Mistakes, onstage and/or during competition Options

[*suddenly she*]

What inspires me to make this topic is that I had an Orchestra Solo & Ensemble competition this past Saturday. Students who wish to participate pick a solo and/or an ensemble and work on it for a couple months and then perform in front of judges for critiquing. Solos need to be memorized; ensemble music doesn't.

I was involved in one cello solo, one quartet, one cello choir ensemble, and I accompanied a viola quartet on piano... and I destroyed my solo because my mind went blank after four pages and I stumbled like a crazy woman and took the music back for the cadenza. I got the worst rating.

It was pretty irritating because I skipped lunch at school five days a week to practice since I received the piece and I did better when I first sightread it than I did performing.

Anyway... performers! What are some of the worst mistakes you've made onstage or during competition?

[voguelove]

during the musical, my voice cracked and i started laughing. the worst part was that it was my solo and the musical director looked at me with such fury, i thought i was going to die.

oh, yes. and i had a microphone on. so everyone heard.

[*salcha4u*]

My audition mistakes have been MUCH WORSE than on stage. Auditions, I totally screwed this one piece over cause I was so nervous about it...it was a fast paced movement that I only got one month in advance to my audition. Luckily, I passed cause I played my scales/etude/other piece pretty well. On stage, I've messed up on a solo during a concert once...but it wasn't major and the other three (we were a quartet) covered me.

[Stefanny]

i dropped my baton while leading a band in kindergarten.
on stage.
does that suck?
i cried, haha.
but i sucked it up eventually and finished the whole performance.

[*S0ul_Reaper*]

^2 worrd. Auditions are always an ass for me Like when I tried out for honor band we had to memorize certain scales and a piece. for the piece we played Sea Songs. Usually you'll notice my mistakes when we play in concerts like if I miss a cue and it was hella noticable I blanked out. Or if I mess up on my jazz solos in front of judges like I forget the piece I wrote but I usally improv on the spot other than that I make minor mistakes but noticable ones.

[mai_z]

I'm usually not to bad when It comes to performance, nerves seem to actually make me play better...but my gr 12 music exam went horridly. I was on stage in front of everyone...and I choked. I couldn't play at all. I just walked off the stage, and sobbed.

[HakunaMatata]

Nothing as bad as you guys, just a couple of lines that I forgot during a production, but the castmates were smart cookies so they covered for me.

[AngelinaTaylor]

Hahaha.. only if it were one. I've had so many.

Just yesterday I had a run-through in front of my friend because I have ARCT exam on Friday and I have to play an hour of repertoire (piano). I knew I wasn't ready and I messed up EVERYTHING. My entire Beethoven sonata (even had a memory slip there), Bach - screwed up the fugue, Chopin etude - played it faster than ever before (frick, I don't know what happened there), Debussy.. well.. let's just say I wanted to kill myself after that. Only my Liszt sounded decent, and that's because I performed it numerous times before. I didn't even play Prokofiev because I was so terrified. After I finished I looked at my friend and said, "Ok, I'm gonna go practice" and he said "Good idea!" hahaha.

Sometimes I wish I wasn't a musician. Doing it professionally kills me.

[*I Shot JFK*]

Several personal faves:

Corpsed utterly during Tony's death parade in West Side story, fortunately only during a dress rehersal

Tripped on the corner of the rug on stage and spralled across the enire stage during the middle of a scene, again fortunately during a rehersal

Failed to drink enough water before having to yell and scream on stage, so my voice cracked completely.

accidentally smashed the shatterable glass i was supposed to break on cue WAY ahead of time an been left looking foolish and holding a handful of broken 'glass' and trying not to giggle.

[multifaceted]

i screwed up some notes...

thats it...

[Gypsy Eyes]

I accidentally kicked the nutcracker in the balls as clara during opening night. I was doing a leap into a butterfly lift and I forgot to bring my foot and wham. I felt so bad. It was in pointe shoes too.

