How to get ready for your first music recital

For your first recital, have the work ready a few weeks before the date, not the previous night. That extra time is to "shoot it": to play it complete without stop, in front of other people and under conditions similar to those of the real day. Last week nothing new is learned and what's been added up.

Here's a schedule week by week how to rehearse according to your instrument, what to carry and what to do from you get to the place to the final greeting.

To sum up

Choose with your teacher a work a little under your high level: on stage your level goes down a little.
The work should be complete and secure at least two weeks earlier, and the rest of the time is to shoot it.
Test the whole ritual: get in, say hi, get ready, get ready, start and finish with your shoes and shoes of the day.
Last week don't change digitations, arches and breathing.
If you're wrong, you keep playing: stop and get more than a bad note.

Choose a play that you can play with some space

The first recital isn't the time to start the most difficult piece you have been trying. Choose with your teacher something that's already good at home and that you can enjoy. With nerves, what's at the end of it usually gets broken and what's got room, holds up.

That's how you feel about it: you're gonna play it a lot of times in the next few weeks.
That have an appropriate duration to the recital format and that at student recesses they are often short works.
That his most difficult passage will be clear to an hour close to the end.
For children, have a piece that they recognize and wish to show the family.

Chronogram: 6 weeks before the previous day

Reast Preparation Plan
Momento	Objective	What to do
6 to 4 weeks earlier	Security notes and rhythm	Solve difficult passages slow and by fragments, fix digitations
4 to 3 weeks earlier	Final Tempus and Expression	To get up with a methonomic, to work dynamic and frying, to memorize if applicable
Two weeks earlier	Play complete without stop	From beginning to end, record you, play for family
Last week	Estabilidad	General tests, after slow monitoring, no new changes
Previous day	Descanso	A quiet pass, prepare clothing, score and instrument, sleep well

To get up the tempo without losing cleanliness, use the [metronomic]](/herramientas/metronomo) from a few pounding and back if the passage gets bad and if you're gonna play without a score, start memorizing early: we explain how to [how to memorize a musical piece]](/blog/como-memorizar-una-pieza-musical).

Tests that simulate the actual day

Playing good in your room isn't the same as playing in a living room with people. About your essays to the real conditions:

Do complete passes without stopping, whatever happens. It's a different skill to practice with fragments.
Test the complete ritual: come in, say hi, accommodate bench or atrial, tuning, breathing, start and end with greeting.
Touch at least once with the recital's shoes and clothing. A new shoe changes how you step on your pedal or how you stop.
If you have an escort, check with that person several times, and not just the day before.

If you play piano

Ask if you can test the place's piano. Otherwise, practice with other pianos that you have at hand: the weight of the keys and the pedal response change a lot. Learn how to set up the height of the bench in seconds. piano classes you can ask your teacher to simulate the full recital at a session.

If you play violin

Practice tuning quickly and quietly with [violin tuning]](/herramientas/afinador/violin) and after listening with the accompaniment. Check the ropes a few days earlier, and not the morning of the recital, so that a new string will reach to stabilise.

If you're singing

Test with track or with carrier exactly as the day will be: same tone, same introduction, and with mike if you are using it. Do your entrance after introduction without looking at anyone to count.

What to wear on recital day

Checked list by instrument
Instrumento	Don't forget
All	Score (though memory), water, something light to eat, handkerchief to dry your hands
Piano	Comfortable shoes with thin sole for the pedal, cushion if you need them for height
Violin and Violin	Colophonia, spare ropes, shoulder, tuning and cleaning cloth
Guitar	Replacement, tuning, backrest or backrest, light fingernails if you play classical
Singing	Water at room temperature, track on phone and second copies
Vientos	Replacement rods already tested, oil or fat, condensed water cloth

On the suit: elegant but comfortable. If you have to put up your arms, sit up or have a profound breath, try your laundry by playing before the day.

The day of recital, step by step

Do something light a few hours earlier. To play with hunger or very full affects concentration and breathing.
It arrives with plenty of time. In Bogotá, it has traffic and cold: it has something to keep his hands warm.
He recognizes space: where you will stop or sit, where you come in and how you hear the living room.
Warm up little and soft. Do not review the complete work again and again after bambalines.
Fold your instrument and leave it ready before your turn.
While you are waiting, have a slow breath and listen to others rather than think about your mistakes.
When you come out, say hi and come and think about the first sentence before you start.
If something goes wrong, go ahead and get an end to it, and put the instrument down and thank you for his applause.

If nerves are your main concern, we give you concrete tools at how to overcome stage fear.

If it's your son's first recital

Weeks earlier, get him to see some concert or recital so that he knows how the atmosphere looks.
At home practice entrance and greeting as a game with the public family.
Before we leave, remind him to enjoy his words and avoid his words as "don't get wrong."
Record without flash and without distracted from the first row.
At the end of his day, his best and his best will be to celebrate his efforts and his courage and his technical comments are to be put to the next class.

A well-lived recital doesn't feel like playing again. One with excessive pressure can leave the opposite, especially in small children.

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to play with memory at my first recital?

It's up to the recital and what you agree with your teacher. It's common to play with score at student recitals, especially at first time. If you decide to play with memory, start memorizing weeks earlier and have the score at an equal level.

What do I do if I'm wrong at full recital?

Keep playing with your pulse and retaking at the next secure point of the play. Do not repeat the passage and conduct gestures. The public almost always remember the general sensation, and not a note.

What's suitable for a music recital?

Formal or semiformal clothing where you can move and have a free breath. Test it by playing earlier: broad sleeves, very short skirts or new shoes can be annoying as an instrument.

Is it good to practice a lot on the same day as the recital?

No. One or two quiet passes and a short warming are enough. To practice too tiresome your hands or your voice and increase anxiety just before you touch.