Feel the Burn
Now we come to a very important part of preparation—relaxing the analytical part of your brain and opening up the emotional part. Play through the song again, but focus on how the song is supposed to sound. This is where it helps to know the history of the song and who wrote it: if you can understand what the author was feeling when he or she wrote it, you can replicate that emotion and put it in your music. If the song was written as a love ballad, try to feel the love the author felt. If the song was written as a dance piece, try to visualize people dancing, and play it for those people.

Use dynamics to add more feeling to your piece. Don’t just play the whole song the same way, but let the volume flow with the melody. Do what would make sense with the contour of the song. The more emotional and passionate the song, the better. Another thing that really helps is the use of vibrato. On slower songs, use very slow, wide vibrato. On the faster songs, you will be playing more notes, so you’ll have less time for vibrato, but on the longer notes in the song, add a little bit where you can.

It’s Showtime!
Arrive at the festival early. This will give you time to get used to the atmosphere of the place. Watch the contestants who play before you to see how they are playing and to familiarize yourself with the contest’s mechanics. At most contests, there is an abundance of jamming going on. Join in! It’s a great way to warm up and learn new things.

For your actual stage performance, the first thing you should do is tune your instrument. Depending on where you are, the climate could be different on stage than elsewhere. For instance, if the stage is outside and you have just come from a practice room somewhere, the climatic change can throw off your tuning. Tuning onstage also gives you time to relax and get comfortable with the stage, as well as time to clear your mind for what you’re about to play.

Most importantly, don’t lose focus. If you do, it doesn’t matter how good you were sounding, you’ve probably lost it. Concentrate on your sound, not on how you think the judges think you’re sounding. If you worry about a mistake, you are bound to make another one. Just keep going. Besides, maybe the judges didn’t even notice the mistake! Since the arrangement is yours, the judges don’t know how it’s “supposed” to sound.

The psychological aspects are just as important, if not more so, than the technical aspects. Play to the audience, not to the judges, as though you are in a show rather than competing in a contest. Have fun and be happy on stage. Play as if you are telling a story; show the audience something that it hasn’t seen before. That way you’ll be able to relax and put more emotion in the music.

Follow these simple steps and, inevitably, you’ll find that you’re playing better.

Listen to audio clips at www.johnboulware.com.