I am sorry to bombard the subreddit with posts on the same topic haha, but after the advice on previous posts, it seemed like theoretically, fasting would not harm performance quality, but I would not know until I tried it. So I am documenting what happens over the next 2-9 days, mostly for my own reference in the future. I will edit and fill in this log as I go along.
I am not sure I will fast the entire week, I might break the fast and restart at Day 5 if I feel very bad and cannot get work done. I will edit the times if I do.
I am a grad student in piano performance.
Day 3:
Performance (62 hours): Not particularly good, but not as horrific as several of my recent performances. I know this piece extremely well, so there were not the memory-lapse dangers of other pieces in my repertoire, but it seemed like fasting did not directly help or hurt the performance of a well-known piece.
Indirectly, and this in itself could be an argument to myself for pre-performance fasting in the future, my pre-performance nerves were much much more manageable. The few hours before performing are never pleasant, but compared to the hellish anxiety I am used to, this morning, in retrospect, was infinitely better. It could be just that I was too tired to be nervous, but I mostly rested, ran through the piece in my head, watched a clip of the Olympics. I have a friend who microdoses marijuana before performances she is very anxious for, just enough to dull her for the few hours preceding the performance, but will wear off by the time she is onstage. Possibly fasting had a similar effect. Onstage, I did not feel any sharper or duller than I usually do during a performance, but I was very sedated beforehand.
Some physical issues to keep in mind: Cold - I already tend towards coldness when nervous, I was expecting this to be worse fasted, but surprisingly, I was very cold before the performance, but not onstage. This could be because of the stage lights/suit jacket, and will probably worsen later in the fast. Bathroom - Combined with nerves, I really could not hold on to any water surrounding the performance, even heavily salted. This was not an issue today (10 min piece), but could be an issue for longer performances coming up. Headache - I have been supplementing salt/potassium/magnesium, and had no symptoms of low electrolytes until immediately after stepping off stage, when I got a light headache. I took some salt and it went away. Just interesting to note, possibly adrenaline caused the body to use up resources more quickly?
Other events: Focusing in class was more difficult than usual (63 hours, 65-67 hours), but this could be due to post-performance exhaustion or fasting, unsure which. Practice the day of a performance is rarely productive for me, so also could be attributed to that rather than the fast, but practice was difficult to focus on.
Salt: 6 g Potassium: 1.2 g (I have to buy more No salt) Magnesium: .9 g
Other supplements: Caffeine: 400 mg Melatonin
Sleep - 7 hours Water - 144 oz
Upcoming: Day 4
Performance (90 hours)
Day 5
Performance (111 hours)
Lesson (116 hours)
Day 6 Day 7 Day 8 Day 9
Performance (214 hours)
Day 10
Lesson (225 hours)
Day 11
Performance (262 hours)
You may want to try phenibut, a mood enhancer that is used for performance anxiety. People get in trouble when they use it all the time but once or twice a week is fine. I use it when I have trouble sleeping and wake up to a full day of good mood.