(49) During, After the Performance
Starting to play: Some pianists will delay starting by adjusting the bench or some clothing item in order to have time to double check the starting tempo, etc., using MP. On the other hand, since you can MP the music before walking on the stage, many concert pianists can start play very quickly, reducing the time to get nervous. Do not assume that there won't be any mistakes; that assumption can only invite more trouble because you will feel terrible when a mistake does occur. Instead, be ready to react correctly with each mistake, or more importantly, anticipate an impending mistake that you may be able to avoid. It is amazing how often you can feel an impending mistake before it hits, especially if you are good at MP. Recall that during MP, you were surprised that you made the same mistakes and got stuck at the same places as when you were actually playing.
Most students, when they make a mistake or when they anticipate one, get worried and start playing more slowly and softly. This is a formula for disaster. Although hand memory is not something you want to depend on, this is one time you need it. Hand memory depends on habit and stimuli; therefore, in order to enhance hand memory, you must play slightly faster and louder. The faster play makes better use of the playing habits, and leaves less time for moving some wrong muscle that might derail you. The firmer play increases the stimuli for the hand memory. Now playing faster and louder are scary things to do during a recital, so you should practice this just as you practice anything else. Learn to anticipate mistakes and to avoid them by using these avoidance maneuvers. Another method of playing through mistakes is to make sure that the melodic line or the rhythm is not broken, even at the cost of missing some less important notes. With practice, you will find that this is easier than it sounds; the best time to practice this is when you are sight reading.
If you have a blackout, don't try to restart from where you blacked out unless you know exactly how to restart. Restart from a preceding section or a following section that you know well -- preferably a following section because mistakes usually cannot be corrected during the recital and you will probably repeat the same mistake. Secure MP will eliminate practically all blackouts, especially if you have absolute pitch. If you decide to replay the blackout part, play slightly faster and louder; not slower and softer.
In a concert hall with good acoustics, the sound of the piano will be absorbed by the hall and you will hear very little of the piano sound compared to your home or practice room. It is obviously important to practice with the recital piano in the recital hall before the event. For a grand piano, if the music stand it up, you will hear almost no sound from the piano in a concert hall with good acoustics; always make sure that the music stand is down. If you need to read music, place it flat over the tuning pin area.
That unfamiliar piano: Some students fret that the recital piano is a huge grand whereas they practice on an old upright. Fortunately, the larger pianos are easier to play than the smaller ones. Therefore the issue of a different piano is usually not something to worry about. Larger pianos have better action, and both louder and softer sounds are easier to produce. Grands are easier to play than uprights, especially for fast, difficult passages. The only time you have to be concerned about the piano is when the performance piano is decidedly inferior to your practice piano. The worst situation is the one in which your practice piano is a quality grand, but you must perform using a low quality upright that is out of tune. In that case, technically difficult pieces will be difficult to play on the inferior piano and you may need to make adjustments by playing slower, or shortening or slowing down trills, etc.. That's when you really find out how strong you are, as a performer.
A piano in tune is much easier to play than one out of tune. Therefore, the recital piano should be tuned just before the recital. Conversely, it is not a good idea to tune the practice piano just before the recital (unless it is badly out of tune) so that it is in better tune than the recital piano.
After the Recital: Review the recital and evaluate your strengths and weaknesses so that your practice/preparation routines can be improved. A few students will be able to play consistently without audible mistakes. Most of the others will make several mistakes every time they play. Some will tend to bang on the piano while others are timid and play too softly. There is a cure for every problem. Those who make mistakes probably have not yet learned to play sufficiently musically and almost always are not using MP. Those who tend to play flawlessly invariably have learned MP, whether they do it consciously or not. Students who play pieces above their skill level always have trouble with recitals; they can try to learn difficult material, but for recitals, students must stay within their skill level.
Recital preparation routines are extremely important; make sure you have one and are following it [(47) Performance Preparation, Videotaping].
Playing several recitals in succession is the hardest thing to do. But if you must, then you will need to recondition the recital pieces immediately following the recital. Play them with little or no expression, medium speed, then slow speed. If certain sections or pieces did not come out satisfactorily during the recital, work on them, but only in small segments. If you want to work on the expression at full speed, do this in small segments and follow it up with slow play.
After such repeat performances (in fact, after every performance), play it slowly as soon as you can, in order to erase the fast play degradation and "reset" the music in your mind. A similar process takes place in a computer: after continuous use, data fragmentation occurs and the memory disk must be "defragged" to restore the data to their proper locations.