Chantal Balestri on last-minute performances, and why the first student to say yes gets the concert
The Italian and Swiss pianist on learning a piece in a week, the metronome, memorizing as you go and why you should always have something ready.
Chantal Balestri is an Italian and Swiss concert pianist who has served as New York President of the World Piano Teachers Association. She is the co-founder and artistic director of the Lunigiana International Music Festival in Italy.
Here are fourteen of her best tips, from her Piano Star Masterclass on preparing for a last-minute performance on Piano League.
1. The first student to say yes gets the concert
It can happen that schools organize concerts, and then there is a last-minute cancellation, and they reach out to the students. And the student who is the fastest in saying yes, I can do it, is the one who gets that. And from that, you can get different kinds of opportunities.
Chantal Balestri
2. Always have something ready
We always need to have something ready. So if you’re a music student, you really need to be aware that this situation can happen, and so you always need to have something in your repertoire. Like it happened to me, it can happen to you as well. So even if you’re starting new repertoire, always have something that is ready.
Chantal Balestri
3. Don’t panic. Read it through first
The first reaction would be panic, and just start playing and try to do that. And this is actually a no, because then you will probably regret it. So first thing, come with calm. Even if you know the piece and you have heard it already, if you are a good sight reader, the first thing I suggest, the most important one, is really to take the score and try to read it through.
Chantal Balestri
4. Mistakes on the first read don’t matter
It’s not important if you make mistakes. Of course you will. Or if you don’t, good for you. And you can even skip some sections if you think they’re too hard. This is a good way to get an idea.
Chantal Balestri
5. Rushing now costs you time later
You think, okay, I need to perform this in one week, let’s just play everything fast, go for it. No, it’s a no. Because what happens is, when we are anxious and we want to get something done, sometimes we don’t pay attention to many details. Let’s say you’re missing some notes, and then in four days you’re like, why didn’t I think about it before? And you need to correct them, and it takes much longer to correct.
Chantal Balestri
6. Notes, fingering and rhythm come first
In general, keep it calm. Keep this slow and pay attention to every note, the fingering, and then the rhythm, which is actually so important. This is happening a lot of the time, because when you read, you just go for it. You look at the notes, but you are not very, very precise with rhythm.
Chantal Balestri
7. Raise the metronome for every passage together
Start with a slow tempo and then bring everything up slowly to the next level. Let’s say you are at 80 on the metronome. You go to 86, you go to 95, something like this. So slowly, gradually going up, and making sure that some parts are not faster and some slower. No, everything needs to grow together.
Chantal Balestri
8. Make a daily plan and stick to it
The goal, what you need to take in mind, is whatever happens, you need to stick to it, and you need to have it ready. So if you decide the first day, I want to have the exposition and development ready, it needs to be ready, because if not, it will create some kind of delay. So really being focused, and being also honest with yourself, knowing what you can do.
Chantal Balestri
9. Know the form, not every chord
I don’t mean going and looking at each chord, because this is going to be a very big work and unnecessary when you don’t have a lot of time. But having a general idea, this will really help you, and it will also help you later when you need to memorize the piece.
Chantal Balestri
10. Memorize as you go
I’m a person who needs to actually practice my memorization, so I do it while I go. The earlier you do this, the better it is.
Chantal Balestri
11. Look at the score before you go to sleep
I say before sleep because there are some studies which say that what we study before sleeping stays longer, and we learn faster by doing that. So this might be a really good thing to take in mind, not just for last minute. Even in general, when you prepare something.
Chantal Balestri
12. Record yourself and listen back
One thing I also suggest, that’s really helpful sometimes, is recording yourself. You play, and then you just listen to the recording, and then you see what is not working, what you can improve. Because sometimes we are missing some things we don’t notice.
Chantal Balestri
13. Practice the challenge before it happens
Everything requires practice. It’s not something we do suddenly. So you can actually put yourself in this kind of situation. Not maybe doing a real concert, but say, okay, this time let’s challenge myself. I want to learn this piece in one week, and let’s see how it goes. Then when something like this happens, you will know.
Chantal Balestri
14. Last-minute practice is not your usual practice
We take this for granted, that you can do that when you regularly practice well, with calm, doing everything you can to really have everything under control in every detail. So this kind of practice is really for last minute. It’s not the usual way to practice.
Chantal Balestri
Quotes are lightly edited for length and clarity. They come from Chantal Balestri’s 2020 Piano Star Masterclass on preparing for a last-minute performance. You can watch the full masterclass on the Piano League YouTube channel.
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