Dear Friends,

Greetings from Miskolc, Hungary! I’m here at the inaugural Chroma International Music Festival for about ten days, along with around 30 other piano and composition students and faculty.

Yesterday in a group studio class, one of the adult students said that already in these first few days of the festival, she has started “falling in love with the piano all over again.” I loved her comment, because this kind of community feels special; it's simply lovely to spend these days playing and listening to the piano.

At that same class, we had a long discussion about performance anxiety.

Several students described the same frustration: practicing a piece to the point where it sounds really good, but then when you go to play it somewhere else, like at your lesson, or in a performance, or even just at someone else’s house, it doesn’t feel anywhere near as secure.

It’s like all that hard work just evaporates!

And so you get nervous. Feelings of self-doubt creep in, and the performance is, frustratingly, not up to your potential.

Here's why this happens: when we practice, we’re not only learning the sound of the music or the physical feeling of playing the piece. We are also taking in the physical environment around us.

When you always practice on the same piano, the qualities of the space you are practicing in become an inextricable part of your knowledge and experience of the music you're learning.

And then when you play the same piece somewhere else, that familiarity is gone, because your sensory experience is different. Of course, you’re playing on a different piano, which feels and sounds different. But there are also many other changes: the light is different. The room sounds different. The space around the piano, that you take in with your peripheral vision as you play, looks and feels unfamiliar.

This is one of the major reasons that you experience a drop-off in performance security when you perform in a new space.

The antidote to that is to practice on different pianos as a performance approaches. Switching up your practice environment will make you more resilient and adaptable as a performer.

And so, I have a challenge for you: this week, find at least one other space where you can try out your repertoire. Maybe you have another friend who plays the piano or keyboard. Go on a little field trip to their place and play for them and then have them come and play on your piano.

Maybe there's a church or a school with a piano where you can slip in and practice for a little while.

Start by playing through the repertoire you've been working on. In addition to the differences in the instrument itself, notice what feels different about the environment. Then, if you can, practice for a little while on the different instrument until you get used to it.

Write back and let me know how it goes!

👋 Happy practicing,

Kate

PS If you're interested in improving your scales, my new online course The Art of Scales will come out on August 24. Click here to join more than 850 people on the waitlist, and be the first to know when it's available.

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