There’s something about the third performance.
First performances have all the nerves of sharing music with an audience for the first time.
Second performances are all about fixing what went wrong (inevitably) in the first performance.
And third performances? That’s where you relax and potentially let your guard down…allowing mistakes to creep in just as you’ve gotten comfortable.
Relaxed, confident energy in a performance is a wonderful place to start, but underneath it all, performers have to keep focusing on giving the performance they’re capable of.
(I’m a big proponent of performing music multiple times with scholastic ensembles – it has so many benefits!)