A Piano Teacher's Thoughts On Joe Biden's Upcoming Recital

      As a retired (or rather, permanently laid off by COVID) piano teacher who has  shepherded scores of students through oodles of perfomances, 

...it seems to me that the State of the Union address that President Joe Biden will give tonight has much in common with a piano recital.
​       A few years ago I attended a recital of the students of one of my colleagues, a master teacher whose students all sound like young virtuosos on the piano. When the recital was over I congratulated my friend on the stellar performances and told him that his students' playing blew my mind. He replied, "Aw, it's all smoke and mirrors."
​     At first I thought my friend was making a self-depreciating joke and I opened my mouth to protest. But then it hit me that what he said was true.  
      Not that a well-executed piano performance is all smoke and mirrors. But there are some tricks that a savvy teacher can pull from out of their sleeve to get a student to perform, a time or two a year, one piece above their normal playing level. And so during that one performance a mediocre student can sound good, a good student can sound better, an excellent student can soar.
        But a performance can also go the other way. It can happen that even the most well-rehearsed piece, the most comfortable piece, the piece that went perfectly during every rehearsal, can come off on recital night not as well as it should have. The most accomplished pianist can miss one note that can throw off a whole phrase, that can require a brief pause or back-up while the performer recoups themself then continues on. The pianist can be coming down with a cold, can be feeling stressed, can be having an off night for any number of intangible reasons that can lead to an off performance. 
         And this is why before a recital I always told my students, especially the more advanced ones playing tricky and challenging pieces, that a recital is not a critical event. That what is important is that they have mastered their piece (for I would never allow a student to perform a piece that they had not mastered) even if for some reason this night's performance does not show how well they play it all the time.  I reminded them that it's how well they play all the time that counts.
         In truth, too much stock should never be placed in one recital, as a single night's performance seldom shows the whole scope of a performer's ability. A recital  is only a few minutes in time and is hit or miss. 
         And though I understand this and wish everyone did, for the sake of our country I hope that tonight President Biden has a hit.