Adult Learners - Good, tricky, do differently

On Saturday I played at an Adult Learner's Event.  The set up of the day was quite informal - there were 20 or so people there and we had run throughs and rehearsals in the morning and then played to each other in a concert format in the afternoon before going out for drinks and food.

I played the second movement of the Mozart Oboe Quartet.  I wasn't really happy with how I played in the concert.  But I did it, got to the end and had some nice comments (criticism was not allowed!).  It has made me think about what I thought could have been improved and how to make it better.  At work wegive feedback in the form "Good, Tricky, Do differently" and that seems to be as good a way as any to review how it went.  So here goes:

GOOD

1. I was really pleased with the first phrase which is long and has a huge crescendo in it!  I think I really pulled that off. 

2. I got through from start to finish, I wasn't derailed by little upsets on the way and generally kept my calm.

3. I wasn't overly affected by nerves- I felt some tension, but none of the shaking hands that I got the first couple of times I played in front of people.

4. There was some nice phrasing - I did manage to get some of the shaping in.  Some of the things that I had struggled with in the practice room seemed to be much more manageable in a bigger, more resonant space.

5. My intonation was generally OK and probably better than I expected under the pressure and nerves.

TRICKY

1. I wasn't that comfortable with the piece.  I chose it because it had an easy piano accompaniment and fitted the time limit.  But I knew it would be hard to pull off and that made me feel a little uneasy about the whole thing.

2. There wasn't enough practice with the accompanist.  There were some points where fitting the two parts together were a bit tricky - even though the piano part looks straight forward it needs good co-ordination with the oboist to ensure notes are absolutely together.  Bits that were a bit dodgy in rehearsal were picked up but we didn't reinforce enough, so that the same mistakes occurred in the performance.

3. I need to take the lead more in the rehearsal with the accompanist to highlight the slightly dodgy bits and make sure that I am happy with them.  I am the one that knows the piece better, so I am the one who will pick those things up.  I suppose I felt reluctant to do so in this situation as it was meant to be a "fun" event and so I didn't want to be seen as too "picky" but in the end it meant that I was feeling on edge in the performance.  Also  I ended up trying to play the piece to fit in with the accompanist rather than as I had practiced it.  So I need to learn to take the lead in the performance as well, and let the accompanist keep up with me.

4.  Poor tone in places.  I was not happy with my reed....are oboists ever?  This has been a problematic reed from day 1.  It took ages to blow in and even then there are certain notes that just don't sound very nice and are hard to control...or they are sometimes, sometimes it works just fine! Unfortunaly due to my lesson being cancelled I hadn't had chance to buy a replacement, so it was the best one I had!  There is also a chance that it was my lip giving up a bit.  I was also not feeling that well as still getting over a cold - by the afternoon I was definitely flagging. I think the practice in the morning sounded much better so could probably have been tension in my embouchure that affected the tone.  In some places it was OK but need to work on endurance and consistency.  More long notes!

5.  Due to my slot towards the end and the overall length of the concert I ended up playing on a pretty cold instrument and reed.  I did what I could to warm it up by silently blowing through but I think that due to the stop/ start nature of the playing it probably didn't warm up properly all day.

DO DIFFERENTLY

(thinking of Saturday's Garden Party)

1. I  feel more comfortable with these pieces which definitely play to my strengths.

2. I will buy at least 1 new reed from my teacher on Wednesday and make sure I am happy with it.

3. I have already had one run through with accompanist but will have another on Saturday.  I feel more comfortable with fitting these pieces to the piano part anyway so hopefully will be fine.

4. I will do a proper warm up at the start of the day.

5. I will smile and relax and focus on the music rather than worrying about anything else.