Hey
I've been entered for my grade 6 exam in the summer by the music college which I attend, I have never sat an abrsm exam so i'm a little nervous.
Usually I love to practise but the last couple of months have been terrible. I seem to have lost all my confidence and never feel the urge to practise. I had to play a peice the other day for my tutor and I got so nervous that I was in tears. Usually I don't get that nervous with piano, I usually quite enjoy playing for other people.
I'm not sure if it's because I have just left school and started music college or if it's because this other student on my course keeps correcting my mistakes in front of my tutor which makes me feel soo degraded and humiliated in front of him. I played a piece the other day which I knew myself was far from perfect, well this student sat down to show the tutor how I should have been playing it which left me totally embarrassed.
I love piano and I want to practise, how do I get my confidence and the enthusiasim to practise and play back?
Has anybody else ever felt like this before?
Any advice would be sooo very much appreciated
Thanks PSL x

This other student is either trying to show off and ingratiate him/herself with the tutor, or else is genuinely trying to help. Either way it's effect on you is clearly devastating. I would recommend that you discuss it in private with your tutor and find out how your tutor feels about it. You might also have a word with the other student - let them know that you don't find it helpful, to say the least, and would rather he/she didn't do it. Then sod the lot and get on with enjoying music - if you don't enjoy the stuff you're being asked to play then either don't play it or regard it as an exercise to be got through.

Thanks alot for the advice. The whole class feels annoyed (not sure if that is the right word to use) because this student seems to do it alot so it's not just me who feels humilated. Whether or not they are trying to help me which I would be grateful for it is not. It has totally shattered my confidence and I absolutely hate playing infront of them and now get very nervous playing in front of other people which before I had no problem with. I just think I have to find away of getting my confidence back sooner rather than later because I feel my confidence over all in music college in all aspects is starting to suffer.
What can I do to help this?
Thanks alot PSL x

Is the tutor also your personal piano instructor? I would have a chat with your own piano instructor (unless it is the same person). Have him/her remind you of your potential/good points or something(?)(unless you're not that comfortable with your instructor). My confidence waivers too when it comes to intimidating settings or just even having a bad lesson with my instructor. Just remind yourself how far you've come and remember that it is possible to "psyche" yourself out. Once a performer's confidence is gone, it is nearly impossible to play up to your own standards. Go into class with a smile and laugh (inside) at your mistakes. Concentrate on being musical and focus. When the guy points out your mistakes....tell him that you were aware of them and remind yourself that he's just as insecure as the next lot of us, and probably more so because he feels the need to be so critical. I agree with the above to have a chat with the class tutor.
Sometimes you need to 'act' confident for it to become internalized. Every day, visualize yourself going into class and playing with confidence. Then, when it comes to physically walking into class, your confidence will start to become more genuine. (Confidence, as in being self-assured, not snobbish or pretentious...then you'll have the other guy's problem )
Best of luck!

Hi _ You've has some good responses but hopefully this can help as well. I sat my firxst ABRSM exam last year (grade 3) and was ridiculously nervous. I was 45 at the time, have sat more exams in my life than you can shake a stick at and was a wreck. A large part of the fear was the unknown and when I do grade 4 I hope it will not be so bad. Remember the examiner wants you do to well. He/she is not there to trip you up or make you look foolish. And besides if you are able to do a grade 6 exam you are already a good player. One thing I find useful is memorising a piece and really pulling it apart and being able to stop and restart almost anywhere. If you can do that you really know the piece inside out and that helps the confidence. Also learn the scales etc so you can do them in your sleep and they will be easy marks. and play in front of other people as much as possible, judgemental ones and non-judgemental ones. I play for my Mum but she thinks everything I do is great!! So not your Mum all the time. If the guy continues to be a pain next time he does it just close your eyes and imagine him sitting on the lavvy. That will cut him down to size!!! Good luck.

I very much agree with Canam about confidence - if you think you can play something, nine times out of ten it will happen; similarly if you tell yourself it's going to go wrong, nothing surer than that it will. Try to forget that this guy is even in the room, and play for your own enjoyment and satisfaction.

A big part of performing is communication with the audience, and if you are enjoying yourself, it shows. As a listener, I'd far rather hear a piece with a few mistakes where it's obvious the performer is having fun, than hear a perfect piece with no emotion in it. Don't let anything or anyone come between you and your music - particularly not someone whose idea of class participation is to put you down.

your tutor is totally out of line to allow this to happen. Speak to your class rep, student union rep, the senior tutor, another lecturer you like, even the head of department ..... believe me, they are required to respond to student complaints and feedback about their learning experience. Don't wait until the semester is over to give your feedback anonymously, it's too late then. You're not paying fees to be publically humiliated.

Here Here, Loops. What is going on here is awful; I remember having Piano lessons at my Saturday Music School with a teacher that did this, he'd let the child after me come in early and ask me to play a piece for him, I'd fluff up because he was so good it was intimidating, and then he'd play something spectacular just to rub my nose in it and give me this cocky smile. Even now it makes me seethe with anger....

Do something about it! This shouldn't happen. It really affected the way I carried on with Piano lessons, I never got past Grade 5 with this tutor because I thought I was no good, and even when I moved on to someone better to do my Grade 6 it stuck with me. Of course this is the benefit of hindsight, but don't let this happen anymore! Complain if you have to, something clearly has to be done about this.

