or him to figure out what I can do and what I can't. Or maybe I'm just worried that I get out of the frying pan and get into the fire!

That can happen and I can see why you are reluctant. But at some point a new teacher will also give new insights and you still have what you learned from the previous one. Even if the beginning can feel difficult, it could be a relief after your experiences to have a fresh new start with another person.

IN-PERSON RECITALS

* The Europeans get together once or twice a year in a given location to have a piano party

* There's a recurring piano party in Denver, CO

ONLINE RECITALS

* Four times a year, the Adult Beginner's forum has an online recital (2/15, 5/15, 8/15, 11/15). All levels are welcomed and a comment room posted after the recital is overwhelmingly positive. Submit whatever you want.

* ABF members who are interested in a specific aspect of music (composer, country, genre, form) have, more and more frequently, been proposing themed recitals. These are timed to not conflict with the ABF general. Rules for submissions are up to the proposer. Like the ABF general, there is a comment thread posted, and feedback is overwhelmingly positive. Currently: Spanish/Latin American themed recital in the Fall; Waltz recital in spring of next year.

* The monthly piano bar thread is a thread where you can post a video or link to whatever you're working on, outside of the context of a quarterly or themed recital

* Pianist Corner posts occasional themed recitals as well

I'd probably look for another teacher, but I realize that may not be realistic in a small town. Another tactic you could try if you decide to continue (for now), next time it happens, stand up, on your feet and face her. Look directly into her eyes, get some fire in your own eyes, and quite sharply say "Who are you to talk to me that way? You are my instructor, I PAY you for your guidance and you will treat me with respect if you want to continue this relationship." I bet that would be the last time that happens. Of course, the relationship could end right there, which may be for the best. Unless she owns the conservatory, you can always have a chat with her boss as well.

Some people will walk all over you if you don't use a firm hand with them.

Maybe it would be a good idea to investigate this possibility further. Schedule an appt and interview a prospective teacher, talk about your goals, about your negative experience with recitals (without mentioning any names), about the teachers expectations. Don't burn any bridges but just look into other options.

I met with a few teachers before deciding to go with my current one. Your teacher needs to be your biggest cheer leader and motivator. Personally for me it's very important as I am doing a fine job in self-criticizing and stressing myself out without anyone's help, and for free 😎

.

I can identify with a concern of not finding another teacher, because I too live in a small area where there are just not very many. Two years ago I was forced to look for another teacher, with a great deal of concern on my part It turned out to be the best move I ever could've made! I don't know if it helps you any, but I found my current teacher by asking my piano technician for a recommendation. She keeps a very small studio and does not advertise, so it would've been unlikely for me to have found her on my own.

Whatever you decide to do, just remember this is not about you, and any possible deficiencies. It is about your current teacher and her inability to control her mood swings.