Preparing for your first performance

You’ve picked your piece (or your teacher has), practiced diligently, worked out all of the tough spots, and now your first performance is a week away. How can you best use your short amount of time? As with many questions, the answer is “it depends.”

List, List, List; Always List!

One thing you can do is make a checklist of things to make sure you’re 100% prepared. This would include things like:

• Comfortable playing the piece of music [by myself/with accompaniment]
• Able to play the piece through consistently without stopping
• Met practice goals for the past few weeks/months
• Performed a trial run for friends/family
• Picked out an outfit to wear for the performance
• Had instrument inspected and serviced if needed

If you can’t honestly check off all of the items on the list above (and possibly other things that you’ve added: have you worked on specific techniques, tone, posture, etc.?) then you still have some last-minute cramming to do! Hopefully you can mark all or most of these complete and realize that you can be confident in your ability to prepare for this big milestone in your music career. If you have a lot yet to work on, focus on those one or two main items that you can make the most of in seven days or less, namely playing the piece all of the way through and preparing for the day itself by getting  your instrument and yourself ready with all of the logistics: getting dressed and getting there on time and in one piece.

Ultimately, remember this is your first performance. Strive for your best, not for perfection. No matter how you do, you have space in which to grow and continue having fun. If you’re prepared, I’m positive that you will come out feeling satisfied and accomplished with your performance. also, remember to share this with others who would like to see your hard work come to fruition.

Best of luck!