1. When you sit down to practice - perform your concert piece first.

Begin your session with your concert piece. Play it straight through. Do not stop for any reason! If you make an error, ignore it. If someone comes in the room and speaks to you, ignore them. If the phone tries to interrupt, ignore that too! Focus on the sound you are making and play your piece to the end.

The reason for leaving mistakes in the dust when practicing a performance is so that we have that skill in our pocket when we need it. If we always fix and drill mistakes every time they occur, we won't learn how to move past them in a performance situation. (Have you ever seen an Olympic figure skater go back and re-attempt a quad jump after they fell, or reduced it to a double? nope!)

After the first play-through go back and practice the section that you felt needed some attention, and if none of them did, then take the piece apart and practice it hands alone, or in reverse sections.

2. Add stakes to your performance practice.

So, you've a good handle on the performance piece and you think it's good enough to perform. Test your theory. Play it for someone. Ask a friend or family member to come and sit while you play it. It's not good enough for them to listen from the next room, it's easy for you to forget they are listening. They should sit and listen.

TIP: Grandmothers love doing this!

If you don't have someone to listen to you play, that's ok! I'm betting that in this digital age, you have access to some kind of recording device. Grab it! Get your phone or your ipod or your camcorder, if that's what you've got, and record your first play-through and then watch/listen back. The listening back part is a great learning tool. Sometimes when we play something we are so focused on getting the notes right that we completely didn't notice that we forgot to add dynamics. When you listen back, check the details and use this information to fuel your practice session for the day.

3. Picture the performance.

A lot of the time, I'll tell you that it's important to focus on playing your piece. And this is still the case. But, before you play it through I want you to take a moment and close your eyes. Now, imagine that you are not sitting at your own instrument. But, rather, that you are in the concert hall. If you've been there before, great! Imagine the echo, feel the size of the room, imagine the audience shuffling their programs and the younger audience members squirming. And don't stop there....now picture yourself smiling, preparing for the first notes, taking a breath, and giving a star performance. Hear it in your mind, watch yourself doing a great job and feel your excitement for how the piece sounds and how great it feels to play it for your audience. Feels great doesn't it?! Now imagine the applause of the audience. Smile. Open your eyes. And stand to take your bow.

All of this and you didn't even need to play a single note! Great job!

Wait, your practice isn't done yet. Now that you've got a firm visual on the whole situation, do a play-through (record it if you can) and then take some time pulling the piece apart, to fine tune the details.

Use these 3 performance practice strategies, and you'll be on your way to feeling great and playing your best.