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I have my sophomore recital(college) coming up really quick and I just thought I would put the program up here and see what you guys think and extend an invitation to all those forum people in southern california that want to hear me mess up :rolleyes:

Well heres the program:

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Bach - Prelude and fugue in Bm WTC Book II
Beethoven Sonata Op.31 No.3(complete)
Rachmaninoff Moment Musical Op.16 No.4

Intermission

Bach - Prelude and fugue in Em WTC Book I
Chopin Scherzo Op.39 in C#m
Chopin Nocturne Op.27 No.2 in Db Major
Prokofiev Toccata Op.11

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I tried like 10 different ways to order all the pieces but I think this is best.

Anyways some of the pieces are relatively new so I'm super stressing out because they are not REALLY ready and my recital is on the 19th of this month.

But I figure most of the audience won't have a clue that I'm faking the scherzo and the last mvt of the Beethoven sonata

That's about it if anyone is interested in going PM me and I would be happy to give more info.

Although I got no replies I thought I would put an update on how my recital went

I have never played a solo recital on this scale before so it was pretty nerve racking. The first piece I played was the one I was most confident with and I couldn't believe what happened to it, it completely fell apart it was literally almost incoherent. I didn't even feel like I was in the room when I was playing it was extremely emberassing.

Then I walked out shaked out a bit and played the Beethoven Sonata. It went much much better than I had expected, sure I had a few blips every once in a while but the recording of it that I got made me feel like they were really insignificant even though they felt like a big deal at the time.

I ended the first half with the very showy Rachmaninoff. I've been playing this one for probably 2 years in performances and so I hadn't worked on it for a while just played through it everyday for the months before my recital. Then the week of my recital it fell apart, I couldn't handle it anymore. I ended up having to fake quite a bit of it techinically, however on the recording again except for a few semi-major blips it sounded pretty good, I was happily surprised.

Then I opened the second half with another Bach Prelude and Fugue still some more blips but nothing to be too worried about, it actually came out pretty well.

Then I had to play the Scherzo, it's the newest piece I have and not quite polished as well as I would like. But all in all I think it came out pretty well for how new it was. My nocturne was next... I always play this one well but it just didn't feel as great as usual oh well...

Finally I played the Prokofiev Toccata, that was some unfortunate programing I was sooo tired by that point I didn't think I could play it still. It came out a lot better than I thought it would though, but mentally I was so exhausted that at the easiest part(besides the repeated note section) of the piece fell apart. I forgot what was coming and it made a pretty major stop. It was a pretty disappointing beginning and end

There was about 100 people there, I was really surprised. The recital hall holds 100 people and there were only a couple seats still open. I was really happy with the turn out.

All in all although there were some really major problems I was pretty happy with it because the pieces I knew were going to go bad went well. And everyone really liked it. I don't have half as much experience as I should because of the small amount of time I've been studying so I still have a lot to learn, but I've performed literally hundreds of times since I've been in college so I've been trying to catch up. I think I learned a lot from the experience and that's what's most important! The next solo recital I do will be really good!

I do have really good quality recordings of the recital though so if I can find a place to host them I'll post the few that were ok :rolleyes:
I played in a pretty nice recital hall on a Shigeru Kawai Concert Grand. My school is like the main "Shigeru Kawai" school or something. So they shell out massive amounts of money for these pianos that are really nice but too expensive I would take a steinway D any day, this piano I played on was about 140k dollars

Ok I'm done rambling! Thanks for reading!

Congratulations on making it through a major recital with nearly 100 people present!!! "Pretty nerve racking" is a major understatement considering the length of the program and the size of the audience! And I wonder if you are being harder on yourself than anybody else who was there...to get an audience of that size, word must have spread that you are pretty good.

All in all, even if you did stumble in places, it's clear you were able to recover and come back to give a strong overall performance. Good job!

I would think that Scherzo would be pretty hard to play in front of 100 people. I have to give you props. Playing in front of a lot of people is nerve racking but the more you do it the more a custom you come to it.

wow, I'll be lucky if 1/4 of amount of people that came to your recital show up to my Dec. 14 recital.

