![\"Photo:](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/13490732_10154297682423383_6484095375776235960_o-500x333.jpg?resize=500%2C333\")
Second, I re-learned that simple score study with a recording can make my life much, much easier. I forget this from time to time, especially when the music I’m playing doesn’t present much in the way of technical challenges. I discovered this to my chagrin in the dress rehearsal for the Chopin First Piano Concerto. Lesson learned, score studied, performance humiliation averted.<\/p>\n Third, I learned (and likely re-learned) that a performance is not just the playing of the notes. It’s projecting an involvement in what is happening even when one is not playing. Even when I’m nervous about my counting, or remembering what figuration this pianist is playing in his left hand, or just feeling plain crappy, just the act of acting like I’m involved and enjoying what’s happening always leads to me actually\u00a0being<\/em> involved and enjoying what’s happening. That adage “Fake it ’til you make it” isn’t an old saw for no reason. It works.<\/p>\n I took the day off today to head out to Hood River for a day of R&R. Tomorrow, I buckle down again and get ready for my first concert of the 2016 Oregon Bach Festival, which is a chamber orchestra concert under the direction of Sir James MacMillan. It should be fantastic, I’ll send dispatches from the road as I have time. Onward!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After this past week’s rehearsing and performing at the Portland Piano International Festival, I learned, or re-learned several things. First, I learned what the Dutch expression “mierenneuken” means (nit-picking is the least offensive way I can explain it) from former Concertgebouw Orchestra concertmaster Alex Kerr. (It came up in the context of the American system […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":303,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[136,138],"tags":[3766,1764],"class_list":["post-14140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chamber-music","category-summer-festivals","tag-2016-festival","tag-portland-piano-international"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-3G4","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":14135,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2016\/06\/19\/its-the-people-stupid\/","url_meta":{"origin":14140,"position":0},"title":"it’s the people, stupid","author":"Charles Noble","date":"June 19, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"This past week I've been rehearsing and performing at the Portland Piano International Festival as part of the Festival String Quartet. The quartet is quite a collection of people to play with! Violinists Alex Kerr, concertmaster of the Dallas Symphony and professor of violin at Indiana University, Sarah Kwak, concertmaster\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "chamber music"","block_context":{"text":"chamber music","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/chamber-music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/1464811465411.jpeg?fit=750%2C238&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/1464811465411.jpeg?fit=750%2C238&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/1464811465411.jpeg?fit=750%2C238&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/1464811465411.jpeg?fit=750%2C238&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":393,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/07\/18\/denk-thinks-portland-listens\/","url_meta":{"origin":14140,"position":1},"title":"denk thinks, portland listens","author":"Charles Noble","date":"July 18, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"One of my favorite music bloggers, the pianist Jeremy Denk, made quite a splash at the Portland International Piano Festival this past weekend - click here for a complete review by Oregonian classical music critic David Stabler. Here's the lead-in: Many piano concerts are like trips to the shopping mall:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "the orchestra world"","block_context":{"text":"the orchestra world","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/07\/12481484_82a5ceb2f7_m.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4709,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2010\/05\/31\/summer-music-in-portland\/","url_meta":{"origin":14140,"position":2},"title":"summer music in portland","author":"Charles Noble","date":"May 31, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Now that the symphony's season is over, there's no reason to despair!\u00a0 No, in fact, there are many reasons to be happy, for there are myriad opportunities to hear live classical music nearly all summer long here in Portland and surrounding areas. Starting in just a couple of weeks is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "summer festivals"","block_context":{"text":"summer festivals","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/summer-festivals\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/astoriamusicfestival-400x55.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3310,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/11\/02\/busy-times\/","url_meta":{"origin":14140,"position":3},"title":"busy times","author":"Charles Noble","date":"November 2, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"As we edge our way into November, and I reflect on what's going on in the classical music scene here in Portland, I'm finding it remarkable what all has happened already, and what's about to happen. At the Oregon Symphony, we've just completed our third Classical series concerts. The Vancouver\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "music"","block_context":{"text":"music","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":174,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/01\/18\/musicians-on-the-bus\/","url_meta":{"origin":14140,"position":4},"title":"musicians ON the bus","author":"Charles Noble","date":"January 18, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Photo credit: Cameron R. Neilson - theseenphoto.com. This is a bus in Jackson, Wyoming. The musicians on the bus should be familiar to Portland area concertgoers: they are the string players from FearNoMusic and the Oregon Symphony. From left to right they are: Erin Furbee, In\u00c3\u00a9s Voglar, Adam Esbenson, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "the orchestra world"","block_context":{"text":"the orchestra world","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2887,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/07\/21\/all-quiet-on-the-orchestral-front\/","url_meta":{"origin":14140,"position":5},"title":"all quiet on the orchestral front","author":"Charles Noble","date":"July 21, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"It's the middle of the summer.\u00a0 The dog days, one might say, at least here in Portland, where the mercury is expected to top 90\u00b0F again today.\u00a0 There is little going on, classical musically speaking in Portland right now, except for the final concerts of Chamber Music Northwest's summer festival\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "music"","block_context":{"text":"music","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"son_lynx_a","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/son_lynx_a-400x612.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/303"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14140"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14140\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Photo:](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/13497671_10154304970828383_4448102949840515970_o-1-500x333.jpg?resize=500%2C333\")
![\"Photo:](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/13443152_10154301178573383_8981432397371743603_o-500x333.jpg?resize=500%2C333\")