Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum The *Ultimate* ABF event, would you attend?

Okay, I know this idea may be a bit far-fetched, but what if?.

What if in a WAY future date we actually had a REAL recital somewhere. Say in a location in where everyone could plan a mini vacation trip around the actual recital like Las Vegas, San Diego, Disneyland etc.

We could all chip in a few bucks to rent out some small setting along with a really nicely prepped piano and not only finally get to meet one another in person, but perform for each other as well.

Yes, I know, at first this idea may seem a bit unrealistic, especially knowing that we have active members from all over the globe but it could happen if we really wanted it too.

A plane ticket, a hotel for a night or two and it could become a reality!.

Personally, I would do it and would love the chance to meet our other members as well and listen to them perform. Finally putting a face to a *user-name* would be kind of neat as well.

Like I said, this (for now) is just a far fetched thought but I would like to know what everyone else thinks about doing this and if we actually did it, would you attend?.

Well, since I'm in Southern California and your proposed sites are all within 5 hours of driving -- sure! If, on the other hand, you were to propose someplace in New England in, say, January -- probably not (my blood has thinned since I left there in 1955).

In reality, sure, I'd consider almost any location even though I'm new here and not anywhere near as good piano player as most of the people on this forum.

Ed

I think we should do some kind of world tour.

Anyway, I doubt I would attend because flying to the USA is expensive and they'd probably turn me back at the border.

Unless I can get me some fancy job that involves flying around the world...

A European event would be cool, though.

Perhaps London would be good on the tour, as we can't all get to USA, even if we wanted to.

You know, I picked U.S cities as by Coppers maps, the vast majority of the ABF members live here in the U.S but that does'nt mean we can't look for an excuse to travel abroad!.

I would'nt mind visiting my family if Holland but for everyone else, it might be a little chillier than say going to Monte Carlo!.

I do think a U.S based location may have a better turnout just because of the amount of members we have over here; but then again, I DO have a lot of flyer miles built up just waiting to be used!.....Hmmm!.

Holland sounds good.
I propose Amsterdam.
Lots of fun to be had there.

Or there could be two: One in USA and one in Europe.

With the US $ so weak, going to Europe, especially the UK, would be mucho expensive!

On a realistic level, I feel a bit torn as to whether to attend. I would love to meet everyone in person and really get to know all of you in physical (vs cyber) space. I would feel terribly nervous about playing for you though. A live audience would be orders of magnitude more scary than the red dot. The hesitancy is 1. I feel like I would be deserting my hubby who isn't involved in anyway with ABF; 2. I really don't like to travel that much. Now may be if the gathering were in San Francisco... It's a very nice city to visit, lots of restaurants, good weather, wine country nearby, beautiful Pacific Coast, world famous Golden Gate Bridge, etc, etc. Interested?

Gosh. And what about the cognitive models we've constructed of eachother. I'm comfortable with my imagery of Tina as a 22 stone body-building javlin thrower - do we really want reality to get in the way of fantasy...?

Hey, I vote San Francisco too :-)

This sounds very interesting. My vote goes for the United Kingdom.

Uh Oh, I can see it already. Location chosen by committee!!

.

Hey Hunk since we're talking less then seriously - in today's world, why not a bi-oceanic get-together? You know, video uplinks from a major hotel in both cities (not really that expensive for a group) with big screens at both ends.

Anyone who can make either would be welcome, and maybe an excuse to visit London or Paris or Amsterdam or San Fran or even Omaha or Kansas City, or Montreal or Tronto/Detroit.

Would'nt that be cool, all the North Americans go to Europe and all the Europians come this way?

It does sound like a really fun week-end kinda thing. I would even go to Arizona, especially if in March (spring training for the Mariners).

I'd give it serious thought. If I could afford it I'd definitely come.

Yup, sure does. We could all wave to each other from the window seats in our planes!

LOL!!!! Oh my gosh, I log in to catch up on the day and this is what awaits me!? LaValse, you're a hoot! And YES - yes, we want reality to get in the way of that fantasy! (Err, unless it works for ya!) Besides, these days I'm more of a 9 stone Q-Tip thrower

Seriously though, this is a great idea and sounds like so much fun. I would definitely consider, depending upon location. For me, I'm in the same boat as Rosanna in that although my husband dabbles here and there with piano, he is not involved here and therefore convincing him to take a long trip such as this would present a challenge that would cause me to feel too selfish to press - unless y'all want to hit up some mountain bike trails afterward! But, have I ever mentioned how wonderful and beautiful Virginia is? There's something for EVERYONE here!

