flunked competition

April 21, 2007 at 5:26 PM

Why is my worst performance always at the most important competition of the year?
The Haydn was great but I totally butchered the Lalo. Part of it had to do with the fact that this little old lady walked in twice while I was performing.
*opens door right in front of me while I'm playing*
*SCREEEEECH! shuffleshuffleshuffle*
*sits in chair*
*CLUNK!*
*Gets out of chair*
*SCREEEECH*
*shuffleshuffleshuffle...clunk*
*door closes*

SO distracting.

But I haven't played the Lalo that badly in months.
The beginning was pathetic, then I got going and the first page was pretty good, and then my fingers failed me on the bottom of the second page...I just completely lost it! I managed to get back on track, but by the time I was back in my groove, they were stopping me and telling me that they had heard enough.
I was supposed to get 10 minutes, but they didn't even let me play that long. Must've been REALLY bad.

Oh well.
Life moves on and all that.
But it really sucks, because I worked SO hard.
I'm going to sulk today and then practice for orchestra/quartet concerts tomorrow.

From Maura Gerety
Posted on April 22, 2007 at 3:37 AM

Ouch! I once had a big pile of metal folding chairs at the back of the recital hall collapse with the biggest noise you can imagine, right as I was playing the softest, saddest part of my piece. Somehow I managed to keep my composure, but I still worry about something like that happening again. Sorry to hear about the bad result--better luck next time. :)

From Emily Grossman
Posted on April 22, 2007 at 9:21 AM

Aw, I feel for you, Natasha! I flopped on my most important audition during my senior year, and placed third out of three. Only in my case, I had a full blown panic attack and couldn't even remember my music. Senioritis didn't help matters. I could have been better prepared, I think.

Anyway, if you're smart (and I think you are) you won't let one lousy little performance define your future as a musician. Everything will work out in the end. Keep your chin up!

From Richard Hellinger
Posted on April 22, 2007 at 10:42 PM

It must have just been "one of those days." At one of my competitions/auditions (I don't know what you call allcounty lol) I walked into the hottest room in the building(it was during winter) and my violin strings were out of wack the whole time... and I wasn't allowed to stop. The only chance I had to tune it was right before sight reading. Needless to say I didn't get in that year.

From Luis Dias
Posted on April 24, 2007 at 8:06 AM

Hi Natasha,
I hope you're feeling a lot better by now.

Please take these things in your stride. You already know you are a good player. We all know how unnerving a stage performance can be, and a competition only heightens that feeling.

Easier said than done, I know, but what we all have to somehow learn is to play beautifully, heedless of the occasion or extraneous noise, etc.

As an earlier poster said: you are an intelligent person; you'll be fine in the end.

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flunked competition

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