What do YOU do on the day you have a long solo concert?

[itai]

Well, I'm asking this question simply because I'm having many test-runs in the next few weeks to get ready for my senior recital in mid-march.
Lately, since I've been playing every day for so much (for the first time really), I noticed that there are simply days when your lips react much worse than usual, and days that your lips suddenly become superb!
I know that your mood on that certain day affects a large part of your lip reaction, but I heard there are other prerequisites, such as;
If you should go to school/work or not on the day of the concert,
How many you've slept in the night before the concert,
When/How much time before you woke up in the morning of the concert,
What/How much time before did you eat before the concert,
and most important: Did you play the day before the concert, the day OF the concert, what did you play, how much time, etc'.
And I'm sure there's much more.

I know this is individual for every tubist, but I'll be glad to know what you guys are doing before your solo concert!
Thanks in advance,
Itai

[otismoe]

I definitely experience the same thing..one day the tuba sounds amazing, and the next I can hardly play anything. The only thing I can thing of affecting playing is fatigue..i literally can’t play anything before 10 am. Other than that, I’d love to know what variables affect playing like that.
Good luck in your recital!

[MartyNeilan]

Cook lots of food for all the people that will be coming!
(Last time, it was hand pulled pork barbecue and homemade Italian meatballs.)

[tclements]

Slow, easy, complete warm up (like an hour) before 11 AM. Nap in the afternoon. And here's the HARD part: NO CARBOHYDRATES!

Good luck!

[Tom Holtz]

Be increasing your sleep time and water intake for several days before the show. Your chops will thank you.

[otismoe]

And here's the HARD part: NO CARBOHYDRATES!

wait, seriously?

[j1007hc]

Why not carbs Tony?

[JCalkin]

Of course, your mileage may vary, but in my experience:

Do what you normally do the day of a concert. Don't drastically change your warmup/sleep schedule/eating habits/caffeine intake etc. I (and my students) have had the most success when you can treat your performance as "part of the routine" as much as possible.

I always play the day before the concert, as well as the day of, because I play every day and do not want to do "anything different." I DO take it a little easier the day before if I'm feeling fatigued, as I have found that tiredness the day before can lead to disasters the day of.

Get plenty of sleep. Every day.
Drink plenty of water. Every day.

If you have drastically increased your practice time lately, then some fatigue and general embouchure weirdness is perfectly normal. Don't sweat it too much, but don't go overboard with the practice either.

Make a daily run-through AT THE CONCERT TIME a part of your daily routine, if possible. I do 7:30 pm recitals at the college, so in the weeks leading up to a performance I do a daily run through at 7:30, so the actual performance is just "another day at the office."

Well, I'm asking this question simply because I'm having many test-runs in the next few weeks to get ready for my senior recital in mid-march.
Lately, since I've been playing every day for so much (for the first time really), I noticed that there are simply days when your lips react much worse than usual, and days that your lips suddenly become superb!
I know that your mood on that certain day affects a large part of your lip reaction, but I heard there are other prerequisites, such as;
If you should go to school/work or not on the day of the concert,
How many you've slept in the night before the concert,
When/How much time before you woke up in the morning of the concert,
What/How much time before did you eat before the concert,
and most important: Did you play the day before the concert, the day OF the concert, what did you play, how much time, etc'.
And I'm sure there's much more.

I know this is individual for every tubist, but I'll be glad to know what you guys are doing before your solo concert!
Thanks in advance,
Itai

[tclements]

Carbs turn into fructose (sugar) in your blood stream. When your insulin spikes, you get sleepy. What heppens after a big turkey dinner? Well this is the same thing on a smaller. Just when you need to be at your best, your blood sugar is spiking and your attenion span sags. Bag the carbs, and hit the proteins (and plenty of water as well). As much as it PAINS me to say this, lay off the caffein, too.

[Karl H.]

To the OP,

What JCalkin said: it's just another day. If you think differently, change your thinking. Play, practice, eat, sleep, etc.

If you forgive me for preaching, your practice routine should be about as heavy now as it will ever be. Your face should be able to take regular playing/practicing in stride. In short, consistent practice should result in consistent performance. Lots of shoulds, but I don't really know what you're doing on a daily basis.

But don't stress about it.

Some of the things I (and I'm sure others) did in college cannot be discussed on a public forum, but I can say that I used to be a regular at the gym, doing my best pretending to be Larry Bird. On more than one occasion I caught an elbow in the mouth that loosened teeth and bloodied a lip. All that taught me was not to play basketball the day of a big recital.

The day before was another matter...

Final 2¢: One bit of good advice that's stuck with me over the years was from Frederick Fennell: Never start a concert with a full bladder or an empty stomach!

Good luck on your recital! Have fun and make music!

Karl "who's still working on that consistent stuff" H.

[Gilligan]

I've found several things help on the day of the gig.

First and formost your mind set. Think of this day like it is any other day with a big fun easy concert. By now you have practiced and played to the point that everything has become natural almost subconcious. By maintaining a light more carefree attitude you keep the channels open for your natural ability to come forth.

Give your horn a mojor cleaninging and lube about 5 to 6 days prior to the gig. This will give you plenty of time to make sure everything is functioning as it should or is fixed before the gig.

At the same time put on and check what you will be wearing for the gig, make sure everything fits good all buttons are on tight zippers are working and it is comfortable. I've popped a zipper driving to a gig, was lucky enough to be half a block from a tux shop. Purchased new pants and made to the gig a full half hour early. You just don't need this sort of stresss before playing!

I like to eat a big peanut butter sandwich a glass of milk and nothing else except cool not cold water three to four hours before the gig. This gives me a good batch of protien to carry me through the performance without leaving me with any wierd feelings or issues due to possible funny/bad foods. Cold foods and or drinks will stiffen up your lips and tongue by lowering the blood flowing through them. Avoid any power energy drinks the day before and the day off as they can cause jittery nerves, major agitation, lack of sleep and dulled thinking. If you normally drink one or two during the day cut them way back and replace them with V-8 you'll notice a huge difference.

I normally take a dose of natural vitamin E several hours before the gig with the sandwich. Vitamin E enhances your bloods ability to utilize oxygen and helps to lengthen your endurance and airstream.

I hope this helps!
Have fun

[Roger Lewis]

I definitely experience the same thing..one day the tuba sounds amazing, and the next I can hardly play anything. The only thing I can thing of affecting playing is fatigue..i literally can’t play anything before 10 am. Other than that, I’d love to know what variables affect playing like that.
Good luck in your recital!

I always tell my students that there will be days where your chops feel like iron and you can play everything out there. There are other days where you pick up the horn and sound like a plumber from Cleveland (not that there is anything wrong with that). There are two different reasons (that I find) for this:

1 - Your mind is working on something else in the background. There is something that it is trying to figure out that is sapping your concentration and dividing your thought processes.
B - Your air is lazy. You are not using the same energy on the inhale/exhale process that you were using the day before. This means that the horn is not going to give you the same end result.

These are just the things that I have found in MY playing over the years.

Roger