my first real solo - emotional roller coaster

[abuteague]

I had my first real solo. Sure, there have been others like for my kid’s preschool class or for small groups of friends. This time about 100 people bought tickets. I was part of a short program where I played with a small ensemble for most of the performance. I had the only solo piece.
I played Carolan’s Concerto. If you haven’t heard it, there is an MP3 by Butch Baldassari under the Celtic section of MP3s on the Café site.
I practiced the snot out of it. I could play it while the radio was on blasting something else, my kids were asking for treats, and while I was walking around the house stepping over toys.
I would hum it when I didn’t have my mandolin with me.
I would listen to it when I was at work.
At rehearsals, I could think about what I would like to eat for dinner while I played it flawlessly.
Then, at the dress rehearsal, they focused this big light in my face. I couldn’t see anything and it seemed so quiet even though I knew I was surrounded by people. I messed it up somewhere in the middle, laughed a bit, and got back into it. I had to do it over. I messed up again. :(
At home I played while looking at the bright lamp I have in the living room. I kept my mind from wandering by silently humming the tune while I played.
I had butterflies in my stomach on the day of the performance. ~:>
The performance came in no time. At the performance I took a deep breath before I started to play and at one point my right and left hand were out of sync resulting in a series of 10 or so muddied or silent notes, but I kept time and got back into sync for the rest of the tune. :crying:
I can’t decide if this was a success or a failure. I can’t figure out how I could have done a better job. When I finished I thought I should just give up performance. :mad: Later, I thought I just missed an opportunity. A day or two later, I think I did OK... maybe. :confused:

So is that par for the course for a first solo?

[allenhopkins]

Yes, it is. Give yourself a few more opportunities to play, and you (probably) will find yourself relaxing and playing more fluently.

You picked a pretty intricate piece for your "maiden flight"!

[Tracy Ballinger]

:)YOU DID IT!! That, in my book, is a tremendous success. So you didn't play it as well as you could have... first-time nerves are hard to deal with. Now, you just have to do it again! It will get easier.

[jim_n_virginia]

You DID it! Congrats! Many people get stage fright and won't even speak in public much less play an instrument in front of an audience.

And you wouldn't be human if you didn't get butterflies before a performance it happens to almost everyone but the MORE you get up there and play the easier it gets! :mandosmiley:

[papa willie]

Congratulations, I get so nervous, I can't even play along with my future son-in-law, who is a professional muscian.

[Dean Fields]

It reminds me of my first and last piano solo. I was so nervous that I didn't just have some quiet notes but had started the right hand in D instead of C. The good part of the it is that I discovered that I really didn't like piano so I started having alot of fun with guitar which led me recently to mandolin. As long as you are having fun the nervous part will pass. Keep on Keeping on!

[groveland]

Cool. You survived. Wasn't so bad, was it? Now do it again.

I am trying to convince my daughter that no matter how much she practices at home, hums the tune, plays an imaginary keyboard on her knee, she will not have it until she plays it in front of people, possibly failing, and possibly playing in front of people and choking multiple times. In front of people is a different task than playing alone.

You can't practice completely for public in private.

But like they said above, it'll get old hat after a while. So get out there and put it on the line a whole bunch more times.



Oh, and by any measure, it was a success - congratulations! Now do it again!

[Jordan Ramsey]

Congrats on getting up there, I think this is definitely above par for a first time out. Like the majority have said, being comfortable on stage is all about experience. The more you do it, the easier it becomes. To help prepare for dealing with future on-stage nerves, go for a run or do some other cardio workout and then practice your material directly after. The high heart rate sort of simulates the adrenaline rush you get out there on stage. Also, eat bananas the day of the performance and drink a shot of whiskey before you go on stage (sounds funny, but it works). There's is no substitute for this kind of experience, so take every opportunity that you can to get up there.

[Fretbear]

You did great; first one is the hardest. You practiced and prepared as much as you could, that is all that you can do. As you are now no doubt keenly aware, there is a factor that come into play in performance or recording where you have to have it down so well, that under the heat of fire (or spotlight) you can sometimes on the mind level not even actually know what it is that you are playing or what is coming next, and yet you can still perform as planned (or at least something close) Nancy Blake has said that she likes to over-play tricky pieces by practicing them at faster tempos than she would ever perform them at, so that when she drops the gear back, it is relatively effortless.

[Man of Wax]

Congratulations!

[Ken Olmstead]

The first is worst!! But it still throws me off to have that blinding light and to hear the sound of myself playing through a monitor. Once you experienece it a few times, it will be one of the things you pschyc yourself up for. It gets way better! You did great practicing the snot out of it so that you were as prepared as possible. Cut yourself some slack and remeber to have fun. Audiences are very forgiving. We are far worse on ourselves!!

