Michael New Thank you for all of these awesome videos. You are a great teacher and your method of explanation makes the material much easier to comprehend. You are a good man for sharing your extensive music knowledge with the world and many people are grateful, including myself. Keep up the good work dude!
Both of you are my favorite channels right now. Fuckin superb guys. Thanks for being my #1 jazz performance resource. its really sad you two dont get more views.
Does Micheal even understand how good his stuff is!?!?!?! Seriously one of the best teachers I've ever seen. These videos literally are improving people's lives. Great work, man.
Key takeaways: During Practice: 1. Imagine yourself at the performance location. Better yet, go there 2. Video yourself to check for mistakes (Perfect practice makes perfect) 3. Try practicing sometimes from the middle of the passage and use the Visual memory technique (21:42) (Visualise the next point in your mind while you are performing) -Prevents breakdowns on stage 4. Practice sufficiently ahead of time During/Before performing: 1. Box breathing - Calm down your body 2. Don't change anything just before or during the performance 3. ***DON'T STOP PLAYING on stage
This was so.... liberating. You didn't just say it was nothing, you gave solid answers on how to deal with it. I love your videos and all your lessons, they've helped me so much with my music. So thanks 😭☺️
Dude you're incredible, Performance anxiety has left me wondering if I'm cut out to be a performer but seeing this and knowing that there are practical ways to work with performance anxiety has reopened that door for me so thank you
I remember completely freezing up during a performance in middle school, people started cheering for me, and i managed to pick myself up again to finish the piece, didn't excatly go so well, but none the less, i did it still...
Fantastic advice. I'm so happy you mentioned visual memory, many teachers don't say anything about it. Another method of memorisation which has helped me hugely over the years is the 'Method of Loci' or 'Memory Palace,' which you've likely heard of. It involves inventing a loose story which you experience with all your senses in first person. For example, I am learning a Chopin piece at the moment for which I imagine a ballerina preparing to dance, then dancing, then continuing to dance but I leave the room when it becomes piano and minor. Each phrase is a movement of the ballerina, so this helps a lot with phrasing etc as I perform and irons out any possible variations and at a much deeper level than muscle memory. Hope this was interesting ;)
Yes absolutely. I'm a big fan of the memory palace. I didn't want to get too far into the weeds of how to memorize but that's a technique I use quite a bit.
The cool thing about working with a performance anxiety is that a lot can be applied in other areas of life also, thank you. I really enjoy your videos and ability to break things down. Put in the proper amount of work before hand, don't punish yourself for mistakes rather accept, understand and work with them... Treat yourself, when making mistakes the way you would treat a child you love...
Great video! I love the way you explain things in all of your videos and especially this one. I find it great how you also included a visual guide for the box breathing, with the rest of your videos I also find the mix of different types of learning really help me. As a 15 learning music theory, my mum (who is a pianist) is astonished at how fast I have learned thanks to you. Will always watch your videos!
I had that kind of memory slip happen to me twice in a single year. Once with Praeludium and Allegro, and once with the first movement of the Bruch Violin Concerto. This video is probably one of the most helpful I've ever seen.
I am here at the end of 2020...and I am not even a performer of any sort...just begining to learn piano at the age of 60. This gentleman's performance and delivery is flawless! And, his knowledge is absolutely fantastic, to boot! I am totally impressed.
I needed this one today! had some of the things you spoke about on this very day, thanks man! nice to know my presentation is more powerful, rather being "perfect".
This has to be one of the best videos I've seen on youtube with regards to providing practical tips to a very common problem. I've started recording myself recently for publishing my own composition videos and the anxiety issue invariably kicks in each time. After watching your videos I've decided to try learning my pieces eyes closed from start to finish. I start playing very slowly and makes some mistakes on the big jumps but I think the goal of playing a 5 minute piece at normal pace from start to finish is achievable with practice. This is extremely rewarding because by not being distracted by what my eyes see I'm much more connected to the music. I can feel each note and hear clearly all the dynamics. The result is so much better and enjoyable. External distractions (such as the camera) take a back seat and I feel more relaxed. I will keep on practicing this "visual" memory in the future. Thank you for a golden tip.
I don't even play an instrument but I LOVED this video and watched every minute of it. Your insight applies to so many situations in life. Thank you for sharing your expertise.
First off I absolutely love your channel. Even as a singer (who is learning to accompany himself via piano) this video just changed my life. THANK YOU so effing much sir!
Michael, you're being honest and straight forward without being judgemental. And that's precious. It really helps understanding how the ego must be managed. It shouldn't take control. I appreciate your approach and all the very informative details you give. (sorry for my poor English) Thank you ;-)
Just started watching your earlier music theory videos. Been playing for about 3 years and learned some really complex songs, but just from synthesia/MIDI transcriptions on CZcams, and I really wanted to learn music theory to be able to write music and jam with my friends- and you have helped tremendously. You earned a new subscriber ;) keep it up man
This video was incredibly helpful! I realised some time ago that it is often helpful to visually know where your fingers go on the instrument while playing a piece but the part in your video about visual memory really created a more specific logical concept of this type of memorising. Thanks a lot for sharing your experience with us.
