Hey,

Does anyone else get nervous when they have their lesson?

I play piano, and know that I can play the pieces fine but when the teacher comes I actually sweat on my fingers and then the keys get slippery. I make stupid mistakes aswell, literally just pressing the wrong key!

how can I stop this happening?

thanks

will

I'd be interested in this too - my fingers just don't belong to me when I have a lesson! (At least I believe students when they say "I can do this at home"!)
This is why I don't play in public and don't accompany students in exams or concerts.

I used to get this about a year or two ago when i first started performing and accompanying, and it was awful, and i would get very worked up and stressed, but now, after performing for atleast 2 years, i've got over my nerves, and learnt to control them.

I think just getting on with it, and do some more performing, and get used to performing to people will help. Perhaps you could try playing to close friends and family, and build up your confidence, and look for more performing oppurtunities etc.

I had my first piano lesson with my new teacher, and before the lesson i was a little nervous about what she would say about my playing, and whether i'd be good enough, and thought she would be a little intimidating, with her being a concert pianist, but when i got there, i was fine, because she is such a lovely teacher!

Theres nothing to be worried about when you are with your teacher, they are there to help you, and always want you to do your best.

Jacob.

Me I'm great friends with my teachers but i get a bit uptight and play rubbishly and then just apologise nonstop, i say 'i'm never usually this bad!!' like 94574895 times a lesson It's annoying cause i can play SOOO much better when i'm not in a lesson and it's kind of holding me back o_O

Join the club! My piano teacher says that if she got a penny for every time someone said that to her she'd be rich - she doesn't seem to realise that I do actually always mean it

More performance opportunities! That's the answer. Play when there are people in the house, ask them to come in and listen to you, and play before your teacher arrives too if you can. Teachers are well used to hearing the "better at home" comment and it is true sometimes. Rhythms do not go wrong under pressure though and nor do dynamics usually. Slips will happen but the rest should be so well known that your fingers work on autopilot.

Wow, which alternative universe is this? A parallel dimension in which, when nervous, pp doesn't get played as positively powerful and ff doesn't mean frightfully feeble.

I don't have a tardis, but maybe I can build a stargate?

Steve

I simply write as I have found from many years of teaching! Slips will happen of course but if rhythms have been thought out correctly at home they aren't played incorrectly in lessons and dynamics are much the same. They may not have exactly the same degree of control but they will be basically correct. I find that slips occur but little else goes adrift unless the preparation has not been done well beforehand. Some pupils will tell me that they play correctly at home when I point out an error in rhythm but on a second and third hearing if it is still wrong then it was so at home and not just a slip.

I can relate to this completely. this is just what I am like. IMy lessons are in my teachers home and she sits next to me and well . I go to pieces! I am getting better now because as the piece moves on I start to relax and I settle down and play correctly. When I go wrong now, I just sit there and say out loud, for goodness sake it is only ..... (my teacher's name0 stop being so stupid! this makes us both laugh and helps to relax me more. Sometimes I say to her, move away your too close to me! and she says I need to see your fingers and what is funniest is when she picks my fingers up so that they should be in just the right place for moving from one lot of keys to another, and of course she is always right. This is usually when there have been difficult chords to stretch to.

That doesn't help you with your problem, but this is what I have been doing;-

Through the holidays I have had a little concert at home to encourage me to play in public, and also every opportunity of anyone visiting me I ask them will they listen to me play. This has helped immensely I am definitely getting less nervous although still making the occasional mistake but nothing like I was doing. I am trying to get over this nerve thing so that I can hopefully take my exam in November.

I am going on a music course in October which covers personal relaxation so I am also hoping that helps me.

The other thing I keep telling myself is if I get to the point where I know the pieces inside out then if I am nervous it really shouldn't matter, it may not be as good but hopefully get to the end with it sounding like it should.

Good luck.

ET

yeah I get nervous when I play in front of my teacher.

My bow hand used to shake. I'm just about getting over it now, I do still get stressed though.

But it's all practice of playing with an audience. I get very frustrated when I can play something but not in front of her!