It's on a Wed @ 7:30pm and alot of people have work and what not. It's not the most convenient time for other people

Anyway....congratulations! You made it through, thats the main part! That Scherzo is not easy, good job! I think I know why the Rach fell apart for you when time came to perform. You shouldn't just play a piece from beg to end esp. for months and moths. If you're going to maintain a piece for that long, you should always practice it very slowly and hands seperately at least twice a week, remembering what want to show when you perform it.

I know this from past experiences. Playing by rote is extremely dangerous esp. when 100 people are watching! Slow practice is the key. Don't perform the piece from beg to end when your practicing-leave that for 1 week before the recital.


Again, Congratulations! I'd surely like to hear some recordings of the recital but I can't host. Maybe someone else can.

-Paul

I know, the recitals here in Florida have empty audiences mostly when a student has a recital. The last one i went to, which was in October, had roughly 20 people in an auditorium that held over 300 people. Most of the students who attended were required to attend a recital to have credit for "recital attendance".

I never had to have a big recital like that when I was getting a degree because I was only going for a B.A. in Music not a Performance degree, so the recitals like yours were optional . . . fortunately for me. They didn't even ask me only once to play for a student convocation which was a disaster, probably why I didn't get asked again, hee hee! I was wanting a degree in composition actually but since I was going later as an adult, had switched majors from what I had done for 2 years when younger, just wanted to compose for a hobby, and eventually teach private piano, be able to say I finished my 4 year degree, I opted for a B.A. but took as many composition courses as I could.
Anyway, coming from the college perspective of playing for juries, master classes, in front of guest lecturers, that one convocation, I think the whole college performance situations like yours are the most nerve-wracking and high pressure of all types of performances. I used to be fine playing for my instructor at lessons, for myself . . . but for juries, in front of professors for a final grade, for college peers, now that was another story. During this time, there is a lot more riding on the outcome. The piano faculty when I first entered the degree program was skeptical that I could even get to the level of playing needed to graduate. I finally got fed up and told my advisor (also a professor of Piano), I would haunt the dept. until I was 65 if that's what it took me to graduate. I was determined to get where I wanted with my music regardless of what it took.
I had a conversation with my instructor once about "what's the point of having to do all these performances in front of others to prove how well one can play?" sort of conversation. By the outcome of our conversation, I realized that all that performing in college is really training grounds for being able to perform comfortably in public in a music career. I'm sure there is more to it then that, but one thing I gleaned. It was a good place to overcome the nervousness, learn a lot, etc. After all that playing in college in such a high pressure environment, I think playing for a public audience (when it's not counting for a grade), where your playing for merely the enjoyment of the audience and your own enjoyment, that type of performing is a piece of cake compared to college performing toward a degree and a grade, etc. (Plus when you add all the work in all the other classes one has while trying to prepare your music . . . !)
I'm not in a performance-oriented career, but all that playing in college enabled me to comfortably play in front of my students, their parents, and other small occasional audiences with a lot more ease and confidence that I would have not had prior to the college experience so it was good training grounds. I still get nervous, but feel a lot more confident after all those college experiences. The point is the more you do it, the easier it gets, at least in my opinion. Good luck! I'm sure you sounded great! When I play for my students like at a student recital, I know exactly where all my little flubs are, but everyone else is impressed and all my students think I played perfectly with no mistakes. I tell them, "well, I made a lot of mistakes" so they know I'm not above the flaws either.

Well, I'd definately like to hear your performances, so please find a person to host it! I highly doubt that your playing is as bad as you think.

musicmanbj, aren't you the guy that claims you've only been playing piano for a total of 3 years and yet you have performed "literally hundreds of times" and have a very difficult recital program? pardon me for asking I am just curious I thought you were taking the **** back then when you went on about it but now I'm curious how long you truly have been playing?

It doesn't matter how long I've been playing, theres no reason to be rude. I'll tell you in a PM though if you really want to know. There isn't any reason to tell you in public because I will be critisized for it.

And I perform a couple times a week for the masterclasses my school holds with my teacher and her students. Plus I do about 5 competitions a year, a couple small recitals, and maybe 3 real masterclasses a year.

Nice choice on the Beethoven, I love the humour in that Sonata.

Thank you, I think it is a lot more difficult than people give it credit for.