Although I don't have much performance anxiety, I always have the "shakes" and an increased heart rate as anyone does. The thing that I do to get rid of these things is direct it into my left leg, where i use it to keep track of the beat. I also have a lot of experience with talent shows and concert performances, so that probably makes it easier for me. Other than my input on that topic, I want to thank you for all the work you've done on youtube. I'm part of the first musical generation in my family, and I've loved experimenting with many instruments (especially piano) and having no one to judge me. I really couldn't have understood all of the concepts I know today without your videos. Thank you so much for making all the theory make sense, and hopefully making music a part of my life from 14 and onward :)
Wow! You just articulated a number of things I've been thinking a lot about. Had a very bad experience at age 6 in a recital (freezing in the middle) and it affected me for years. Fast forward several decades and now I've taken up (non-classical) piano and noticing it helps immensely to use a combination of visual/auditory/muscle memory (not to mention learning about the underlying chord structures; a skill that wasn't emphasized in my classical lessons). The result? --dramatically reduced anxiety about "forgetting" in the middle of a piece! Thank you!!
Great video. As someone that doesn't have performance anxiety, it gives a great insight and perspective to what it's like and a way to help others through it. Keep it up, love watching you.
It surprised me how a lot of your examples were akin to my experiences, and you really saved my ass because you actually gave answers on how to solve them! I'll be applying these to succeeding performances, hopefully, to do better the next time around! Thanks for everything, Michael!
I'm reminded of a bad performance experience I had when I was in high school, and it's so meta that it's kinda funny. It was my last piano recital ever, and I had selected a song to play from my favorite band at the time - The Smashing Pumpkins. The piece was Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (the intro track to their double album of the same name: czcams.com/video/JFEftsKAUvY/video.html). For context, it's important to be familiar with this one episode of The Wonder Years in which Kevin chokes at a dress recital and can't play Canon in D because another student played the same song "perfectly" right before him, and his piano teacher hadn't given him warning beforehand that someone else was playing the same piece. Here's a link to the scene for reference: www.dailymotion.com/video/x2l8n9p?start=840. Anyway, I'm sitting there waiting for my turn at recital, and it turns out that there's a student two years above me who chose the SAME piece I had chosen for my final recital. My teacher had also not said anything about it. He played before me, and played it "perfectly". Of course all I could think about at that point due to the irony of the whole situation was that one episode of The Wonder Years, trying to laugh it off as a funny coincidence but simultaneously becoming extremely anxious and nervous of failing (because how DARE he play MY song! I was the #1 Pumpkins fan, not him! haha). My turn came soon enough, and the whole situation was just too much for me to handle. The teacher had even said something similar to the line in the show when she introduced me: "I think you'll find it interesting how two different students interpret the same piece of music." Why did this have to happen to me? Is this a joke? The feedback loop was so strong that I couldn't think of anything else besides how Kevin had totally bombed Canon in D when he was in the same situation. I started out fine, but after my first slip up, it was all over - just like the story you told about that amazing kid pianist who couldn't continue after one mistake. There was an old man with a breathing apparatus sitting up front really close to the piano, and at a certain point, the Darth Vader-esque rhythmic pumping of the machine was all I could hear. I just couldn't focus anymore. I ended up skipping like half the song and went straight to the ending because my muscle memory was completely gone. I will never forget that day, and I actually have not performed music in front of anyone since then. But I'm going to change that soon!
Dear Michael, Just wanted to thank you for this great educational video! You have this natural gift at explaining and transmitting the musical theory and concepts you talk about in your videos. Also, i think it's great that unlike many others, you don't name your videos with "clikbait" titles - this one for instance could have been called "The Single Most Powerful Thing To Learn About Performance" ;) - and that at the same time, you do actually giveaway real essential pieces of advice in the videos, like this one: "If you make it look like what you're playing is awesome, then the audience will reflect that same feeling...". So again THANK YOU Michael!
Looove this video and thank you for your help with something every musician deals with at some point. You explained everything very eloquently. I learned a lot. Just a great and informative talk.
Loved the work through of visual memory / muscle memory interaction. The bonding of visual memory to muscle memory to stop that awful 'out of body' distraction is an excellent, practical tool. Thank you.
So helpful! I’m a school teacher and I have to perform every time I teach. So I get a lot of practice with making mistakes and having to go on, regardless. When I panic, it gets worse. When I smile my way through, I become inspired. I’m also a hobby classical pianist. Until I saw your video, I have never thought about the similarities between teaching and playing piano. Makes so much sense! Thank you for this amazing video! I can’t wait to put it into practice, (lol, no pun intended 🙃)
I really appreciate you. I haven't had a problem with performance anxiety for a long time I just sort of clicked on this to see what it would be. 25 minutes later I've learned several useful things.
