Quote Originally Posted by Gare View Post
To be precise it's ~てみる, as in, て-form+みる　and it's a fixed expression. If you want to get really technical, you could say it's "a sequence of an action and then seeing the result" (Tae Kim), but feel free to not fuss over the details and just remember it as the fixed construction -てみる.

The only reason it became してみました in your example is because the verb form of 演奏 is used with する, and the て-form of する is して, so in the end it became してみる --> してみました. You can use it with any verb, including non-suru ones: Download Links:
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Alright, now I get it. Thanks Gare.