Learn to Play Recorder

Lesson 87: Performance Preparation, Part 2 — Stage Presence

  • Plan the non-musical choreography of a recital: entry, bow, tuning, transitions, exit.
  • Rehearse the silences between pieces with the same care as the pieces themselves.

The audience watches you for fifteen minutes between pieces too. Make those minutes deliberate.

The audience experiences forty minutes of music plus fifteen minutes of silence — entry, bowing, tuning, transitions, exit. That silence is part of the performance; this lesson is its choreography.

Entry

  • Walk on at a steady pace; eye contact for the last few steps.
  • Stop in front of the music stand, not behind it; place your instrument.
  • Bow head-and-shoulders, about 30 degrees, one breath at the bottom — rushing it telegraphs nervousness.

Tuning

Tuning happens in front of the audience — sound an A with a partner, or settle the breath and check one note solo. Ten or twelve seconds, not thirty.

Between pieces

The silence between pieces is the hardest transition. Two approaches:

  • The single bow — bow, pause, reset position, begin; standard for short programs.
  • The seated reset — sit briefly, drink water, stand deliberately when ready.

Rehearse the bowing-and-resetting sequence three times before you ever do it on stage.

The exit

Hold the instrument in playing position for one more breath, lower it deliberately, bow with eye contact, bow again if the applause continues, and walk off at the same steady pace as the entry — the exit is the audience's last impression.

Presence vs performance of presence

Performing confidence reads as its opposite; the real work is being ready before you walk on.

  • Memorise the opening of every piece — looking up in the first ten seconds reads as in command.
  • Practise on stage in advance — stand on it before the audience arrives.
  • Greet the audience beforehand — be visible in the lobby if circumstances allow.

Now play these

The application is the recital itself: walk through the choreography of your Lesson 86 program this week — enter, bow, tune, bow, reset — skipping the actual music.

When the choreography of a recital — entry, bow, tuning, between-piece resets, exit — feels rehearsed rather than improvised, and you can walk through it without thinking about it, move on to Lesson 88.