I suffer from this and I am grateful for all your advice! I will try to implement your suggestions and look forward conquering the performance anxiety demons!
10:34, "you can have a flawless but terrible performance", that and the analogy with the speaker entertainer was an awesome eye-opener in here! In fact when I rely too much on sight reading when in panic and the analytic brain is the only thing surviving, playing becomes dull and without dynamics.. It would help to learn how to damp that left lobe and learn to become present to yourself again in that situation. Here memory helps too being way more effective than sight reading, and releasing your brain power to connect with your feelings again... Thanks Michael, awesome video!!
So true Michael emotion creates motion and through our understanding of how we can connect to our emotions we can open a doorway how we can come more relaxed through our awareness of our emotions great job man.
Awesome video Michael! Heres are my favourite parts of the video if you want to zoom in to a particular point: - 5:20 Don't Change anything before performing! - 7:50 Things to keep in mind while you play - 12:22 Lowering uncertainty before performing - 14:37 Awesome example for the next point - 21:42 Visual Memory: Technique to avoid breakdowns/Blackouts on stage (The best part IMO) Lastly: I suggest that you watch through the whole video at least once, his examples are really impactful. Thanks so much for making this Michael! Ps: Pls add on to this if i missed anything
During lessons my instructor was getting me prepared to play a piece on piano for a couple hundred people. I could practice it and play flawlessly with him in the room and by myself at home. But then he told me to stand up and introduce myself like I was playing live. It made practicing so much more nerve wracking with just with the thought of playing in front of people. But it helped me prepare to play live and really helped when I performed.
Excellent! Especially the part about knowing how well you actually know the piece. I was guilty of not practicing enough before performing and fooling myself that I am well prepared, which amplified the anxiousness. Not a good idea!
Great video, like all of your videos so far. Since you're asking for suggestions for your next series, I'd like to see more about writing music. More in depth on chord progressions, cadences, open- and rootless positions.
Great content. Going to try videoing myself more. Had a church audition recently and never used in ears before. Took a while to get them in and although they are supposed to help I had a hard time hearing compared to practicing to a recording in my practice room. Lost my spot several times. Only thing that saved me is I can improve and basically just inserted a solo using the techniques and modes in the song. The whole time, just stood there thinking "your blowing it!" stunk. Made it past the audition but learned that I have to figure out this part of it. (also have to practice with in-ears)
Interesting stuff! Feel bad for the young one blanking out in that story :( I never grew up playing music or anything of the sort. I've been watching your videos as well as some others to actually learn music theory and what not. Quite a few years back, I challenged myself in my final year of uni by taking a bunch of different classes I either had no background knowledge in or didn't care about at that time as a person (hello, philosophy of aesthetics!) and took Balinese Gamelan. The teacher explained the music and how to play a few of the instruments fairly easily. Problem was, I had completely forgotten that we had to perform as our final exam and the deadline for dropping had already passed. The class would breeze by and here I was trying to get all this stuff down, make sure I had all my other classes set, coping with what to do after graduating, would I even graduate if I bombed this, be the president for a club on campus and do all that fun stuff, etc. etc. My mind was going 100mph in about 40 different directions. I buggered up practice a bit more than the teacher would have liked and I had to stay after to try to hammer out those issues. By the day of the performance, I was dead certain I was going to embarrass myself. Hit the wrong notes, collapse on stage, whatever. I had it in my head, 'NOPE. NOPE. NOPE. I'm done. I'm sick. Cancel me out.' I mean, Gamelan isn't solo music, so I tried to reason to myself that I could slide. I never did ask the professor to do that. However, those hours leading up to it were the worst. Shaky, like stuck out in the bitter cold of winter shaky. I couldn't string more than a few words together and just sort of kept to myself, trying to run through my head all we had to do. I think the whole Gamelan portion of the event was 15 - 20 minutes long and here I am thinking, 'This. This is going to be the worst 15 - 20 minutes of my life.' Our time comes and I remember getting into place waiting to start and....that's it. I can remember picking up the hammer looking at the teacher waiting for the cue to begin, but after that, I remember nothing about the performance. I had to get up, along with a couple other students to switch instruments when we changed songs, but outside of that, the next thing I knew we were standing up and bowing to applause. Got off the stage and the professor said we had all done incredibly well and sounded much better than when we practiced. Is that the muscle memory approach to remembering a piece? I mean, my mind didn't wander. It was like it went into musical super saiyan mode and took over my body. Anyway, felt like sharing my own experience with performance anxiety, even if I have only done it once, and good luck to those trying to overcome their own performance anxieties!(b^ー°)
Hey Michael, thanks for making these awesome videos! Can you make some videos on Ear Training? I've looked around the web a lot, and I've practiced with the various ear training trainers available online, but im making real slow progress. The most difficulty I face is when trying to identify chords by ear.. that is so difficult for me, but its super essential to be able to identify chords if we want to play a piece of music by ear. Thanks!