Tina

Come to think of it, MrSH's gorgeous adobe <s>mansion</s> house can certainly host us all...?

I was thinking about Isaac Stern Auditorium (2000+ seats) in Carnagie Hall... then we could all fly to MrSH's mansion/house.

And he has llamas.

Hey, I've got the room and a soon to be delivered 7' M&H "BB" (currently in storage}, but the twist is that we are now at our ranch in northern Arizona and the weather is cold. (8k feet elev).

We are however less than 2 hours from the endless summer of Phoenix and not far from the grand canyon so who knows!.

Well, I'd love to do it, but there's absolutely no way I'd be able to.

Great idea though!

Trust me, in my case this would not be a good idea!

Ed

I share your opinion!

That would be very cool.

East Coast I'd drive. West Coast I'd fly. There's always a conference in my field around LA, San Fran, or San José. UK I'd consider it if timed properly with a vacation. The wife and I have always wanted to visit.

San Francisco gets my vote, been there a few times and as the big man says "left my heart" there...

Cheers


Text

What if... we could finance this whole thing by making some money on the internet?

It's relatively easy to do so, especially when you have a fairly large group of enthusiastic people.

I don't have any specific ideas yet, just some experience making a living off the internet.

If we could make, let's say, $50.000 in the next year working together, we could host an nice ABF party anywhere in the world and fly everyone in for free.

This is a very good idea! It may be difficult flying to another continent, but planning a meeting in a location 'close' to your area can be a total success

I would try my best go to any city in Europe you may chose Amsterdam, London, Berlin...

So I will not have my once-in-a-lifetime big excuse to go to US then........

Ragnhild

$50.000?
I'm just going to assume that this is because of where you live. I'm American, you confuse me!

At first glance $50.000 looks like 50 bucks, until I realize what's going on.

Just my $0,02...

50 "grand" then.

But seriously, think about it:

If there was some "ABF Party Fund" with $50,000 bucks in it, free to spend, wouldn't you accept an invitation to come to a party in San Fransisco with all your ABF friends, all expenses paid?

And by that I mean, roundtrip ticket for you and a guest (wherever you are in the world), one or two nights in a hotel, and plenty of food and drinks during the day?

I'm thinking a one or two-day event here, including a live recital of everyone willing to participate.

The more I think about it, the more fun it sounds!

Wouldn't you come?

I would definitely *want* to attend such a momentous event... but I'm guessing Life and Pragmatics would get in the way. Talking my family into making an AB recital our yearly vacation would be, I think, a tough sell. Going by myself would be possible, but it would depend on the time of year and my teaching schedule and how guilty I'd feel about leaving the kids.

So I guess I would say I love the idea in abstract but am somewhat doubtful about whether I'd actually feel able to go.

Well, I'd certainly come... if you can get the money. Remember, I'm just 14!

In fact, have it in NYC. That way you won't need to fly me out.

Hmm, mahlzeit, I wonder how would you get 50 000 dollars?

Aha! Finally, someone represented 50k in a way that I like!

Perhaps he could go around automating recitals?

I knew someone was going to ask this, but getting the money is not the point.

The real question is: do people want to attend an awesome party, for free, even if it means flying to the other end of the world? And are people willing to put in some work to make that happen?

If the answer to those questions is YES! then making 50K is just one of the problems to tackle. Handling the logistics of everything is probably a worse problem.

But to answer your question: You create money by providing something of value. First you create something of value, then you show it to the right people, and they will give you money in exchange for it.

The advantage of the internet is that you can do this with very low startup costs and overhead.

You basically set up a web site and a mailing list, then get as many potential customers as possible on the mailing list. Then you sell your products to these people.

The fact that people are on your mailing list means that they are interested in what you have to say and that they give you permission to market your products (or even other peoples' products) to them. To get and keep customers on your list, you provide relevant stuff for free on a regular basis (things of real value, not fluff).

