Wondering what a musician's day looks like when she/he has a performance that night??
You may not be wondering, but I am in good mood now, so I decided that I would definitely share that experience with you, whether you wanted it or not.
The concert day came. Yesterday. This post is coming now too.
Readers? Well, we will see if any is interested in the topic.
Not that I know how other musicians spend the day of the performance and do they have some special rituals. No, I don't know that. {Though if you are a musician and have your own established habits, you can share that with us. Maybe write an entire post on the subject?}
Different feeling
So, I can speak just for myself, how do I spend a day that is not the same as the other days.
The gigs don't count for me as special days, I am used to them and I could play a gig without even rising up my adrenaline levels. I stay calm and accept it as my work. You know that kind of work you already do almost eyes closed (ok, don't attempt to drive and play the piano with closed eyes, it's not recommendable, just saying). Even if there are a lot of people in the venue, I play that repertoire with a lot of confidence, to be honest, I don't even think anymore while I play.
For a classical music concert, playing for the same number of people in the audience (but to be honest, it is usually for more people) the feeling is completely different. I have a lot of expectations from myself. Others have a lot of expectations from me. We all have to work together to give our best, so I really don't want to mess up. It has to be perfect in several ways. First of all, I want to play without mistakes, without any finger slipping from the keys and producing dissonance. Secondly, perfection is needed in the terms of expression. It doesn't count to play just to make a sound from the piano. The sound has to communicate some higher level of a message, to wake up feelings in the other co-musicians and the audience.
Rest
Knowing all that, I anticipate that image, being there and wanting to give the best. That makes my day already different, but to have energy and be calm I like to have a good rest and sleep longer. However, the morning was something like this: I want to sleep, but an invisible force is not letting me do that. I couldn't sleep, so I gave up trying with that activity and did a bit of curation on hive, practised the piano and repeated once again the activities. I knew the piece by heart. I knew it so well that I could even forget to take with me the scores, but that is when I play it at home. Being on the stage is a different thing.
Outfit
Being on the stage indeed is different. Those expectations... And, everyone is watching you (and the other musicians). The physical appearance also has to be pleasant. We usually wear black, as that colour shows elegance. So, the female members of the choir mainly wear black long dresses and men, suits. I have a very nice black dress, worn it a few times but it is too elegant for some normal occasions. I would wear it maybe with a cloak, also black, so I decided to try it in the morning. Cool, I liked it.
However, the devil never sleeps, the zipper on the back stuck, and I could not move it up, nor down. I almost needed to call the firefighters to help me out of the situation lol. Ok, my husband's help was enough, we somehow managed to free me from the dress!
The dress will pay a visit to a seamstress. At the end of my trying out dress session, I decided to wear the most modest black shirt and black trousers. Black shoes, with not very high heels. Free falling hair mode. Minimal amount of make-up. I was ready.
Visualisation and getting familiar with the environment
This is an important part of the concert day. To get familiar with the scene, the room, to have that space mapped in your mind. Also, meet the piano. Every piano is different, and we pianists have to work with an instrument we are given. Luckily, this grand piano in the Cultural Centre is already well known to me. And it is a good piano. It listens to my orders, basically, the sound I want to achieve is easy to produce in it. All dynamics and details can be shaped on it. Not all the pianos offer this pleasure, so we have to accommodate to all those different pianos.
Additional rehearsal
Although we had rehearsals during the previous weeks, a last, additional ( but in shortened version) rehearsal is always done before a concert. The sound also has to be checked, we were wired :D So the microphones and the sound balance is an important feature that has to be checked. When I don't have to play, and the other soloist have the spotlight, I play hide and seek with the curtains 😂 (ok, maybe don't take too seriously this statement).
Audience coming in - time to get serious
When you see the audience coming in, you know there is not much time left for having fun around all the stuff mentioned before. It is time to get prepared. If you are self-confident and have no fear that rules you, no problems and you enjoy seeing some familiar faces that came to listen to. Also, many unknown people will listen to you for the first time, so I don't know what I prefer more, people I know or not for the listeners. This photo was taken some 30 minutes before the concert started. At 8 P.M. it was full, there was not even one unoccupied seat.
This concert where I played yesterday was the first day of the International Choir Festival. Every year the money gathered from the tickets is given to different charity organisations. This time, it was an organization called AFEM (Association of Families and People with Mental Illness).
AFEM is a nonprofit organization that offers rehabilitation for patients with diverse mental illnesses, support to their families, and professional support from a team of psychologists. They offer different programs to people with some mental issues to reduce their dependence on their families, gain back normal life, work, or have leisure activities (like hiking, crafts, sports, excursions, cultural events etc...). They have a whole program of activities and support they give, much wider than I wrote here. These were just a few things I learned while talking to a few of those volunteers after the concert.
Already empty hall
Empty and silent. So different to see now this photo after seeing it full of people, applauses, music and emotions. The concert went very well, there were choirs from three towns, and we played the last. My adrenaline went up a bit, I heard my heartbeats in one moment and my thoughts. Mainly they were saying to me that everything goes well, I started very well, with no mistakes, a good connection, and we were enjoying the performance. Before my solo part, one annoying thought came and was trying to convince me that I will make a mistake. I was fighting with it, but I also had to take care of the jumps in the left hand, the chords in the right hand, the forte I had to play and expression, so my defence was weakened, and that error indeed came in one moment. Luckily, it was not very noticeable, or the people later lied to me when they congratulated us.
Anyway, those fingers that slipped were not the main protagonist. The most important was the expression and "delivery" - how our conductor usually says. Delivery of emotions. No time to think about the mistake!
Btw, do you know why the hall is empty in this photo? Yes? Oh, yes, as after the concert we had an eat and drink part, where everyone, even the audience could join and enjoy the offered tapas and wine. I had just a fizzy drink, and this was weird even for me. The good feeling after a successful performance was prevailing, and I didn't need any glass of wine to enhance that state (oh, and also my migraine would not like that wine thing, definitely)!
If you made until here, congratulations! And thank you! :))
Also, I am interested in what your concert day looks like. Do you have some rituals you like? What are your habits? Are you nervous, relaxed, do you choose the dress, do you like to prepare yourself... Tell us more in the comment section, or why not make a separate post on the topic?
You know, the Q-inspired team will gladly read your story.
