Performance: Preparing Solo and Ensemble Work
What you must know
Performance assessment weighs technical control, musical interpretation and, for ensemble work, balance and communication. Candidates should understand tone production and posture for their instrument or voice, articulation and bowing/breathing patterns, dynamic shaping, rubato and phrasing, intonation and tuning systems (equal temperament versus just intonation, and why chords tune differently), and the roles within an ensemble: melody, countermelody, accompaniment, bass. You also need programme planning - contrast of period, tempo and character - and rehearsal technique: slow practice, isolation of difficult bars, metronome work, and recording yourself.
Traps that appear
- Ignoring the score markings. Examiners notice missing dynamics, articulations and tempo changes; interpretation must sit on top of the written text, not replace it.
- Ensemble overplaying. Accompanists who match the melody's volume destroy balance; know your role bar by bar.
- Rubato without pulse. Expressive timing must be relative to a clear underlying beat.
- Programme mismatch. Two slow lyrical works with no contrast present poorly even if both are well played.
Worked example
A candidate struggles with a fast passage. Rule of thumb: practise at half tempo with a metronome, then in dotted rhythms, then in small loops of three bars overlapping by one bar; record and compare. This builds accuracy before speed.
Rule of thumb
Perform the whole piece in practice regularly, not just the hard bars; fluency and stamina are assessed together.