Tomorrow afternoon I am recording a 30-min solo program for an online concert.
Practicing for a concert is very different from a regular practice session to maintain your chops and learn new music. In regular practice I focus on my inner self, listening to your sound, checking-in with your body, being conscious of your attention and focus, etc. But before a performance, I switch gears. I think about how my sound and music projects. What it is that I want to communicate through the pieces and how to make it come across more effectively.
The piano and acoustics will be different from the piano and the room you are used to from your daily practice. You cannot rely on your physical/tactile memory. So, you have to be secure in your conceptual grasp of the music, and what you want to have come across.
To get myself ready, I made a series of recordings where I talk through my practice sessions, reading the musical indications out loud, sharing with the audience how I think about certain passages, how I decide on certain tempos and textures, etc. I will make these videos public a few days apart. To start with, here is a video of my talking through Godowsky’s Elegy for the Left Hand Alone (1929).
My hope is that my sharing some of my processes might be enjoyable and/or helpful to some.
And here is me playing through the same piece.