Stage Fright

Copyright © 2016 Reginald Haché.

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ISBN: 978-1-5320-1219-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5320-1220-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016920086

iUniverse rev. date: 12/20/2016

Contents

Stage Fright I (You Are Not Alone)

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Addendum

Addendum II

STAGE FRIGHT I

(YOU ARE NOT ALONE)

STAGE FRIGHT is one of the most debilitating factors in gaining confidence for public speaking or any other type of performance taking place before a live audience. In most cases, it only gets worse as each performance takes on a more important role. During the early years, the only significance in giving a creditable performance was to please your parents, relatives and piano teacher. When I was ready to enroll in a conservatory of music, to eventually earn a degree, which would open up doors for employment and concert dates, the importance of giving reliable performances was crucial, particularly in my case, since I needed a full scholarship to attend an exceptional school of music. My parents were not equipped financially to afford tuition and support me while living out of town, so it was imperative that I win a full scholarship with living accommodations as well, or end up having to take on a full time job at the local woolen mill in Waterville, Maine, my home town, which would have been a total disaster.

I had to appear in several public events which were sponsored by the Maine Federation of Piano Teachers, and any one failure would have eliminated me from any consideration towards financial assistance. I was well aware of the importance of all these performances and I suffered from stage fright to a great extent. Failure was not an option! I had to deliver or deny myself a career in music performance. My Stage fright appeared in the form of sleepless nights, loss of appetite and generally, fear of inevitable failure. I was preparing myself for that ugly moment of total disaster which I really believed was just around the corner. Well, in retrospect, I survived, but not without a lot of psychological bruises and of course, my stage fright continued unrelenting on and on from performance to performance as though it was an incurable disease.

What really changed a potential loss to a huge victory in my attempt to win this needed scholarship was my introduction to Guy P. Gannet, a communications magnate who not only owned the Waterville Sentinel and several other newspapers and radio stations, but he and his wife were both trustees of the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. This introduction took place by virtue of my changing piano teachers during my senior year in high school. My new piano teacher was not much better than the one I was leaving, but he had a lot of prestige since he was chairman of the music department at Colby College which just happened to be located in Waterville. He made everything happen by initially setting up a performance for the state Federation of PianoTeachers which eventually led to a performance for friends and colleagues of the Gannets, at his home in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, just outside of Portland. I was a huge success and was granted the much sought after scholarship with living expenses.

I was accepted at the conservatory of music in Boston, on a trial basis since I would be auditioned once again at the end of the school year by the same Federation of Music organization I had performed for the previous year, at a concert scheduled at the Governors Mansion in Augusta, Maine where the Governor’s wife played the role of hostess. I wasn’t as nervous as I would have been, ordinarily, had I not been prepared as well as I had been, due to an exceptional year of study at the conservatory of music, accentuated by an audition required to advance to my sophomore year. I was then placed on a permanent student basis at the conservatory until I completed my baccalaureate studies.

The year I earned my Bachelor’s Degree in music was not as pleasant a year as one would expect. Despite the fact that I had completed my studies at the under graduate level, I was informed that both of my patrons, The Gannets, had died during the month of May. The current president of the Conservatory broke the news to me and pointed out that they had planned to send me to Europe to continue my studies for a period of three years. That would not happen, however, since they had not put their intentions in writing and their daughter, who would inherit the role of C.E.O. of the firm, was not a music or art lover and canceled any thoughts of supporting her parents wishes.

Getting back to stage fright, had I been told from the beginning that I was not alone in regard to this performance disorder, I would have been able to eliminate some of the fear and self dissolution knowing that many great artists also had suffered the same problems I was dealing with. Neither of my piano teachers how- ever, would have been of any help in regard to stage fright, since neither of them had performed public recitals and therefore, had not experienced the fear of public performances.

There are methods, however, that can minimize the problems inherent with performing piano recitals from memory. These methods I developed halfway through my career which I passed on to my students primarily to relieve them of the fear and suffering which I endured throughout most of my career as a performer. These methods, which I developed, are not fool proof but they can be life savers when you are on stage facing a live audience. The most obvious part of these methods which seems to escape most students is the way one studies and prepares a composition for an oncoming recital. You must, at all times, be aware of the key you are playing a passage in and all of the keys that this composition will modulate to. How many times have I asked students of other piano teachers after hearing them perform a composition and be told that they didn’t know, what key it was in. Rote study which means by repetition, is like skating on thin ice. You never know when it will crack and swallow you up! In other words, another failed performance, not to mention the fear and anxiety experienced during that performance.

Analysis is the key to a competent performance and that can only happen to students who clearly understand the make up of the composition they are studying. You must approach a composition with thorough analysis which means that you must be aware of the key you are playing in and carefully study the note patterns that the composer has dutifully placed on the lines and spaces of a grand staff. You must make a concerted effort to view these note patterns in the form of a partial scale pattern or a chord in block or broken groups. The reason I used the word partial, when referring to the word scale, is that they do not always appear complete, which can confuse the student who has not been made aware of the fact.

Once this technique is employed in your studies, you will find that you have a greater understanding of the composition you are studying and the ice under your feet will get a lot thicker as you get more competent and proficient in your future performances. I will illustrate this method of study with one composition that is well known to most piano students that have achieved the intermediate level of the piano repertoire. This composition is Solfeggietto by C.P.E. Bach, the eldest son of J.S. Bach. I will then place the analysis in the last pages of this book which I expect those of you who are interested in this method of study to peruse on your own time.

Another part of my methods designed to escape the danger of a complete memory lapse during a performance, is to be prepared to jump to another section of the composition avoiding complete collapse, which I have observed many times in my role as an adjudicator at piano competitions. You must be prepared to find a safe haven, so to speak, when a memory lapse is about to take place, which would avoid a complete breakdown in your performance, enabling you to complete the composition you are playing and of course, save face, simultaneously.

As I mentioned in the preface of this book, you are not alone, I meant to relieve your stage fright during stage appearances by letting you know that some of the greatest artists have had real problems with performing in public during their entire careers. I mentioned names like Arthur Rubinstein, Vladimir Horowitz and Maria Callas, to mention a few. Some of the current artists that you might recognize immediately after hearing their names are pianist Van Cliburn, Glenn Gould and Jackie Evancho, the recent vocal sensation who seems to be in total command during her television appearances. In her last interview, she was asked if she got nervous before and during each performance and this was her response:

I keep thinking that I’m going to mess it all up. You wouldn’t know it by her demeanor and facial expressions. Opera singer, Renee Fleming is another example of stage fright. Although, she looks very calm and in control during her many appearances on stage, she admits to thoughts of potential failure during most of her performances.

Arthur Fiedler, conductor of the famous Boston Pops orchestra, whom I had the pleasure of performing with for nearly a decade, was overheard telling one of his orchestral players that the pressure he was under conducting concerts almost every night, for over half a century, got so unbearable that he wondered how he could, once again, appear on stage for yet another concert. The Russian pianist Arthur Rubinstein, who performed more piano concerts over a period of seven decades, was not available to be spoken to by anyone, including his wife for several hours prior to every concert. Having given