Final night we attended a performance by the Seattle Symphony of Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto. If you have ever heard of film Shine, you know how daunting this piece would be to a concert pianist. It’s a 40-plus moment workout, consisting of 30,000 specific notes, every one of which may have become performed-often at lightning speed-in a particular order; with nuance, dynamics, and passion; live; from memory; in front of a discerning audience of several thousand people, and a far more discerning orchestra and conductor.
Can you state “pressure”?
The soloist, Kirill Gerstein, performed brilliantly.
Exactly what does it try try this? Exactly what does it simply take to do at your absolute best when it matters most? When all eyes are on you, and expectations are high?
The important thing, because it works out, is to maybe not look at the notes.
A musician of Mr. Gerstein’s caliber is not thinking, “My first note is a D, which I play with the first finger of my right hand by the time he hits the big stage. Then comes an F, enjoyed the finger that is fourth ” he is already done that work. He is done it countless times he can focus on the music that he doesn’t have to think about the individual notes; instead. Their hands know what you should do. And, in reality, if he starts taking into consideration the notes that are individual he’ll probably choke.
I’ll bet you’ve had this experience. Maybe not as a world-class concert pianist; possibly for you it’s a putt you’ve made 1000s of times before, or a message you’ve practiced a huge selection of times. However when that moment that is big the funds is on the line-you choke. Why is that?
It is because you thought about the notes.
Without getting too technical, the human brain basically remembers things in two ways that are different. There is the stuff-the that are short-term you need to be focused on today. And then there’s the long-term stuff-the things you know therefore well you don’t have to think about them. How does this connect with both you and your big message?
Well, if you’ve practiced it countless times in your sleep, the individual words (and their order) move into the long-term area of your brain that you could practically deliver it. This renders your short-term area offered to give attention to your presence, your delivery, your reference to the audience, and whatever else which may come up within the moment.
However, if, in an instant of panic, you bring the long-term things in to the short-term section of your brain-in other words, that you need to perform at your best if you start focusing on the notes-you overwhelm the very part of your brain.
The clear answer would be to stop taking into consideration the notes, and also to rather look at the music. Stop thinking about the words that are individual and instead focus on the message you need to convey.
Isla