Injured on the audition day

College Majors Music Major
1

<p>I've got an audition this weekend for piano performance but unfortunately I hurt my nerve severly while practicing, it really hurts and i can't play the piano with the right position. Now my question is:</p>

<p>Should I just tell the faculty about my situation and that I will just try my best before i start to play??</p>

<p>I really need some advices..... Thanks a lot :)</p>

2

<p>A few thoughts:

  1. Does the school accept recordings? Many do and if yours does, then explain your situation to someone in charge. I’m assuming that you have a recording.
  2. Is there any possibility of postponing the auditon for a week or so? [I notice you are from Taipei, but I don’t know how long you are around the university at which you are auditioning.]
  3. Is there a chance that the nerve will heal well enough overnight to allow pain-free playing?
  4. Don’t do anything that would make the damage worse. Playing though pain is rarely good for you in the long-term.
  5. While I generally do not think that starting any performance with an apology is good, in this case, I think that I would be inclined to let the faculty know your situation with a brief matter-of-fact explanation. If nothing else, they may require fewer minutes of playing from you or may try to focus on rep or parts of rep that will be less painful to play.
  6. Since some auditions allow you to choose what to start with (and since most auditions do not have sufficient time for you to play everything), be certain to have figured out what repertoire is least affected by your injury.</p>
3

<p>Well you have to decide if it’s too painful to play.</p>

<p>Generally you should NOT play with pain. If you continue playing, you run a risk of injuring yourself further, which could take much longer to correct, if it ever does. Some musicians have gone too far and not been able to play again (in extreme cases). If it gets too far, it could require surgery, depending on what it is.</p>

<p>I am a piano performance major, and a couple years before college I also was injured. I think you need to get in and have a doctor look at it. I went to a chiropractor and physical therapist for months and carefully worked my way back into practicing.</p>

<p>What kind of pain are you having? Soreness? Tingling pains? Shooting pains up your arm?</p>

4

<p>I don’t think TWpiano’s question is a general one. His audition is tomorrow (and he may have traveled here from Tawain.) It is a very sticky question. My daughter had a similar problem with an injury before an important audition this fall. She listened to her doctor’s advice and did not take the audition. She went on rest for 4 weeks, missing out on some opportunities that she had been looking forward to for a long time. But she came to see what happened as a wake-up call. She had been over-practicing prior to the injury. It happened before her callback for a concertmaster audition, which she was very sad to miss. But better to miss it that risk sustaining permanent damage, and better to have this happen now than years down the line when the stakes are even higher. </p>

<p>In your case the stakes are high because these are your college auditions. Without knowing how many auditions you are doing and over what spread of time, it is hard to give even the most general advice. Violindad’s thoughtful suggestions are a good starting point. If you can postpone, even for a week or two, you will have been able to do some healing. Meanwhile, be under the care of a specialist. The worst-case scenario would be postponing your auditions for a cycle, and coming back next year.</p>

5

<p>TWPiano, I’m hoping you heal quickly and can find a compromise that would allow you to complete the auditions, perhaps via recordings? D3 is currently out on the injured list, so I know how frustrating this is! As others have said, better to rest now even if you miss some opportunities so that your long-term health is protected.</p>

6

<p>This is coming from someone with light tendinitis and back pain problems. Only you know if you can play or not, so maybe my advice won’t really help, but usually a warm bath or going for a swim and massaging my hands does it for me. Also, sometimes it feels like your hands and/or back hurt a lot once you stop playing and are at rest, but when you actually get your hands down the instrument, it’s not as bad, for some reason. If the school accepts recordings, then it’s definitely the way to go, but if not, I would first contact the admissions office before contacting the teachers. They probably have dealt with that sort of thing before, and moving your audition to another day might not be impossible for them given the circumstances. They could also have another suggestion, (such as smaller rep, or letting the faculty know). If you feel that they are a little unresponsive, then maybe you could tell the faculty yourself, but it’s always a little delicate I think. I think saying it right before you play might not be the best idea. It would be a little distracting for them I think. Anyway, it may seem like a huge deal now to postpone for your auditions for a cycle, but in the end, I’ve met quite a few people who auditioned after graduating. On the other end, if it’s your last audition and it’s fairly short, without too many virtuosic or fast passages, it might be worth it, since you’ll have multiple months to recover. Again, only you can tell how you feel.</p>