It’s that time of year again! Flowers are bursting into life, birds are singing, music students across the country are furiously practicing (hopefully) to get their recital music in shape. First timers are often surprised to learn that they don’t sound as well as they did in the comfort of their own home. That’s because performing is a skill that gets better with time. Just like you practice playing in tune, you have to practice performing! Here are 5 tips to help you dropkick your recital.

1. Perform, Perform, PERFORM!

There are people who are naturally wonderful at everything. And then there are the rest of us who actually have to work for it. But people who perform well have practiced performing. I guarantee you, when a 10 year-old prodigy performs at Carnegie Hall, it’s not the first time they’ve ever played in front of an audience! You must practice performing to be good at it! Start with your most adoring fans: your goldfish, your stuffed animals, your music-loving houseplant. Then move on to more demanding listeners: your dog, your mom, your little brother. Then go for the really tough critics: your grandparents.
Go through the whole rigmarole when you practice performing. Dress up, walk to the stand, play, bow, smile. It’s also a good time to school your family on recital clapping etiquette!

2. Think about the little things.

It’s those pesky things we never though of that trip us up. Like the fact that the pretty necklace we bought just for the recital buzzes when it touches the violin. To avoid wardrobe malfunctions, have a dress rehearsal. Get used to playing in those 6 inch heels. Make sure your dangling earrings aren’t too dangling. Does your collar or tie interfere with your violin? Figure it out before you go deer-in-headlights in front of 50 people.

Think about the other little things. Imagine yourself in the space you’ll be playing. Memorize how high you like your stand. If you are playing from memory, where will you look? Figure out page turns, erase confusing markings in you music. People develop weird quirks when they get nervous. I’m a nose-runner so I keep a hanky handy. Know thyself and be prepared!

3. Don’t Rush!

When adrenaline is pumping through your veins, the natural instinct is to play everything super fast. You’ll get done quicker that way, right? Well, yes, but you’ll hit a bunch of pot holes along the way. At home, practice at a faster tempo than you plan to play at the recital. Just in case your nerves take control, you’ll be prepared. But always plan to play at a tempo slower than your max speed. It’s better to go a little slower and get all the notes than go faster and get every other one.

4.Whatever happens, don’t do this!

Everyone makes mistakes. What separates the professionals and the amateurs is what they do after the mistake. If you grimace like you just swallowed spoiled milk, everyone will know you goofed. If you go on and pretend like nothing happened, there’s a good chance no one in the audience will ever know! But if you stop, grunt, roll your eyes, and publicly flagellate yourself for messing up, it’s like taking a highlighter to your boo boo. Keep a straight face and keep on chugging along.
Performing is like being an actor. You have to pretend you know what you are doing even if you want to crawl in a hole and die. Recital audiences can be oblivious, only slightly better listeners than your houseplant. Even if you make a mistake, and an audience member thinks he heard it, if you keep on going without a scowl, that audience member will shrug and think you meant to do it that way.

5. Eat a Banana!

Seriously. This is a hint handed down from my teacher. Anytime I perform I eat a banana about 30 minutes before I go on stage, even if I have to force it down. It’s hard to eat when you are nervous, but you don’t want to perform on an empty stomach. Bananas reduce anxiety. It’s scientifically proven—probably. Surely someone’s proved it scientifically. Oh, who cares. It works, scientific or not. So grab a bunch before you start getting the jitters!

When you get discouraged, remember, if it were easy, everyone would be doing it! I’d rather mess up on the field than watch from the sidelines.

Happy Practicing!

How do you make young children enjoy practicing their instrument? That’s the million dollar question.

When I tell people I play the violin, I almost always get one of two responses. The first, proclaimed with joy is,“Violin is my favorite instrument!” The second, muttered with a hint of remorse is, “I played violin in fourth grade.” When I ask if they still play, they give me a hapless shake of the head. If violin is everyone’s instrument of choice, why doesn’t everyone play it? Why don’t they keep it up after they started in 4th grade?

If you play violin or have a child that does, you probably already know the answer. Violin is a difficult instrument to learn. Period. Like mastering any complex skill, it requires an immense amount of dedication and self-discipline. That’s one of the reasons we all want our children to take music lessons, right?

Most children are excited to learn violin but after a couple months, once that honeymoon phase has worn off, they all begin to wonder if the juice is worth the squeeze. This is one of the most critical times for a young player. They will pitch fits, whine, refuse to practice, beg to quit lessons, and drive parents insane. It’s at this point when students are on the brink of understanding all that wonderful self-discipline, that parents give up the struggle and let their children quit lessons, thereby erasing whatever self-discipline they were about to learn.

The Hump

I call this moment, “The Hump.” (You’re supposed to whisper it with great fear and trembling.) Don’t think you or your children are immune. It hits everyone, young and old. I was there as a young piano student and my mother let me quit. Now, being a violin teacher, I would give anything to be a better pianist. Remember, you never hear adults say “I’m so glad my mother let me quit music lessons.”

If you’re an adult experiencing the Hump, this is the point when you have to push through. But if you’re a parent, you’re going to need some different tactics. (I call them tactics because this is WAR!)

Make a Plan With Your Teacher

First, talk to your teacher. Sometimes it’s not obvious to them that your child is going through the Hump. I change my own tactics during this time to help students stay engaged. Your teacher probably has their own ideas to help you.

Creating a Rewards System

There’s definitely something to be said about rewards, especially at a time when children haven’t learned to do something for it’s intrinsic value. Developing a reward system for your students is a great idea to get them over the Hump. Ice cream at the end of good lessons. A dollar for every song completed. Being excused from doing the dishes to practice (this was my mother’s tactic).

On the flip side of rewards, you have to be firm in withholding them when progress is not made, otherwise they’re worthless. Keeping your child motivated with live performances or youtube videos are other great ideas.

Make Practicing Fun

There are lots of ways to make practicing something children look forward to. One way is to learn violin as well. When I have children and parents learning violin together, the children always progress faster and enjoy playing more than the students whose parents aren’t involved. Even if you can’t learn violin too, keep students motivated with performances (whether live orchestra concerts or YouTube videos). Getting creative with your practice time can keep it from being another chore.

It’s All in the Mindset

Watching parents over the years, I’ve learned there is one tactic that is essential to keeping your child in lessons during the Hump. It’s the “over my dead body” tactic.

Even the most innocent children will turn into little devils and try to make you bargain. They will think of reasons to skip out on lessons, forget their music books, use practice time to make the most painful, inhuman sounds on their instrument—just to drive you mad. The minute you start to bargain and say things like “Maybe we’ll take a break for a few months,” YOU’VE LOST.

You don’t bargain with them about attending school or taking showers. Why would you bargain on something you know will make them better, well-rounded adults? When parents adopt the “over my dead body” approach, something amazing happens. Students resign themselves to lessons and within a few more months and they’re surprised at how good they sound!

Remember, if you give up now, music lessons were nothing more than an expensive experiment. Students have also inadvertently learned that’s it’s okay to quit when the going gets tough. Stand your ground! Make your children practice! Trust me, in about twenty years, your children will thank you.