I've been recording my own piano playing for about a year. I do this for a few reasons, to have something to look back on after I've long forgotten the much worked on pieces played in earlier lessons, for an unforgiving review of pieces I'm working on, and if I'm particularly proud of a piece, to share with others as I'm too nervous to play in front of anyone.

My problem is that even just recording - in a room by myself - I get tense when the record button is pressed!! It's so frustrating!! I've been trying to record Moonlight Sonata for months! I can't seem to let it go but can't get it recorded to the point that I'm satisfied......It's become a "thing" I believe, so although I'm pretty tired of this piece, I spend/waste? way too much time trying to record it...aahhh, sigh, sigh.

This happens to me, I tense up whenever I record myself.

Me too, I recorded myself loads before my last exam, so that I would get used to feeling tense and anxious while playing.

Usually the recordings are good, but I just get very worried whilst I am playing!

I've just recently starting recording myself.

I make more mistakes while recording than I do just playing, but not as many as playing for my teacher. Hope I get up the courage to let her hear them.

p.s. nicki .... you sound good on the recordings I have of you.

Thankyou

I hope you do to! I did and was glad. It was rewarding for my teacher to hear my playing when I wasn't nervous (as) and hear the results of his dedication and patience. I'm hoping to have a few on another CD before we resume lessons in September.

Its a good idea to record yourself because however you feel during the recording session, i.e. nervous or not nervous, will probably be how you feel if you perform in front of someone or under exam conditions. Hearing how you sound and trying to improve your sound/performance etc can only make you more confident the better you get and hopefully help you overcome any nerves.
Mind you, having said that, I recorded my Grade 8 pieces pretty well, was pretty confident in my performances and yet I was still terrified and messed up in the exam!!!

Gae

I got over the 'nervous when being recorded' stage by putting my minidisc recorder on at the start of a lesson and leaving it on. After a while there's just not enough adrenaline left to be nervous with. Remember that a duff performance can always be erased!

Just thought of that last night....got my recorder ...my adapter so I won't run out of power...and off I go to record the whole session. It has to wear off...right??

I made a CD of my piano playing a couple of years ago to give to family & friends as extra Christmas gifts & it took me ages to make as whenever I recorded myself I got really nervous & kept making mistakes! My Dad, who was helping me with the recording couldn't understand why I was so nervous & just told me to imagine the record button was switched off but I just couldn't & it was really hard to get the pieces to sound how I wanted them to sound (which was perfect as I am a complete perfectionist ). Eventually I did manage to play all my pieces without mistakes & the CD turned out really great.

Lisa xxx

P.S. I must admit I am not an adult learner but I am almost 18! I don't know if that qualifies as an adult on this forum but I just wanted to contribute to this thread Hope that's alright.

ARe you recording onto digital recording equipment? If so, then perhaps the knowledge that you can edit the audio file might help reduce the tension you feel when recording. There is genuinely free digital audio file editing software available (Audacity, type that into Google to reach the website) to help you do this.

Steve

I'd love to know how many professional recordings are actually 2 or 3 different takes/recordings put into one...I think the results would be interesting especially with regards to pop musicians who always mix their songs anyway. This probably explains why some of them sound so bad when performing live though.
I do my recordings with Soundforge and Sonar Pro Audio and on occasion I have tampered with the final recordings too. I did a performance of "Maple Leaf Rag" for my own database and I wanted it to sound as good as I could get it. Anyway, even though I'd been playing it for weeks I always made one or two slips when I played it and annoyingly never got through it in one take. After about 20 attempts to record it "perfect" I gave up and ended up joining 3 different edits together. The amazing/shocking think was that when listening back to the final mix, you couldn't tell that it was made up of three seperate versions, the seam was so perfect.
How many of the professional recordings that we listen to are done in the same way I wonder? Also, is it wrong to do this with a recording? After all, we are essentially painting with sound and we always want the "perfect" final results. If we compare it to movies, we wouldn't expect to see all the mistakes of the shoot in the film itself (only in the DVD extras) but what we do see is the Director's final "vision" which is a combination of multiple parts all put together to make one seamless whole. Is it fair to say the same should be seen as true for recording music or should all recordings, especially of solo instruments, be truthful to the performance?

Gae

An interesting point, Gae.

One of the reasons I think it's so important that live music continues to flourish and that real performances should be supported is so that we do continue to appreciate the human element of performance - flaws and all.

If all we ever hear is the seamless perfection of an edited recording, surely we're losing part of the "soul" of music making.

We could just as well turn the whole process over to the (increasingly more sophisticated) computer boffins to produce the "perfect" version of every work ever written. But where would the fun be in that?

Cheers

Katyjay

I've heard that some performances of wind music have the breaths edited out. It gives a false impression of what is technically and anatomically possible.

Yes, James Galway has his breaths edited out on CDs.

I agree. I think I'd feel as though I was cheating to edit several together......

Although practising coping with nerves is a valuable strategy. A little adrenalin actually makes for a more exciting performance, so it's worth trying to harness the feeling. I often imagine the front row of the audience to my right when building up to a recital, and it's wierd how even imagining that can affect my feelings - immediately I'm more nervous! Too much adrenalin obviously can have a more negative effect on the performance so trying to become less nervous is a good thing, but don't try to eradicate it altogether - even the most famous concert pianists get nervous! (Apart from one young Chinese performer whose name escapes me - or at least he claims not to get nervous at all!)

I suppose it all depends on the circumstances. If you are doing a recording to keep a record of the piece then that is different to if you are doing it to keep a record of your performance for posterity or whatever. I recently did a video recording of all my Grade 8 pieces and I left them unedited as I wanted a record of my actual performances in this instance.

Gae

Like Nicki, I've heard that Sir James has had breaths edited out - though the only track that I am SURE about it Flight of the Bumblebee - where they edited it to give a seamless performance with no breaths. (he has said that himself somewhere though I forget where I read it) I don't know if it is a regular thing.