One obvious line of products, for us, is (e)books about learning to play the piano. There is an enormous wealth of information in the archives of the ABF (and in the other Piano World forums). We could extract this information and put it in several downloadable books or CD's. I have no doubt that some of this stuff could rival (or even better, complement) other piano courses on the web.

This is just one possibility, there are many others.

The only thing it takes is time. If, let's say, 10 good ABF people volunteer to do this, then no one has to make a large time commitment and we can all still play the piano in our spare time.

So here's the answer to question where we would get 50,000 dollars: we convert our time and energy into 50,000 dollars. In other words, we make 50,000 dollars.

Now, if you have a 40-hour-a-week job and you don't make anything near that you might be thinking: "yeah, right". Believe me, there are plenty of people on the internet making a VERY comfortable living selling information products this way. MUCH more comfortable than 50K...

Of course this is a crazy idea, but I like my ideas crazy.

Seriously, that sounds quite interesting. If you're actually going to attempt some type of moneymaking for this, I'd be more than willing to help.

Does anyone have any potential dates in mind for this live recital?

First off, a quick note on money making.

Earning a bunch of money(legally) is extremely easy to do in a group setting. I can remember a few years back when Mrs Hunky and I were coaching the local swim team in town. We had 150 little "salesmen" available to us.

In just one weekend of fund raising, we made enough money to pay for everyones suits, goggles, swim bags, team towels as well as buy new lane lines for $10k and new starting blocks for $5k.
We literally had to think of things to buy for the team as we could'nt keep the money personally.

Back in junior high school, I went around selling pencils door to door for $1. I would ring peoples door bell and ask if they would like to buy a nice pencil for $1. Of course, they would always ask why and I would tell them that I would like to make enough money to buy a used car for high school in a couple of years.

The succses rate of my pencil selling was just about 100%!. Almost everybody bought one!. After about 3-4 hours of going door to door, I would bring home around $200 and remember, I was just a 15 year old kid back in the early 80's!.

After only a couple of months, I made enough loot to buy my dream car....a 1979 VW Rabbit..."Diesel"!!...Woo-hoo!!.

Anyway, the point is money should NOT be a reason to not participate as if we all got together as a group, the cash can easily be made.

I'm more interested if our ABF members would *seriously* consider participating in an actual formal real recital. You know, a nice concert setting with a REAL concert grand piano to perform on.

Some of us may have some built up frequent flyer miles that they can use. Others may just be looking for an excuse to take a vacation to a warmer or coder climate. I know I personally would love to meet some of our members personally and finally put a face to a name.

The chance to perform in front of a live audience in a real concert setting on a real concert grand may also be a once in a lifetime opportunity for some as well.

The logistics of doing this are very realistic so long as a location and date are chosen WELL in advance and are acceptable for most of us.

I still think (if there is any real interest of doing this) that we chose a location that can be turned into a vacation to justify the travel and time. Bring the spouse and kids!. One evening is dedicated to the live recital, the rest of your time can be Disneyland, Las Vegas or whatever/wherever!.

So, is there any REAL interest in doing this or are we forever stuck at our desks behind our monitors just dreaming what it would be like to perform at a concert hall in a real recital setting?. This could be our chance!.

I'd be willing to go wherever - but if I need a passport I need to know way ahead because I understand it takes a looooooong time these days. (I know, I'm an unsophisticated midwesterner who has yet to enrich her life with world travel.)

I've gotten to a place in my life where I've decided to just do things that previously I would have hemmed and hawed about for a while, wondering if I should or shouldn't, so now I just do it. No time to wonder what if.

So now that I wrote this, I should just go ahead and get that passport because you never know when an opportunity might present itself, like this!

I'm interested. Dates and locations may be an issue but if they are not I would love to have this opportunity.

I'd be game if it fits reasonably well in my work schedule (meaning no end/beginning of quarter dates)...

Send me free tickets and I'll go anywhere.

On the money side, the answer is obvious! Form a 501(c) nonprofit and start peddling all our ABF recital CDs, advertised as "real music by real people" ...tickets goes to the participants under a weighted vesting schedule.

