Has anyone ever significantly increased the tempo of something they're about to play in front of an audience at the last minute, and if so did it come off successfully?

I have a combination of two problems. One is extreme stage nerves - and the other, as a result of the first, is that I practise into oblivion and and am therefore semi-automatic, which means that my mind is inclined to drift into ridiculous realms like what somebody in the audience is wearing and how it doesn't suit them. It's like the kind of unreality that you get at stressful times in your life - like a death .

One way round this (or is it...?) is to increase the tempo of my Haydn sonata from its current 125 per minute to 135. I've just done it for the first time a minute ago and thought it had bags more vitality, and, amazingly, it felt no less secure or clear. It would mean that I'd have to focus far more intently, though, but I'm wondering if this is a good thing rather than a bad? On the other hand, if it crashes, it will do so with style...

Has anybody else ever taken a risk like this? And do you think I might only be imagining it has more vitality because I've played it so much at the same speed?

A friend of mine was taken aback during a performance when the accompanist started off much much faster than the marked time or what she was used to and after the initial shock (for which she had a few bars in which to recover before she had to start playing), the piece flowed so much better - and yes she had to concentrate to keep up - but the result was superb!

I always play faster when I am nervous. I remember once performing a piece for my grade 6 and within a few minutes realising I was playing it faster than I ever had at home. I had just had to carry on but it did feel very scary - saying that I got a good mark so perhaps it did give it more vitality.

After my grade 6 panic I always try and practice at home a good 10 or 20% faster than I plan to perform it, I then sometimes alternate this with playing a lot slower. Both things seem to work for me. Not sure what you should do now - when is your performance?

It is difficult not to play faster when we are nervous. All that adrenalin speeds our heart rates and we lose our normal sense of tempo.

One way to overcome this is to have a metronome going before going on to play, set to your usual tempo - maybe a small hand-held that can be set to silent whilst blinking a light as a substitue for sound.

My method is to play the first few lines in my head whilst settling at the piano. This helps me both establish my desired tempo and concentrate my mind.

Tomorrow...

Hehe, yes, that's rather annoying, isn't it! I recall when I would have to accompany woodwind players before a performance that I would sometimes speed up, and they say 'Hey, it's OK for you playing the piano, but we woodwind players actually have to breathe you know!'

So I ended up purposely aiming for playing slow that when it came to the real thing, I'd play the right speed!


Anyway, back on topic, Good Luck for tomorrow!

~Wobby~

Thanks, Wobby!
Something I hadn't bargained on was accoustics. Maybe it'll be different with bodies there, but I was a bit crestfallen tonight to realise that the accoustics are so 'good' that I might as well be playing the whole thing super-legato, and that to play any faster only compounds that. Churches are strange buildings. From the choir stalls the piano sounds crystal clear, but it's an entirely different story from the pews. Great for singers, but not for a Haydn sonata.

Oh yes! That's happened to me so many times.

Also the thing about switching off a bit and noticing really odd things when I should be concentrating on nothing but them music!

Sometimes my fingers just sort of run away from me, and a few times it's just been pure luck that they didn't get tangled up.

For grade 8 I played my Scarlatti Sonata at the speed of light, but the trouble is once I'd started at the ridiculous speed I couldn't do anything about it. Suddenly slowing down would have been worse than trying to keep up with my own out of control digits

Luckily on that occassion the examiner enjoyed it, and wrote "played at a cracking pace!" but someone else might not have...

I usually tell pupils to set the speed in their head and then start even slower than that, so they'll be playing at roughly the normal pace.

I'm so good at telling other people how to do it, but sometimes I don't take my own advice

Tough problem - even great pianists suffer from it (starting very fast - getting even faster).

e.g. Martha Argerich. Though with her technique she gets away with it. I would fall apart long before reaching the manic speeds that she seems to find comfortable!

You should of course always play at the tempo you choose, and not whatever randomly fast tempo your fear and nerves dictate. To achieve that it is best to achieve calmness, and keep your attention on the music, though there are a number of tricks and devices you can also use, as previous respondents have pointed out.

Like any counsel of perfection - Easier said than done. (But it is what all performers have to work towards)
And of course you already know all this!!!!!

Perhaps you should take up yoga!! It worked for Yehudi Menuhin.

There are more difficulties.

1. The choice of tempo cannot be precisely decided in advance on purely musical reasons. As you have pointed out, too much echo may force you to play slower than you would wish - it might even force a different choice of repertoire. But maybe not. The acoustics of a room (even a church) full of people are quite different from those of an empty room, so the rehearsal in an empty hall is not a great guide to the amount of echo!

2. Other factors include the amount of sustain from the piano, how effectively the dampers work, and the brightness or mellowness of tone. You can take slow movements much more slowly on a 12' concert grand than on other instruments. At the same speed on a baby grand or small upright each note would disappear before you played the next one!


I have two practical suggestions:

Always start a recital with a short piece, at a slow to medium tempo. Apart from anything else, it will help settle your nerves, and avoid the "frightened rabbit" syndrome. Listen carefully to weigh up the acoustics and adjust the tempi of your faster pieces accordingly.

Discuss tempi with the choirmaster or organist and take their advice.

Should have done that! Too late now.
Actually the accoustic problem wasn't so bad with people there.
What I was talking about doing, by the way - just in case of misunderstanding - was deliberately playing faster than usual in order to force me to focus harder and think ahead - two things I'm not always good at under pressure. The sonata sounds good at anything over 120 crotchets per minute, and Brendel plays it at about 140. Anyway, I don't know what speed I launched off at, but it was too fast to maintain good clarity in a particular LH section. Having said that, most reports were good, but aforementioned organist just smiled.