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Pineapple Rag Is in the Books!

I have graduated from Pineapple Rag! Of course, I never truly graduate from anything, but Pineapple Rag will no longer be an active piece after this week. Starting this weekend, it joins my ever-growing mountain maintenance pieces that I'll revisit every weekend.

Two Performances!

I've performed it twice: once in the Piano with Rebecca B group last Saturday, and finally at the PWJ student recital yesterday. My Piano with Rebecca B performance wasn't great, but it wasn't terrible either. I approached it as a run-through for the PWJ recital, which I signed up for last month (or maybe in April).

I wasn't able to practice much between the two performances, thanks to a ridiculously busy week and some hand pain due to my ganglion cyst and pinky arthritis. I tried to practice Wednesday night and made it about fifteen minutes before I had to stop. I honestly thought I would have to cancel on PWJ.

Alas, I showed up and played, and it went quite well! Not perfect, but I was able to keep going, despite mistakes. Most important, there was no freezing up, no mind-blanking, no panic—so that is huge. Even better, I had fun. My performance is not pretty because I'm hunched over and look like Professor Trelawney, but I'm also bouncing and dancing and smiling throughout the piece. So that's cool. (I can't share the video because it's private, but stay tuned for an "official" video soon.)

Practicing to Perform

I partly credit my ability to perform this piece with new "practicing to perform" techniques that I learned from Dr. Molly Gebrian and Rebecca Bogart. I walk through the technique in the video below. Following the video, I'll list some of my lessons learned from the experience.

Lessons Learned

Here are some lessons learned that I shared with the Piano with Rebecca B group:

  • Surprisingly, "easier" sections tripped me up more than the "difficult" ones, showing the value of sectioning the entire piece. This makes sense, as I'd put more work into the harder sections.
  • I have serious stage fright! The moment I imagine an audience in my head, I dive headlong into fight-or-flight mode—hands sweating and shaking, pedal foot shaking, wanting to cry, etc. I talked through some of the issues in the video, and this helped! I was still nervous on Saturday, but it was nothing like what I pre-experienced on Friday night.
  • Making up "scenes" for each section was very helpful. (For Pineapple Rag, I imagined various scenes from an early-20th-century "Pineapple County Fair"!) As I practiced, I focused on each scene as closely as I could. I was able to imagine the scenes during much of my performance on Saturday, and it helped so much. In fact, my brain didn't go into blank-out-and-panic mode a single time.
  • The most troublesome section in my practice was the one that included my original embellishment in Section B. Not surprising, as I only added it a week or two ago, so it was still new. Next time I take on a piece that "allows" embellishments, I think I'll start developing/practicing them much earlier in the learning process.

I'm so happy. I love Pineapple Rag so much and am proud to add to the maintenance list.

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