Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Are You Nervous for Your Piano Recital?

By Georgia Reader

Many parents consider their children for piano lessons as they feel that it helps with their school studies and the fact is the piano is a universally popular instrument. Some, if not most piano instructors have piano recitals for their students annually or more often. Many parents love watching their child perform and view it is a benchmark ofr their child's activities and give it a sense of achievment.

Beginning piano students often want to know what happens during a piano recital. Teachers often tell students that it is a chance for them to perform pieces in front of an audience that they have learned and perfected over the months. So a recital is a great chance for students to show improvement and progress over the school year by performing in front of their parents and peers.

A recital is a time where a student needs to prepare and feel comfortable with performing. The most positive thing is to practice on a daily basis so that the student feels completely comfortable with the performance. A good idea would be to practice performing for the family and others a few times before the actual event.

Another way to practicing the recital pieces is for students should learn to visualize their upcoming performance in their minds. This helps the subconscious believe that the student is well prepared and knows the pieces well. After practicing the visualizations a few times, the subconscious believes that what you're about to do is normal and should not cause you any anxiety at all.

Most parents know that students performing in a recital is a great steppingstone toward self-confidence, yet there are a few that want to wait a couple of years to keep them from performing. Some worry that their child might make mistakes and get upset, but that might have something more to do with the parents' confidence in themselves instead! Fortunately, this does not happen too much as there is more of a problem of parents pushing a new student to perform right away.

As a parent of your child, talk to them and ask if they want to play in the upcoming recital. If they have reservations, ask why and ask them to play their pieces. Many children today get so many negative messages from their peers, and performing a piece of music in front of an audience is a great way to bolster self-esteem.

Some parents project an attitude that the recital is a big deal and that they should be nervous. They tell the child how many people will be watching and the child starts to become anxious. They think about what it would be like to make a mistake in front of so many people, so don't fall into that trap.

Students appreciate it if their parents are supportive about their upcoming performance. They will look forward to "showing off" how they progressed since the last recital. Performing in a recital will prove to be a gratifying experience where it can prove to be a wonderful memory in the child's life. - 15359

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