[abuteague]

Thanks everyone.

Playing a solo has been a real education.
Being a mandolin player, I've been able to hide behind the fiddles and the banjo for a LONG time. Heck, I could have been playing completely different tunes from the ensemble I play with for the last 4 years and no one might have noticed so long as I kept good time.
When you play a solo though, there is NO WHERE to hide.
It was as if I had suddenly taken up banjo. :))

With this solo, I've been able to observe how supportive everyone I play with is. That was a pleasant discovery to make. :)

And while my performance might not have matched the level I had imagined, I was out there playing mandolin to the best of my ability. At a minimum, that means it must have been a pretty good day.;)

I remain astounded that a crowd of mostly non musicians who all wish me well can cause me to lose some of the connection between my brain and my fingers and the mandolin I play every day. Why and how do I give them that power? :confused:

[pigpen]

I saw Lucinda Williams on Friday night, which was an incredible show. Great musicians, wonderful songs, and Lucinda. I'm still on a high from the show. As a marker of how good it was, my to-bed-by-9:30 wife stayed up and excited through the encore. That says alot.

More to the point. Lucinda re-started several songs when she didn't like the sound. It didn't matter at all. In fact, it was kind of fun to see her reaction. I think, in a way, it made me enjoy the show more. Of course, she was re-starting songs because she wanted them to get the sound she wanted, not because of the foggy mind and jelly-fingers like I get (and it sounds like the OP gets as well). But, it worked for her to make it seem like a live show, not a presentation of music exactly like the CD. I'll try to keep this in mind next time I'm playing for folks.

[Randi Gormley]

My first solo was actually a duet -- me on mando doing the tune and my husband doing chords on his guitar --and my hand was shaking so badly i couldn't even get the pick to the strings. and i'm an old ham, been doing community theater for years. words before the public? no sweat. music? panic city. but we got through it, and i even did the thing right the second time through (we do Chief O'Neill's hornpipe usually). I've botched a few similar gigs since then and twice had to give up in the middle of a piece, unable to proceed. thank heavens we're a community band and the audiences were kind, but those days are getting rarer. I had a recurrance of the hand shakes last summer when I was at 'band' camp and had to play a solo for the teacher in a room full of other mando players, but the teacher played along with me at first and that helped. i figure it's all experience. Someone pointed out to me -- and i'll pass it on -- that you're probably the best mandolin player in the room and the audience doesn't know exactly what you're doing anyway. they just enjoy the music. If you miss a run or an A or something, the only one who actually knows (or cares) is you.

[Bob Wiegers]

as others have said, keep on keepin' on. I just had a first-time-solo experience, and it was whole hour of my own stuff in front of mostly friends from church and the neighborhood. I screwed up a whole bunch of times, some noticeable, some not. nobody seemed to mind and we all had a good time. hopefully next time my right hand wont be so tense and I'll remember to re-tune more often :-)

[San Rafael]

Dude, that's a total success story. There may be a lucky few with ice water in their veins. For the vast majority, taking a solo in performance is harder and braver than anybody will ever know who hasn't tried. You did fabulous.

[Tom F]

Oh ya, nicely done. Especially that you composed yourself after faltering.

When I started (and even now), I found there are more challenges to learning a tune than I imagined. As I see it, there are the different levels that require compounding experience before a tune is really grooved.

First is learning the tune, period.
Then when you play to a metronome (or practice tracks).
Then when you advance the speed.
Then when you play with someone (this is big)
Again when you first perform it.
And again when you perform in front of a big crowd.
Then there is the day of bad PA sound.
And maybe again if you ever record.

Each tier often requires a different level of focus and conscious effort. Of course, when you have years of experience, or perhaps you have nerves of steel or have high level of confidence, you can learn tunes and graduate to the stage or recording much faster. But for many of us, it is quite a process I tell you.

Bottom line is it can be tough to go from walking around the house not even paying attention, to a performance where all of a sudden you are thinking what notes to play.

[JeffD]

Of course, she was re-starting songs because she wanted them to get the sound she wanted, not because of the foggy mind and jelly-fingers like I get.

Well at least thats how she portrayed it!

:))

[JeffD]

I had my first real solo.

....

I played Carolan’s Concerto.


Same experience, same piece. Except in my case I got lost in the center of the B part and and could not find my way back. It was one of those things where I could not start in the middle, and I had already done the A part twice.

So I looked out at the audience after a moment of silence, and said something like ..."and a lot of other notes besides". Got a sympathetic applause out of it.


I still cringe when I think of it. Its a killer tune, but oh so beautiful.