Your videos are so helpful! You describe my experience to a tee and might save people some time on their journey. I was wondering if you had any tips on transcribing harder stuff/licks by ear (fast solos, chord voicings, complicated ideas, etc). Sometimes it feels like the most painful, trial and error process with uncertain payoff. Any thoughts or tips?
Yes Indeed this is a real issue & You're quite spot on with the way you describe it here. Yea if it's Cold Outside, We Shiver, and LIVE Performance Whether in Front of People Or Even RECORDING In the Studio,Definitely Self Consciousness comes into play. Thanks Man. I see You a BLUE Yeti Pro Mic there. I have the BLUE Snowball Mic. The Lord JESUS Bless You. LIKED 👍 & Subscribed. God Bless
My music teacher described the nerves thing in an interesting way when i asked him about not being able to play when one or more person is in the room listening. It is that the player becomes super critical of what they are playing. Now I think about it this way i play much more like when i am on my own.
Michael is there a way to incorporate your visual memory techniques for singing pieces? I've been following and learning from you but in a different context - I'm writing my own music to sing to, so my only performance will be on stage with a microphone in my hand. Does your visual memory technique have a way of improving a non-visual performance like mine? Thanks for all you do. You've taught me much.
Hello Michael, im taking AP Music Theory at school and i need to memorize solfage scale, i was wondering if you could make a quick video about how to memorize it and other tips regarding the scale, thanks. I Love your video,been watching them since day one. Good luck!
It makes me remember the unforgetable first time I play guitar out of my confortable room with my sister singing next to me...a few secs before going on stage I was trying my best to not freak out keeping my hands warm and thinking whether I should take the sheet with the chords or not (i knew it by memory:-|)so I took it up with me .We started and it was ok but then I looked at the audience I got so nervous and forgot one chord try my best to keep going but I just couldn't my hands were shaking then saw my sister's face was like "What!? "people start talking and you know it is about you...Terrible feeling :-[
Michael New Oh cool! I am a guitarist who only really uses tab but I do want to learn the basics of how to read sheet music. It is definitely a skill I need to learn. I really liked learning the theory on the piano (instead of the guitar), it made so much more sense. Thanks for the awesome videos!
this might sound kinda weird but it worked for me.. I once used baking soda on my hands to keep them dry when I played marimba cus they would sweat and it affected my playing
Wow, you're fast; that was up for like a second. That was actually a test upload from a partial render that wasn't supposed to be public :) Full thing should be up later tonight.
Another great video about a pretty serious problem, thank you so much, Michael! Your videos are some of the most useful tools on CZcams, they are really helping me. By the way, I'm a beginner composer/songwriter, if any of you would check some of my little songs and give me some feedback, I would really appreciate. (I hate spamming, I'm just searching a way to start, hope you'll forgive me) Cheers!
![Figuring Out Your Practice Routine | What are your options? [1/3]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/JEigEVDkj_A/mqdefault.jpg)
Fantastic analysis and video! Really inspiring, love your stuff, man.
Hey man, I'm a big fan of your stuff as well. Thank you.
Michael New Thank you for all of these awesome videos. You are a great teacher and your method of explanation makes the material much easier to comprehend. You are a good man for sharing your extensive music knowledge with the world and many people are grateful, including myself. Keep up the good work dude!
Both of you are my favorite channels right now. Fuckin superb guys. Thanks for being my #1 jazz performance resource. its really sad you two dont get more views.
bass!
Does Micheal even understand how good his stuff is!?!?!?! Seriously one of the best teachers I've ever seen. These videos literally are improving people's lives. Great work, man.
Key takeaways:
During Practice:
1. Imagine yourself at the performance location. Better yet, go there
2. Video yourself to check for mistakes (Perfect practice makes perfect)
3. Try practicing sometimes from the middle of the passage and use the Visual memory technique (21:42) (Visualise the next point in your mind while you are performing)
-Prevents breakdowns on stage
4. Practice sufficiently ahead of time
During/Before performing:
1. Box breathing - Calm down your body
2. Don't change anything just before or during the performance
3. ***DON'T STOP PLAYING on stage
This was so.... liberating. You didn't just say it was nothing, you gave solid answers on how to deal with it.
I love your videos and all your lessons, they've helped me so much with my music. So thanks 😭☺️
Dude you're incredible, Performance anxiety has left me wondering if I'm cut out to be a performer but seeing this and knowing that there are practical ways to work with performance anxiety has reopened that door for me so thank you
has anyone besides me sat down and forgot how the piece starts? scary...