Hey
Thanks sooo much for all the lovely comments, they have and will be very very useful to me .
I have spoke to my tutor and he has been very nice and understanding about it and says in no way will he let it continue if I feel that uncomfortable so that's a bit of weight of my shoulders. .
Lost chord - Next time I play i'm going to imagine this student sitting on the "lavy" LMAO
I'm playing in front of a class tomorrow so hopefully i'm going to enjoy it instead of worrying about my mistakes, after all no one is perfect LOL.
PSL x

I love it!

Or next time he does it try a phrase like "beautifully played! Of course it would have been even better if you hadn't."

Or "Nice performance, shame about the manners"

Or "Did you get a refund from those diplomacy lessons you signed up for?"

Or "have you always been an irritating pillock or do you practice that too?"

Or find an equally irriatated friend and start up a conversation over the top of him playing, preferably VERY LOUDLY, involving lots of banging chairs and stamping feet.

Or interrupt him in mid play and tell him what you think of him.

Or just refuse to listen: Get up and walk out when he plays, but make sure everyone knows you've done it.

Or "have you always been an irritating pillock or do you practice that too?"


or similarly ---

are you a professional pain, or do you do it for a hobby ?

Stick a pencil in his/her eye.

That's bit violent....but it depends on how much you hate the other person.

LMAO Should I be worried about the last few replies haha, Just joking. Thanks for all the care you have shown hehe.
I think everybody is letting off their steam on this forum .
The other student hasn't been in the past couple of days so it has been good. And today college was really good as my tutor was giving me plenty of encouragment and was pushing me so I felt my confidence increase a little.
I played piano today for like 2 hours AND...I enjoyed it! .
The first time i've truly enjoyed sitting down and just playing away in quite a while. Although it was alot of finger exercises it was still fun, probably because my old piano teacher never done techniques or scales/arpeggios etc with me. So I know that in the long run it will help my playing and technique alot. Boy do my wrists and fingers know about it now though LOL.
What exercises does anybody use to help finger fluency, like if there was a big presto passage in a peice, what is the best way to build muscle in my fingers so I can move up and down the piano fast enough?
Much love PSL x

The old favourites like Czerny are still the best IMO, but whatever your teacher recommends is fine. It's not so much that you need to build muscle as that you need to move your fingers fast, and there's no substitute for practice. Aim to get the same touch with every finger so that the whole exercise is at the same volume; never go so fast that it becomes jerky, but try to stay really smooth and build up the speed gradually.

Also try practising scales with a metronome so that you keep them very smooth, and just set the metronome a little faster each week so that you speed up but don't become jerky; do hands separately and together.

I am not a teacher, so if teachers reply feel free to ignore this; but it's what I was taught.

Czerny, Hanon, Scales, Arpeggios, Brahms, hours and hours of practice . . . whatever else you do there's no substitute for putting in the time.

Changing the rhythm too. Where there are even quavers, for instance - dot them, first one way, then the other, so dotted quaver - semiquaver all the way along a run, then go back and do it the other way, semiquaver-dotted quaver. Play it again evenly, and you will find that fluency has become better, and it can be pushed to go a little faster. Then go back and do it in triplets, or some other rhythm - it helps, I have little idea why, except that it trains two fingers next to each other to go more quickly, but then gives you a small rest in which to recover....

So good to hear that your confidence has been boosted! I'm glad for you! Better agility and speed sometimes depends on posture and where your strength comes from. I concur with what everyone else said in regards to hanon, czerny, scales, other technique. Fingers need to be responsive but don't apply stress on those wrists....you don't want to get anywhere near carpal tunnel or tendinitis. Draw your strength from your upper body and increase the speed of your exercises slightly, being mindful of your fingering....like another said (berkshiremum? )...make sure it's smooth and seemless before venturing off into presto-like tempos.
Take care!

I'm very bad. My old teacher made me do a lot of Hanon and Czerny, but now I have a new teacher, Scales and Arppegios are the only thing to keep my fingers going


I'm glad to hear that the Problems sorted

I've been given the following exercises on a piece with millions of fast quavers that's meant to be fluent at speed:

in every group of four quavers, double up on the first two, but taking only the time it would take if you played them only once.

then in every group of four, double up the last two.

then in every group of four, double up on the middle 2

then as anacrusis says, vary the rhythms. So, a group of 4 quavers becomes eg dah (wait wait) de-de-de etc


**use the same fingers every time
**keep the poetry of the piece in, ie same pedal etc

I have to say, all the small little stumbles are coming out......

Hey thanks for all the lovely replies! It's great to know there are people who care enough to give such helpful advice .
It feels good to enjoy playing again, my enthusiasm is returning slowly, my confidence is still a bit low but i'm guessing the more practise I do will boost that even more as I will see an improvement.
It's a bit unfotunate that it's when I start music college and everyone wants to hear you play that my confidence kind of hits rock bottom but anyway it will get better soon Worrying never did anyone any good!
I have been playing lots of finger exercises that pay particualar attention to the 3rd, 4th and 5th fingures so it feels good to see an improvement now!
Thanks PSL x