... uh... what was that again?

So on Saturday me and my friend Sharlee, who also has an upcoming recital, went and performed at Jamestown. It was nice to go a play in a low-key setting for some older people, practice performing, and hopefully brighten their day with some music. One lady loudly asked me questions about why and what we were doing there while Sharlee was playing Beethoven's "Spring" Sonata. It is safe to say they brightened my day too.

My De Falla suite was the best I've performed it so far. But Mendelssohn on the other hand. I've already performed it a lot and still had a few memory slips, even in the 2nd movement, in places I have never had trouble with before. In the 3rd, I forgot what came after the double-stops on the very last line! Come on, Denise, you've only practiced this line 10,000 times. It normally takes me a dozen performances or so before I start feeling good about how I sounded. I can play this concerto without hesitation in the practice room, but once I'm in front of an audience it's a different story. So I am doing some things to correct this problem. Hopefully it will work.

I have a cold run of the entire movement with or without warming up.

I play the piece with my metronome at half-tempo every day, thinking about every shift and string crossing before I get there. If I stall, I stop and work on it a few times until I can understand what exactly had been bothering me and fix it.

Every day I play the concerto a few clicks faster than I normally do, pushing the tempo just out of my comfort zone. This will help me when adrenaline kicks in.

Whenever I am just sitting around (not very often but I can I do) I play parts of my concerto through mentally. Highly nerdy, but effective.

I'll probably start knocking on neighbor's doors next and bashfully inquire as to whether or not they have a few minutes to listen.