Rex Deeps Not yet, but I forgot at which fret a certain passage in the middle started, it was quite embarrassing
RanDieBam I feel
I remember completely freezing up during a performance in middle school, people started cheering for me, and i managed to pick myself up again to finish the piece, didn't excatly go so well, but none the less, i did it still...
what I love in your videos is that you go through every little detail on a subject. and explain it like no other. Thank you so much Michael! :)
Fantastic advice. I'm so happy you mentioned visual memory, many teachers don't say anything about it. Another method of memorisation which has helped me hugely over the years is the 'Method of Loci' or 'Memory Palace,' which you've likely heard of. It involves inventing a loose story which you experience with all your senses in first person. For example, I am learning a Chopin piece at the moment for which I imagine a ballerina preparing to dance, then dancing, then continuing to dance but I leave the room when it becomes piano and minor. Each phrase is a movement of the ballerina, so this helps a lot with phrasing etc as I perform and irons out any possible variations and at a much deeper level than muscle memory. Hope this was interesting ;)
Yes absolutely. I'm a big fan of the memory palace. I didn't want to get too far into the weeds of how to memorize but that's a technique I use quite a bit.
The cool thing about working with a performance anxiety is that a lot can be applied in other areas of life also, thank you. I really enjoy your videos and ability to break things down.
Put in the proper amount of work before hand, don't punish yourself for mistakes rather accept, understand and work with them...
Treat yourself, when making mistakes the way you would treat a child you love...
Great comment ...especially the last sentence.
Great video! I love the way you explain things in all of your videos and especially this one. I find it great how you also included a visual guide for the box breathing, with the rest of your videos I also find the mix of different types of learning really help me. As a 15 learning music theory, my mum (who is a pianist) is astonished at how fast I have learned thanks to you. Will always watch your videos!
I had that kind of memory slip happen to me twice in a single year. Once with Praeludium and Allegro, and once with the first movement of the Bruch Violin Concerto. This video is probably one of the most helpful I've ever seen.
I am here at the end of 2020...and I am not even a performer of any sort...just begining to learn piano at the age of 60. This gentleman's performance and delivery is flawless! And, his knowledge is absolutely fantastic, to boot! I am totally impressed.
I needed this one today! had some of the things you spoke about on this very day, thanks man! nice to know my presentation is more powerful, rather being "perfect".
This has to be one of the best videos I've seen on youtube with regards to providing practical tips to a very common problem.
I've started recording myself recently for publishing my own composition videos and the anxiety issue invariably kicks in each time.
After watching your videos I've decided to try learning my pieces eyes closed from start to finish.
I start playing very slowly and makes some mistakes on the big jumps but I think the goal of playing a 5 minute piece at normal pace from start to finish is achievable with practice.
This is extremely rewarding because by not being distracted by what my eyes see I'm much more connected to the music.
I can feel each note and hear clearly all the dynamics. The result is so much better and enjoyable.
External distractions (such as the camera) take a back seat and I feel more relaxed.
I will keep on practicing this "visual" memory in the future.
Thank you for a golden tip.
Awesome shirt!
...and video!
I'm amazed at how comprehensive your videos are, and how you deliver it all in such an organized way!
Wanted to say thank you for making these awesome videos and I look forward to everything you have coming up.
I don't even play an instrument but I LOVED this video and watched every minute of it. Your insight applies to so many situations in life. Thank you for sharing your expertise.
First off I absolutely love your channel. Even as a singer (who is learning to accompany himself via piano) this video just changed my life. THANK YOU so effing much sir!
Michael, you're being honest and straight forward without being judgemental. And that's precious.
It really helps understanding how the ego must be managed. It shouldn't take control.
I appreciate your approach and all the very informative details you give. (sorry for my poor English)
Thank you ;-)
Michael. this is by far the best video on the topic i've seen including bunch of other TED talks! Thank you very much!
Just started watching your earlier music theory videos. Been playing for about 3 years and learned some really complex songs, but just from synthesia/MIDI transcriptions on CZcams, and I really wanted to learn music theory to be able to write music and jam with my friends- and you have helped tremendously. You earned a new subscriber ;) keep it up man
For forty years I used whiskey. Hard on the liver though.
This video was incredibly helpful! I realised some time ago that it is often helpful to visually know where your fingers go on the instrument while playing a piece but the part in your video about visual memory really created a more specific logical concept of this type of memorising. Thanks a lot for sharing your experience with us.
Wow , amazing talk , well done . Thank you !!
Although I don't have much performance anxiety, I always have the "shakes" and an increased heart rate as anyone does. The thing that I do to get rid of these things is direct it into my left leg, where i use it to keep track of the beat. I also have a lot of experience with talent shows and concert performances, so that probably makes it easier for me. Other than my input on that topic, I want to thank you for all the work you've done on youtube. I'm part of the first musical generation in my family, and I've loved experimenting with many instruments (especially piano) and having no one to judge me. I really couldn't have understood all of the concepts I know today without your videos. Thank you so much for making all the theory make sense, and hopefully making music a part of my life from 14 and onward :)
Wow! You just articulated a number of things I've been thinking a lot about. Had a very bad experience at age 6 in a recital (freezing in the middle) and it affected me for years. Fast forward several decades and now I've taken up (non-classical) piano and noticing it helps immensely to use a combination of visual/auditory/muscle memory (not to mention learning about the underlying chord structures; a skill that wasn't emphasized in my classical lessons). The result? --dramatically reduced anxiety about "forgetting" in the middle of a piece! Thank you!!