Oh god it's even worse at auditions. I tripped walking into an ABT audition and I fell onto Gillian Murphy, knocking her over. For those who don't know Gillian Murphy is possibly one of the most accomplished ballerinas of all time.

Singing "I don quixote" in a vocal showcase my voice cracked. REALLY bad. For anyone who knows that song. It hits a High C which is insane.

There's many more, especially from ballet but those are the best.

[iDecay]

I tried out for choir last year in front of upperclasmen and I cracked. I forgot to warm up and it was really early. I couldn't hit the stupid note. I was afraid I'd do it again so I gave up on the audition. Uhh, at least I made it in this year?

I tend to laugh in front of everyone when I do a presentation, if that counts.. I remember doing one on birds that I totally BSed.. I was laughing for at least a minute or two. My facts were too.. unreal.

[shortnsweet88]

I used to be really involved at my church so when I was about 15 we were doing this thing called a "human video" like a skit to music and I tripped over the step behind me and tripped moses who in turn knocked the curtain down. Quite embarassing. :)

[*icecreamisyummy*]

well im in the school band... colourguard and when we performed in hawaii....at pearl harbor, during Taps Eternal Father, half of the band started going too fast while the other half was still like 3 measures behind. it was horrible and embarrassing (( our band is over 200 ppl, so they had one director in the back end and another director in teh front end)).

also... in hawaii, at the holiday parade in waikiki i couldnt hear the roll off and missed the step off... but the captain missed it too so i didnt feel so stupid. let me tell you it was horrible... this was infront of thousands of ppl. everyone loved us though.

also last year at our concert... in the beginning of our routine, i haulted 2 beats late.(our colour guard is like the military. we do rifle drills and all that... just think of the british guards, thats what we do.)

ive had singing solos, but never messed those up.

when i was in 5th grade i played the clarinet and got to play a solor at our holiday concert and i messed up one note and wanted to cry afterwards. no one noticed i messed up though

[smoke]

I forgot my line one time but that made the other person mess up as well so then I just continued and it made it look like it was the other persons fault.

I felt bad for them...

[*icecreamisyummy*]

^^^now thats just mean!!!!

but i woulda done the same thing lol

[think!IMAGINARIL...]

I had a first clarinet solo last year and it was the song that I played really well too! Instead of B natural, I played B flat and it was really noticeable. Everyone in my school was there to watch >.< Plus, it was caught on camera!
And I was kinda sick (like the flu, but the teacher still made me play) when we had an orchestra concert a while ago and I couldn't really play because I was scared that I was gonna mess up really badly.. I just sat there and pretended to play.
Ahh, well I'm glad orchestra is over with for the next term..

[me1issaaaa]

I got a baaaad case of the hiccups during a chorus concert once. I was right in front of the microphones, too.

[moninja]

during band concerts, i can't really hit the high notes sometimes..even if they're super easy.
i sometimes play the wrong notes, so yeah, nothing minor.

[DaTru KataLYST]

During winter choir concert, I sang Last Christmas for an ensemble. It was all boys..and unfortunately all the boys are idiots...WHAT A DISASTER it was!


Kevin heard it. ^_^ We sounded so ugly. lol

[*Libertie*]

^Hi Jeff!! Last Christmas. LOL.

Luckily, I've never fallen apart during an audition or performance, but in high school I had a LOT of expectations to live up to. >.< Senior year, I got a superior rating (I) on my solo at region. I was proud of myself, worked on it for months and months, then let myself slack off when I made it to state. So my last performance ever, for the judge at State Solo & Ensemble, I was so cocky and sure of myself that I totally screwed up the solo and got my first II ever.

I have a college audition coming up at Henderson in the next week or so, and I haven't picked up my flute in over two years. I'll let you know how THAT goes.

[datass]

I had to dance on stage and I forgot all my steps.

[Gypsy Eyes]

Oh and falling flat on my ass in front of the rockettes at an audition was a blast too. Forgot that one.

[sprezzatura]

During a piano recital, I forgot the music that I have memorized...

[marzipan]

Just memory slips in piano recitals. Not a whole lot, though.