I have a student recital tomorrow, and the pathetique mov 1 is still crappy. Not to mention I’m nervous about it. Any tips on how to calm down before a recital and reduce speeding?
My pre-concert ritual: 3 bananas and Gould’s 1981 Goldberg variations. Has never failed me yet - the Bananas calm my nerves and the Gould gets my mind in order 
Thanks! Not much of a banana man, but I’ll try it anyways.
3 bananas? my stomach can hardly take 1. I prefer to have a good meal/breakfast 2 to 3 hours before I play. Afterwards I’m usually all shakey and THEN I need my bananas, preferably with a coke. Even though bananas are THE pre-concert-food.
The only thing that really helps with nerves, is to play UNDER your tempo. If you’re not experienced enough, everything you play sounds at your normal speed, yet you can never keep up with yourself. Play calmly, but with the same musical intention you’ve always studied beforehnd. Maybe even try starting out playing a bit more safe than usual, once you calm down and feel more comfortable you can let loose. Well, in the appropriate amount, that is.
Playing “safe” might not feel to brave, but once you get more experienced in performing you’ll thank yourself forever.
This is three bananas over the course of the 70+ mins I spend listening to Gould, not all at once 
Ahh, that makes sense 
I randomly have the fear of not being warmed up, or “ready” for my recital. I always play way too much, and even practice up until the hour before on the day itself. How do you deal with that then, considering you don’t play those 70+ banana-eating minutes?
Randomly, how does anyone here warm up the day and the hours before a recital? /ps/
I don’t touch the piano on the day of the recital. I don’t see the point. As long as my hands are warm when I go on, I’m good to go.
And just so that the bananas + Gould doesn’t seem a bit random, I’ll note that it was a part of my Tennis tournament warm up routine long before I adapted it for my pre-performance jitters.
watch comedy stuff before u go on to the stage and see if u can laugh.
if not, u are likely to have a hard time.
relax
if you don’t like bananas take a beta blocker. For exams I have a silly mantra that I repeat “I am fearless in my heart, they will always see that in my eyes, I am the passion, I am the warfare, I will never stop, always constant, accurate and intense”
10 points if you know where that’s from without googling 
Steve Vai, baby.
well done! I knew either you or comme would get it 
tha zmoke brb fo zho betah den a banana
da betah-blockah zeemz quite common in diz job
I iz zho half of da mofoz in a comp take zumthin 
Thanks for all your help guys! The recital went well enough, though I still played the sonata brutally fast. I had a good Waffle house breakfast before, but didn’t find any good bananas 
And on the way to the place I listened to some Alkan. Just before I went up, I remembered some parts of Achmed the dead terrorist, and that seemed to help as well. I’ll post a video of it soon.
Damn, one thing I hate about living in Canada is that we don’t have WaHo here. Those freaking WaHo waffles haunt my dreams.
nerves! can them and let loose on stage you’ll get a torrid super frenzy perf ftw
and if you practise just the right amount you’ll hit the right keys at the right times.
ive herd cyanide duz da trikk 
Nah, that’s only good for pieces with lots of rests 
Ok, here’s the vid. Feel free to state anything you notice (good and bad) and break it down too.
youtube.com/watch?v=h9YTL0PyqCk
Thanks
Wikkid opening chord 
Thank you! I studied Freddy Kempf’s pedaling for that.