We can divert to more lucrative stock speculation and narco trafficking once we've got our seed money (speaking of which, members well versed in the bureaucratic grant application process should get cracking)

Yuri and others:

Since there DOES seem to be some interest in this opportunity to perform in front of other members with similar experience/ability levels while possibly combining a location into a family vacation for some, two main iteams need to be addressed. Where and when?.

I think the "when" should be WAY in the future...(next summer, next year etc), so there is NO scheduling conflicts for anyone.

The "where" will obviously be open to good suggestions that make sense. Since some members may be taking the family or making a mini vacation out of this, Fargo North Dakota may not be the best choice in the dead of winter!!

If this is going to happen, suggestions of sensible locations are greatly encouraged as well as a future date WAY ahead of time.

Just think, if we all actually work together and pull this off, we will ALL have the opportunity to perform in a large concert hall in a LIVE recital setting on a well tuned concert grand.... You might want to bring a video camera for this one!!

I think that it's a great idea, but for some, it's just a pipe dream.

I'll be lucky if I can afford to take the family to Bognor Regis this summer.

P.S. Is Fargo a real place. I thought it was just a fictional film location where everyone says Ja instead of yes. lol.

On reading MrSH's later posts, I would say that I am more interested in the social aspect than the recital aspect. I got back into playing solely for my own enjoyment and a live recital actually would make me feel a lot more pressure than I care to handle!! (I am not putting down the live recital idea tho'.)

Not being a business minded person, I appreciate hearing enterprising ideas of how the ABF can make money to support such an event. I would be wiling to assist in the effort if it comes to that.

If travel expenses were paid for, it definitely takes away one consideration for me.

I don't understand what Van said about "tickets goes to the participants under a weighted vesting schedule" - lack of business understanding here.

And finally don't you wonder what Frank B. has to say if the ABF tries to make money out of the content of this forum?? It's not for us to decide, is it?

Hi Rosanna.

Some of our members may actually very much look forward to being able to participate in such an event while others may not.

Some may view an event like this as just added stress while others may see this as the opportunity of their piano playing life time!.

"Different strokes!" Everyone is certainly invited and it's up to each individual to choose to participate or not depending if they would welcome such an experience or if it would just cause them more stress.

One comment I may add is that people play piano for various reasons. Personal enjoyment, satisfaction, or whatever.

If, and I mean "IF" someones goal is to not only improve but also someday perform in front of others or in public, sooner or later they will actually have to do just that.

What better enviroment than a group of familiar friends with the same abilites and goals in mind?. On the other hand, it would be wrong to participate (although you could still attend) if an event like this causes you nothing but stress, nerves and gas!! as that would also be defeating the purpose.

At this point, we are just tossing some very rough idea's around. If there is interest, we can all pusue this idea further. If not, it dies!.

So far, it seems that some members are for it, others are not and some may be undecided. Who knows where this will lead!

What about something on the middle of the east coast? DC area?

How about holding it in beautiful Midland, Texas. Then we could all tour the George Bush childhood home and drive by the places he lived as an adult. Then we could . . . umm . . . umm . . . hmm . . . there MUST be something interesting to do around here.

Cliburn competition near there Dennis? I'm not very familiar with Texas, even though my father is from there and is a full AGGIE fan. (it was crazy at my house tonight... the Aggies beat the Longhorns)

Then there's always the possibility that we have conceived images of the people here that are so far from reality that we wouldn't even like each other when we are not communicating with an avatar or a mind created image.

In my experience, reality rarely meets our sweet imagination.

Unfortunately people usually disappoint me and I'd rather just experiance forum members in the abstract.

It's an interesting idea though and I'm certain many or most don't share my cynical viewpoint.

i say raise the 50k and at the end of the year we can have a competition online live recital and vote for the best and buy that person the grand they have always dreamed of!!! :p

seriously you think that much money can be raised from the abf???

Come on, there's only one viable place for this meet...the Aleutian Islands, haven't you seen Copper's map?

Ha Ha, good one. Actually, if you've ever seen the Austin Powers movie with "Fat Bastard", you know, the guy that sais "I want to eat the baby" all the time, thats actually me! :p

Fargo is real place, a real life film location where everyone say Ja instead of yes. (The area was originally heavily settled by Swedes. My theory is that no one ever actually learned English. They just kept on speaking Swedish until it mutated.)