Great video. As someone that doesn't have performance anxiety, it gives a great insight and perspective to what it's like and a way to help others through it. Keep it up, love watching you.
You are an incredible and important teacher. Thank you for putting your methods onto CZcams to help the world's musicians improve their craft.
Thanks Michael for all you have given us. as for myself you have given me so much
A lot of this can be applied to tilting in online gaming.
Or sports.
It surprised me how a lot of your examples were akin to my experiences, and you really saved my ass because you actually gave answers on how to solve them! I'll be applying these to succeeding performances, hopefully, to do better the next time around! Thanks for everything, Michael!
I'm reminded of a bad performance experience I had when I was in high school, and it's so meta that it's kinda funny. It was my last piano recital ever, and I had selected a song to play from my favorite band at the time - The Smashing Pumpkins. The piece was Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (the intro track to their double album of the same name: czcams.com/video/JFEftsKAUvY/video.html). For context, it's important to be familiar with this one episode of The Wonder Years in which Kevin chokes at a dress recital and can't play Canon in D because another student played the same song "perfectly" right before him, and his piano teacher hadn't given him warning beforehand that someone else was playing the same piece. Here's a link to the scene for reference: www.dailymotion.com/video/x2l8n9p?start=840.
Anyway, I'm sitting there waiting for my turn at recital, and it turns out that there's a student two years above me who chose the SAME piece I had chosen for my final recital. My teacher had also not said anything about it. He played before me, and played it "perfectly". Of course all I could think about at that point due to the irony of the whole situation was that one episode of The Wonder Years, trying to laugh it off as a funny coincidence but simultaneously becoming extremely anxious and nervous of failing (because how DARE he play MY song! I was the #1 Pumpkins fan, not him! haha). My turn came soon enough, and the whole situation was just too much for me to handle. The teacher had even said something similar to the line in the show when she introduced me: "I think you'll find it interesting how two different students interpret the same piece of music." Why did this have to happen to me? Is this a joke? The feedback loop was so strong that I couldn't think of anything else besides how Kevin had totally bombed Canon in D when he was in the same situation. I started out fine, but after my first slip up, it was all over - just like the story you told about that amazing kid pianist who couldn't continue after one mistake.
There was an old man with a breathing apparatus sitting up front really close to the piano, and at a certain point, the Darth Vader-esque rhythmic pumping of the machine was all I could hear. I just couldn't focus anymore. I ended up skipping like half the song and went straight to the ending because my muscle memory was completely gone. I will never forget that day, and I actually have not performed music in front of anyone since then. But I'm going to change that soon!
Dear Michael, Just wanted to thank you for this great educational video! You have this natural gift at explaining and transmitting the musical theory and concepts you talk about in your videos. Also, i think it's great that unlike many others, you don't name your videos with "clikbait" titles - this one for instance could have been called "The Single Most Powerful Thing To Learn About Performance" ;) - and that at the same time, you do actually giveaway real essential pieces of advice in the videos, like this one: "If you make it look like what you're playing is awesome, then the audience will reflect that same feeling...". So again THANK YOU Michael!
Looove this video and thank you for your help with something every musician deals with at some point. You explained everything very eloquently. I learned a lot. Just a great and informative talk.
Great video! A lot of good tips. I struggle for years and it doesn't get any better. These ideas will help. Thanks Brother!!
Great info. This applies to so many types of performance, including dance and sports. You're a great speaker and teacher.
Loved the work through of visual memory / muscle memory interaction. The bonding of visual memory to muscle memory to stop that awful 'out of body' distraction is an excellent, practical tool. Thank you.
My acting teacher would say it is about feeling connected, staying ‘in the moment’ and feeling satisfied in the moment.
So helpful! I’m a school teacher and I have to perform every time I teach. So I get a lot of practice with making mistakes and having to go on, regardless. When I panic, it gets worse. When I smile my way through, I become inspired. I’m also a hobby classical pianist. Until I saw your video, I have never thought about the similarities between teaching and playing piano. Makes so much sense! Thank you for this amazing video! I can’t wait to put it into practice, (lol, no pun intended 🙃)
I really appreciate you.
I haven't had a problem with performance anxiety for a long time I just sort of clicked on this to see what it would be. 25 minutes later I've learned several useful things.
I suffer from this and I am grateful for all your advice! I will try to implement your suggestions and look forward conquering the performance anxiety demons!
10:34, "you can have a flawless but terrible performance", that and the analogy with the speaker entertainer was an awesome eye-opener in here! In fact when I rely too much on sight reading when in panic and the analytic brain is the only thing surviving, playing becomes dull and without dynamics.. It would help to learn how to damp that left lobe and learn to become present to yourself again in that situation. Here memory helps too being way more effective than sight reading, and releasing your brain power to connect with your feelings again... Thanks Michael, awesome video!!
dude, this is life changing. this can be applied to so many things in life
Makes absolute sense, it's taken many years to understand what you have explained in one sitting. I'm sure this would be of value to many
This is very honest, relatable, and helpful! Great video
So true Michael emotion creates motion and through our understanding of how we can connect to our emotions we can open a doorway how we can come more relaxed through our awareness of our emotions great job man.
