Do:- Dress comfortably
- Warm up several minutes before showtime with scales and arpeggios
- Keep hands warm
- Talk to the others to keep your mind straight
- Take deep breaths, meditate
- Above all else: Keep calm
Don't:- Wear your tight little red dress just because it's a size four and you don't want to accept the fact that you're now a size six after Thanksgiving, thereby leaving your literally breathless. √
- Warm up several minutes before showtime - but with the piece you're about to play, thus racking your brains, raising hellish doubt, and causing you to panic. √
- Try sitting on your hands, thereby squeezing all the blood out and leaving them white, lifeless, and limp. √
- Mutter to yourself about how few hours you've spent practicing, and how doomed your performance is going to be, and how sure you're going to fail √
- Ask your teacher for the nth time how many people are in the audience, so you can count them as they fill up the seats. √
- Take deep breaths only to become so nervous you forget to breathe and feel dizzy within a few minutes (that dress isn't helping) √
Looks like my score isn't too good...
