Mel Bay's Creative Keyboard® Webzine | Gail Smith - The Winter Olympics & Piano Competitions

The Winter Olympics & Piano Competitions

While watching some of the ice skating events on TV at the recent Winter Olympics from Turin, Italy, I couldn't help but thinking how much practice went into each performance. I wondered how they stayed focused during their routines. It was sad to watch as several skaters fell down toward the end of their performance. Sasha Cohen fell down twice but got up and did a splendid finish. She didn't give up. There were so many amazing, dedicated and talented figure skaters. Each one had a different personality and a style all their own. Hundreds of hours of practice went into those four minute programs.

What can pianists learn from all this? It is a challenge to compete against the best of the best from other countries. Piano competitions are somewhat the same. The more you compete it should get easier, but yet when the competition is for the "gold" at the Olympics, the stakes are certainly more challenging than any other competition leading up to that moment in time. What advice can we give to students or skaters and what similarities are there?

Begin training at an early age. Some child prodigies began playing at age three as well as skaters on ice when they could walk.

Practice every day. Gradually increase the practice time from half and hour to several hours each day.

Find the best teacher or trainer you can afford.

Be sure that the skater or pianist enjoys what they are doing

After years of learning the discipline of perfection, know the piano solo or skating solo so well that you could begin any section and keep going. When a skater fell they didn't start over and when a pianist may leave out a note or make a tiny mistake, they must go on.

Pianists and skaters must keep focused until the last note or the last jump. Sometimes mistakes are made in the easiest parts of a solo because we think it is so easy there and we relax and don't stay focused.

Sasha Cohn had built her life around this Olympic night, her coach John Nicks said by, "not eating sugar, never having alcohol, always going to bed by 10 p.m. even on her 21st birthday as others stayed up and had fun." She sure was dedicated…but she fell down twice, however, Sasha got up and skating brilliantly with style and succeeded to win the silver medal.

Whether it's piano or skating, people will always remember the one wrong note or the fall and yet there were probably a thousand things that were right with the skating performance and 1000 correct notes in the piano solo.

Last weekend there was a piano competition in Pompano Beach, Florida and I entered four students. In preparing them for their performance in front of the judges, I encouraged them to do their best and enjoy their piano solo. Every time you compete you learn something and hopefully the next time it is easier. One little girl worked very hard on her two pieces and played them by memory with the metronome on. Then she played it blindfolded. Building confidence by overcoming obstacles is a great character trait to instill in students.

Everyone is a winner who does their best and enters a competition.

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