Now that you have carefully selected your solo and practiced your part to perfection, it is time to put the final touches on your perfect performance.
Knowing and being able to perform your solo is two-thirds of the equation for success. The final 1/3 is knowing that a perfect performance is possible. This last level of preparation is where most performers fall short. This last third is what makes the difference between the men and the boys, the pro and the amateur.
Your first assignment in building confidence is to memorize your solo. Can you hear the deafening silence in the room? “MENORIZE MY SOLO. I’LL HAVE MY MUSIC ON THE STAND. WHY DO I HAVE TO MEMORIZE MY SOLO”! I never said that this exercise was going to be easy.
You cannot get the full potential out of your performance if you are chained to the printed page. Musicians have lost this last link to a perfect performance through the years. The annual Solo Ensemble Contest used to require memorized performances. There was a reason for this requirement. It forced students to spend more time in preparing their solo. Once this requirement was banished, we found that most students were less prepared at contest time.
If your eyes are fastened to the page, you are using only your eyes, air and fingers to produce your product. To give you an example of how important memorization is, think of the play on stage. The actors first read their parts, then they rehearse without the script. At the dress rehearsal, they are actually playing their part which includes interaction with the other players. Their job is to sell the play. They must not only play the part, but additionally BE THE person they are portraying. The best actors sell to the audience the emotions and feeling of the person being portrayed. When done effectively, the audience is sharing the actors’ thoughts, feelings and emotions. This connection with the audience is the difference between an average performance and a believable performance. How would you like to attend a play where the actors are performing as they read their script off the page? Unfortunately, that is exactly what we are doing when we read our sheets of music.
Once you have memorized your solo, you are free from the page and will be able to perform music rather than blindly executing notes from the print. Musicality begins when you can live the part rather than reproducing the notes.
