Live Performance Review

Performing my own material in front of my peers was an achievement for me as it was something I had never done before and something I was very nervous about doing. When performing live so much can go wrong and this is unsettling to any performer. Because the material I was performing was entirely my own, I was more nervous in showcasing it in case it received a bad reception. However, it also meant that I was more familiar with the material and due to meticulous rehearsal there was less chance I would make mistakes in the live performance. ‘In a state of flow, there is no room for irrelevant thoughts’ (Kircher, 2011), when performing live one's mind must be solely on the task ahead. There is no room for error and if a mistake is made the performer must be able to recover immediately so as not to lose their audience. I didn't make any mistakes as such, but I was very nervous when beginning my song and this led to the vocal characterisation I had worked on not being as strong in performance as it could have been. Due to being one of the final performers I had not had the chance to warm up or do any vocal exercise prior to performance and this too effected the quality of my vocal arrangement. If I were to perform again I would include the piano melody to my piece, as due to time constraints I did not record this and I feel like it could have added another dynamic to the piece.