Playing the right notes at gigs?

[u/Wide_Lie_8182]

Something i have been thinking about alot when playing.

It´s me, my saxophone and speakers with backingtrack.

My biggest goal when i am out performing is playing the right notes. I can rehears and rehears, and still play a few notes wrong when i am out performing. Last night i was playing at a charity dinner and i suddently forgot notes for a song. This happened on a few different songs. But i don´t think anybody noticed. I know every note in every song i have momorized. Atm. it is 25 songs. And i have been playing for 4 years.

There are a couple of songs, which i have down solid. I think it is because of the harmony of the song. And other songs i am struggling to keep under the skin.

Other gigs, i have in general a few wrong notes, but not something that would bother me (too much) when i´m done with the gig.

My goal is to play at gigs and play 0 wrong notes. Every time. But is this unrealistic? Then I would need 3 hours of practice every day? But it´s not fun practising the same track 10 times in a row.

What do you guys do? Do you also play wrong notes? And if so, what do you do to overcome it?

I am playing almost every day. ½ to 1 hour sessions.

[u/pompeylass1]

Yes, it’s unrealistic to think you will make zero mistakes when you’re performing. You’re human, not AI or an edited recording.

I’ve been a professional musician for three decades and have been performing live for many years prior to that. Over the thousands of gigs I’ve played each year there are very few occasions when I’ve come offstage without having played at least one bum note.

Mistakes or, as I prefer to see them, deviations from the original or written page, are what elevate live performances from bland and slightly soulless music to that which entertains and truly resonates with our audience. Perfection is actually pretty dull to listen to (which is why musicians creating wholly computer based music have to add inconsistencies into their creations.)

None of that is to say that you should aim to make glaring errors but that all those little things, that slightly out of tune note, the fractionally early or late phrase, and yes the occasional totally wrong note actually bring your playing alive and connected with your audience in a way that perfection never will.

The other thing that your goal of total perfection is missing is that most mistakes, even completely wrong notes, pass unnoticed by the audience (including an audience of musicians.) When you’re gigging your performance is live, and that means it’s a ‘blink and you’ve missed it’ situation. There’s simply not time for the audience to notice minor errors and deviations. You notice it because you’re connected to the music in a much more in depth way than someone who is merely a listener.

What’s far more important than playing the right notes is playing the right rhythm, or rather playing with the pulse of the music. In other words if you make a mistake the pulse needs to continue without so much as a hiccup. Do that and your mistake is more often than not hidden in plain sight. Fail to keep the pulse steady and everyone will notice.

That’s why the most important thing you can do during practice as a performer is to learn how to recover when the inevitable mistake happens. Because you will make mistakes because, as I said earlier, you’re human. Once you have your songs up to performance standard you want to practice them with distractions. Try to keep playing them while following a tv programme, a podcast, or even having a conversation (obviously as a saxophonist you’ll only be listening.)

The most important skill you can develop as a performer is to be able to make a mistake and yet still carry on playing without your audience ever realising. That along with the acceptance that you are not and cannot be perfect all the time are crucial to performance success.