Hey everyone

This sounds like a really bizzare topic but ... Does anyone else get the same feelings when you're practising at home and you think, wow! I'm really enjoying the pieces I'm playing, I'm gonna show my teacher that I've done enough practise and I'm gonna be good!! Then when it comes to lessons time you get kinda shy of showing what you can do and you don't show your 'full potential' ? One of my teachers is telling me that I need to put more expression and emotion into my pieces but I'm worried that I'm gonna look really stupid and silly . I know this topic sounds wierd but I need help!!

ping-lee

Yes that happens to me, for instance I will play a piece really nicely then won't want to show it in front of the teacher. Also, because I play the flute, I have to use my diaphragm and I find that really embarrassing. Also, I could play really well at home then get to my lesson and mess it up completely which really annoys me.

i cant really show expresion. if i played someting like a vilion i might but as i play french horn its harder. my teacher(s) (my school music teacher press gangs me into things like playing at school award cermony) can tell when i like a peice though. i play it with more dymanics ect.

oh yes! this happens for me for piano....

its like im practising a short piece about 2 hours before my lesson and i can play it perfectly well with all the dynamics and stuff

but when my piano teacher arrives in my house and i play the piece, it gets screwed up and it sounds like i havent been practising!
i think that i feel so scared because she sits right next to me...

yep totally:) i think we all play our best in private cuz u feel free to do wateva u want, without sum1 watching u. i play violin & i like to move around alot when playing emotionally - no way am i doing that in public!

I'm like that, I move alot when I'm putting emotion into it, I also do it when I'm really concentrating on what I'm playing. I did it in an audition, oh the embarressment!

I sing and its the same. At home when im praticing songs, i can belt them out really well. But when it comes to lessons, i go all quiet. (well a little) And also when my teacher sings with me im louder, but when i sing by myself i go quiet. I find its easier to when you play a piece in a lesson to imagin your at home. That does it for me. And also rember you teachers there to help you. so dont worrie if you go wrong.

Don't worry guys, this happens to most people. You can tell when a student has been practising really hard though, honest.

Also the places where you break down when playing to your teacher tend to be the places that you are either consciously, or subconsciously worrying about or don't know as well, so note where they are and concentrate on those bits as they are the bits that are likely to crash in a performance.

Oh good! I'm not the only one who gets a bit shy during music lessons!

thanks for your replies, keep em coming
ping-lee

It happens to me as well. In my end of year report, my teacher wrote, "don't be afraid to 'play out'." I always do at home, but I seem to find it harder when I'm playing in front of my teacher.

I do that all the time, I mess up so often in lessons no matter how well I play at home, as soon as my teachers there its just like I cant play it anymore. I get so mad at myself for it!!!

I usually practise so it sounds good but not as good in my lessons.

I play really well and stuff at home and im enjoying at it but i neva fell like o wow i did rly well i wnt to show my teacher.. because that just make me scared nervous etc..