by Amanda | Aug 6, 2018 | Performance
Is memorization a disappearing skill? How do we memorize music? Why do we try? MY 40-DAY BRAHMS MEMORISATION CHALLENGE A pianist colleague once told me what a waste of time she thought memorising music was, how concert pianists limited themselves so severely by...
by Amanda | Jul 31, 2018 | Performance
Fact: performances are not rehearsals (or practice sessions). Now, I know this is stating the obvious, but have you ever gone on stage with a plan than goes something like this? “I really nailed that note/passage yesterday, and it’s been bugging me for ages. So glad I...
by Amanda | Mar 5, 2018 | Performance
I remember my first line in a school play. I was about twelve. It was four words. I practised them over and over. “What about a tunnel?” At home I’d be fine, but on stage in rehearsal, I’d say them loud and clear, only to be told again by the student-directors that I...
by Amanda | Mar 2, 2018 | Performance
Is Federer relaxed, as Jim Courier says, and what can we, as performers, learn from watching him? One of my singing teachers used to tell me to RELAX as I was rushing off from my lesson back to the conservatorium for a class. It always had the opposite effect from...
by Amanda | Feb 9, 2018 | Performance
I recently watched a documentary about Tim Minchin’s rise to fame and his crowning glory, turning Roald Dahl’s Matilda into a musical. I cried out in frustration when his friend, the playwright, Kate Mulvany, expressed her pity for performers on the opening night at...
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