I love your videos. this one too, it's educating and relaxing and you hit the nail on the head perfectly. ❤🎵🎹
Awesome video Michael! Heres are my favourite parts of the video if you want to zoom in to a particular point:
- 5:20 Don't Change anything before performing!
- 7:50 Things to keep in mind while you play
- 12:22 Lowering uncertainty before performing
- 14:37 Awesome example for the next point
- 21:42 Visual Memory: Technique to avoid breakdowns/Blackouts on stage (The best part IMO)
Lastly: I suggest that you watch through the whole video at least once, his examples are really impactful. Thanks so much for making this Michael!
Ps: Pls add on to this if i missed anything
Thankyou for this video. I have been struggling with this problem. I will try to use some of these techniques.
OMG, you are in my brain. It's a constant challenge. Great vid.
I could hear you talk all day. It's a shame I'm only seeing this now, but thank you for this insightful video. x
During lessons my instructor was getting me prepared to play a piece on piano for a couple hundred people. I could practice it and play flawlessly with him in the room and by myself at home. But then he told me to stand up and introduce myself like I was playing live. It made practicing so much more nerve wracking with just with the thought of playing in front of people. But it helped me prepare to play live and really helped when I performed.
Great video, - I'd love to see /hear more about your idea of visual memory.
Excellent! Especially the part about knowing how well you actually know the piece. I was guilty of not practicing enough before performing and fooling myself that I am well prepared, which amplified the anxiousness. Not a good idea!
just in time for tonight's gig :) thanks for sharing !
Great video, like all of your videos so far. Since you're asking for suggestions for your next series, I'd like to see more about writing music. More in depth on chord progressions, cadences, open- and rootless positions.
This is excellent! Thank you Michael ;)
you are brilliant is sharing the secrets in visual memory!
Great content.
Going to try videoing myself more. Had a church audition recently and never used in ears before. Took a while to get them in and although they are supposed to help I had a hard time hearing compared to practicing to a recording in my practice room. Lost my spot several times. Only thing that saved me is I can improve and basically just inserted a solo using the techniques and modes in the song. The whole time, just stood there thinking "your blowing it!" stunk. Made it past the audition but learned that I have to figure out this part of it. (also have to practice with in-ears)
this was really well explained, thank you
You are fucking UNDERRATED my friend!
Give this awesome guy a thumbs up right now!
This content is a huge help! Awesome! :)
Interesting stuff! Feel bad for the young one blanking out in that story :(
I never grew up playing music or anything of the sort. I've been watching your videos as well as some others to actually learn music theory and what not. Quite a few years back, I challenged myself in my final year of uni by taking a bunch of different classes I either had no background knowledge in or didn't care about at that time as a person (hello, philosophy of aesthetics!) and took Balinese Gamelan. The teacher explained the music and how to play a few of the instruments fairly easily. Problem was, I had completely forgotten that we had to perform as our final exam and the deadline for dropping had already passed.
The class would breeze by and here I was trying to get all this stuff down, make sure I had all my other classes set, coping with what to do after graduating, would I even graduate if I bombed this, be the president for a club on campus and do all that fun stuff, etc. etc. My mind was going 100mph in about 40 different directions. I buggered up practice a bit more than the teacher would have liked and I had to stay after to try to hammer out those issues. By the day of the performance, I was dead certain I was going to embarrass myself. Hit the wrong notes, collapse on stage, whatever. I had it in my head, 'NOPE. NOPE. NOPE. I'm done. I'm sick. Cancel me out.' I mean, Gamelan isn't solo music, so I tried to reason to myself that I could slide.
I never did ask the professor to do that. However, those hours leading up to it were the worst. Shaky, like stuck out in the bitter cold of winter shaky. I couldn't string more than a few words together and just sort of kept to myself, trying to run through my head all we had to do. I think the whole Gamelan portion of the event was 15 - 20 minutes long and here I am thinking, 'This. This is going to be the worst 15 - 20 minutes of my life.' Our time comes and I remember getting into place waiting to start and....that's it.
I can remember picking up the hammer looking at the teacher waiting for the cue to begin, but after that, I remember nothing about the performance. I had to get up, along with a couple other students to switch instruments when we changed songs, but outside of that, the next thing I knew we were standing up and bowing to applause. Got off the stage and the professor said we had all done incredibly well and sounded much better than when we practiced. Is that the muscle memory approach to remembering a piece? I mean, my mind didn't wander. It was like it went into musical super saiyan mode and took over my body.
