Concert Prep – or How I Am Prepping for my Once In A Lifetime Concert Gig.

     In one month, I’m going to be performing Bach’s Sonata in E flat and Rutter’s Antique (as well as some other selections) in the church hall as part of our parish’s concert series. These are pretty rigorous pieces.

The Bach I studied in high school.  It’s surprising how much of it stuck with me. Re-learning it was more like watching an old favorite movie or re-reading a favorite book. There were parts I remembered and definitely parts I had forgotten. But overall it really was like riding a bike again. I think it came back to me quickly and now I’m just working on tempo.

The Rutter, on the other hand, was all new to me. I had heard it performed last year but I never played it myself. The harpsichordist I am playing with really wanted to do it because it was specifically written for harpsichord accompaniment. I’ve been working on it since June.

What I don’t want to do is stress out. I’m the kind of person who tends to freeze at the difficult parts and choke. So my current plan is to play all of the difficult parts every day, and play the entire program standing up at least a few times per week. When I stand up there to play I want to feel so confident that I can do this that I won’t have the need to feel nervous.

Can I do that? My daughter says no. But I used to get really nervous with public speaking. Now I get a little excited but the nerves go away as soon as I start. I also don’t get nervous playing with a group or even playing solo parts with an ensemble. So perhaps one of the benefits of being a musician of a certain age is that the type of nerves that made my hands shake is a thing of the past. Maybe just being thoroughly prepared will alleviate much of that. We shall see. 

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— Elena LaVictoire (@mrsL) March 14, 2018