MrSH, don't get me wrong. I would fully support having a life recital if there is a consensus. My earlier post was coming from the point where I "discovered" on re-reading your post that it's more about a life recital than about a ABF get-together. Then I realized that I would shy from the recital part - but not the get-together part! I fully understand the joy, excitement and gratification of performing for a live audience - just doesn't happen to be a goal for me, that's all.

I'd be interested in both. Such an event for me would be part recital, part hanging out and teaching each other piano tricks.

It was just one business idea. Also, I did not mean we would copy&paste the forum contents. But you can certainly take the ideas and knowledge from these forums and put them in a structured, readable book (or whatever) and sell it as your own. There is no law that protects ideas or the discussion of ideas. (Nor would it diminish the value or appeal of these forums.) And of course we'd invite Frank B. to the party.

No. But I never said we would "raise money from the ABF". I said: let's get some people from the ABF together to make money.

Id be willing to help but only at weekends, because only then I have enough time.

So, if we're going to realize this idea - count me in!

I would be interested!!! Not so much for the recital aspect, although I could be one to prove that this is the "beginners" forum!!

Rocky, you always have such a great spirit!

LOL....now that's a good place to meet

Perhaps if we wait till there is a space station with a "Concert Grand" on it, we can all go there.

Then we would all have to travel equal distance.

And no-one else could hear our mistakes.

Sorry, my mistakes.

I love the two-locations-big-screen-uplink idea ... has anyone seen "Last night of the Proms" in recent years? Since there is so much interest that Royal Albert Hall is no longer big enough, they have four concerts taking place simultaneously all over Britain, video conference style.
We could chose a weekend and have four recital sessions (two live in the US, two in Europe), each broadcast to the other location ...

Ok lets do it. who wants to organize it?

And a deafening silence ensues - - -

Don't look at me, I don't think I'm legally capable of doing stuff like that...

S-H:

Let's decide on location first. If we choose SF, I am game to be on "organizing committee." (if elsewhere in the West, I am game too, but my involvement will be less) It will certainly take some monetary resources (like renting appropriate venue, for example), however, so that will have to be resolved too. (now, any ideas on how to earn some cash to pay for these?) In any case, I suggest that if we decide to do it, we start planning way in advance, like 12-18 months.

I, too, am willing to help on a committee if we choose the West Coast (especially if it's Southern California). I cannot commit the time to chair such a committee, nor can I do more than assist -- but I am willing to do that.

Ed

Perhaps we could have this occur at the same time as one of the Chopin recitals?

If it's in the south of England I am here to help.

USA? no hopes.

In the unlikely event that we decide to hold it in Deliverance country, I'm here to help.

Well I'd be happy to offer to host the event here in Arizona. I do have a new M&H 7 ft "BB" semi-concert grand and plenty of room however, a *real* concert hall type setting would be really neat.

If we are to do this, I say go all out. Formal evening wear, nice venue and we could rent a 7 or even 9 ft concert grand to perform on.

Possibly hire a videographer to film the entire event.

Refreshments and schrimp cocktail!.

Sushi

Frycek, you are on the food commitee!

What a great idea!

I took a few minutes to add up the latitudes and longitudes of the 37 known recitals locations in the USA. Then I divided the result by 37.

It turns out that the geographic center of this group is approximately in Safe, Missouri - about 85 miles south west of St. Louis.

I checked it out on Google Earth, there doesn’t seem to be much there. I think it would be better at S-H’s house. I wish I could attend, but that is unlikely.

Assuming I get flied out there, I'd love to play on that 9-ft rent-a-grand in sunny Arizona while enjoying sushi!

Copper:

It may be time for one of your famous survey's. Maybe a poll to see who would go, who won't and who's undecided. But then again, like Yuri said, a location must be chosen first.

How about a location poll first. Possibly take the suggested location (minus the aelution islands) as well as a write in category.

Aww, man! I thought SC's gift to the food world was peach pie?

Tina

I haven't been around much lately but I must say this sounds better with every post.

Agreed, as location may be the top influence for who may be able to swing it or not.

Tina

Time of year would be important to me - when were you thinking of holding this?