Anyway, felt like sharing my own experience with performance anxiety, even if I have only done it once, and good luck to those trying to overcome their own performance anxieties!(b^ー°)
Wow man! Every word 🤍 really helpful 🌟 thank you
Thank you 🎼
It's very rare I see a video with 0 dislikes, and tbh it kinda says more than I could, but I gotta say I love your t-shirt
Your videos are really great. When are you going to add more?
Hey Michael, thanks for making these awesome videos! Can you make some videos on Ear Training? I've looked around the web a lot, and I've practiced with the various ear training trainers available online, but im making real slow progress. The most difficulty I face is when trying to identify chords by ear.. that is so difficult for me, but its super essential to be able to identify chords if we want to play a piece of music by ear. Thanks!
Not a second of this 28 minute video was wasted, good job.
Very cool man !
Sooooooooooooooo helpful.
Just brilliant!
Your videos are so helpful! You describe my experience to a tee and might save people some time on their journey.
I was wondering if you had any tips on transcribing harder stuff/licks by ear (fast solos, chord voicings, complicated ideas, etc).
Sometimes it feels like the most painful, trial and error process with uncertain payoff. Any thoughts or tips?
Yes Indeed this is a real issue & You're quite spot on with the way you describe it here. Yea if it's Cold Outside, We Shiver, and LIVE Performance Whether in Front of People Or Even RECORDING In the Studio,Definitely Self Consciousness comes into play. Thanks Man. I see You a BLUE Yeti Pro Mic there. I have the BLUE Snowball Mic.
The Lord JESUS Bless You. LIKED 👍 & Subscribed. God Bless
My music teacher described the nerves thing in an interesting way when i asked him about not being able to play when one or more person is in the room listening. It is that the player becomes super critical of what they are playing. Now I think about it this way i play much more like when i am on my own.
Excellent
Cheers dude :) one love
Random question, where are you getting your shirts from? I kind of want to pick up some.
Michael is there a way to incorporate your visual memory techniques for singing pieces? I've been following and learning from you but in a different context - I'm writing my own music to sing to, so my only performance will be on stage with a microphone in my hand. Does your visual memory technique have a way of improving a non-visual performance like mine?
Thanks for all you do. You've taught me much.
This is amasing
Hello Michael, im taking AP Music Theory at school and i need to memorize solfage scale, i was wondering if you could make a quick video about how to memorize it and other tips regarding the scale, thanks. I Love your video,been watching them since day one. Good luck!
this is the golden guide for performance anxiety
LOVELY TIPS...
It makes me remember the unforgetable first time I play guitar out of my confortable room with my sister singing next to me...a few secs before going on stage I was trying my best to not freak out keeping my hands warm and thinking whether I should take the sheet with the chords or not (i knew it by memory:-|)so I took it up with me .We started and it was ok but then I looked at the audience I got so nervous and forgot one chord try my best to keep going but I just couldn't my hands were shaking then saw my sister's face was like "What!? "people start talking and you know it is about you...Terrible feeling :-[
I love your videos! I need more music theory. I'm almost done watching all of them, what do you have coming up next?
Frank Kemper current plan is to do a series on reading sheet music, although it’s taking longer to finish than I’d hoped. Soon though.
Michael New Oh cool! I am a guitarist who only really uses tab but I do want to learn the basics of how to read sheet music. It is definitely a skill I need to learn. I really liked learning the theory on the piano (instead of the guitar), it made so much more sense. Thanks for the awesome videos!
@@MichaelNew Come back please.
Honestly it doesn't really go away. I just keep forcing myself to do it and I have found I've gotten slightly better.
Thanks for this, a big drum and piano blues variation on I'll Fly Away created by me and my drum teacher coming up Sunday in church! :)
+Jake Greene Good luck have fun!
thanks! I will! :)
GLHF
Can you do a video on chords functions in modes?
I heard it also helps to practice in front of a mirror, because you also feel like being watched.
this might sound kinda weird but it worked for me.. I once used baking soda on my hands to keep them dry when I played marimba cus they would sweat and it affected my playing
+Rachel Krueger I use chalk for keeping my hands dry for weightlifting. I guess it's not that different.
Omg you look so much like Chandler Riggs!!!
*That Portal shirt is hot*
I have that Tshirt! :D
subtle pitch for the new Zelda game. we're on to you
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just kidding. thanks for video
I played a sad song i wrote for my mom in front of my family... my hands went completely numb at the sedcond chorus
I was only able to write music because of you btw :) i wanna thank you for that!
👍👍👍
do you have instagram? im trying to make a post of my biggest influences of 2016 and tagging the accounts.
Why did you delete your next video?!
Wow, you're fast; that was up for like a second. That was actually a test upload from a partial render that wasn't supposed to be public :) Full thing should be up later tonight.
Another great video about a pretty serious problem, thank you so much, Michael! Your videos are some of the most useful tools on CZcams, they are really helping me.
By the way, I'm a beginner composer/songwriter, if any of you would check some of my little songs and give me some feedback, I would really appreciate.
(I hate spamming, I'm just searching a way to start, hope you'll forgive me)
Cheers!