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Saw this small article at ehow.com and thought I'd share it here. So, here it is...

A solo piano concert can be a sublime experience, and you generally won't have to travel far to find one. Your own town probably offers many solo piano performances during the year. Here are some tips on how to enjoy a solo piano concert.

Step One
Find listings in your local papers or go online to find upcoming piano performances. Depending on who is playing, you may need to purchase tickets for the performance.

Step Two
Find out what pieces are slated for the performance and learn about the music beforehand. Find copies of the compositions on CD or the Internet and listen to them. This preparation gives you a basis for comparison, allowing you to notice the individual touches the soloist puts on the music and making the experience richer for you.

Step Three
Get directions to the concert and ask about parking arrangements. Arrive early, so that you can be in your seat before the concert begins. Depending on the importance of the concert, the front rows may be reserved for friends and family members of the performer.

Step Four
Show respect for the performer by not leaving your seat during the piano concert unless you have a genuine emergency. Many solo piano concerts have an intermission for audience members to stretch their legs and freshen up.

So what do you think? Good advice or not?

that's great.

thoughtfulness and courteousness.

Step five: If you have a cell phone, turn it off.

Step six: If you think you already turned off your cell phone, repeat step five.

Step seven: Try not attend the recital if you have a case of whooping cough, bronchitis, or other condition that makes you sound like Mimi in the last act of "La Boheme."

You're right about the cell phone thing. Annoying as heck.

Good for some people, but I think many might take exception with step two.

Not everyone goes to a concert to learn or to be intellectually stimulated. Some people just want to go and enjoy the music, relax, "escape from real life", etc.

Also, it takes a relatively deep familiarity with a piece to be able to pick up on - let alone, appreciate - the differences between performances. That doesn't come, unless perhaps to advanced musicians, from listening once or twice to an unfamiliar work, and then going to a concert.

But more importantly than the ability of the audience to pick up on those differences, I wonder how many people actually don't care about the differences. As I said, they just want to hear good music.

But as I said, for others it's good advice - I'm interested in those academic things, as are many on this board. I just wouldn't state in a 4-step list of 'how to attend a piano recital' on that website, nor would I state it in such an authoritative way that, well of course, this will "make the experience richer for you." Perhaps on a different list which is entirely about ways that people enjoy the music at the concert, it would make sense - and one would perhaps include there ideas of *how* one becomes familiar enough with the music to do this - but it just seems out of place and a little high-brow to me (also, a little confusing, since it doesn't say *how* to become familiar with the music in advance) to include it on this list, together with "show up early" and "don't get up until intermission".

a funny thing happened at church..

a phone went off during the sermon and the priest turned toward the phone.. all huffy and all and said ""HELLOOOOoow"

maybe you had to be there.

I think you left off "If you really like the composer and they have never visited the US before (and may never again) then fly across the country to see them."

The Ludovico Einaudi concert in San Francisco was a great experience. I do truly hope that Einaudi makes future trips to the US and hopefully plays somewhere much closer. I'm not sure how many of those trips I can afford.

I'm sure this is a case where Monica K. and I agree.

I somehow don't think that Chopin, Schubert, Brahms, or Debussy will be visiting the US. Although I "really like [them]," flying across the country to see them, then, wont' be an issue.

Cheers!

Reminds me of my April Fool's prank this year.

Our musicology professor was lecturing on Mozart's "Grand Partita". About 5 minutes before the end of class, I called a friend of mine who is in the same class, and, as planned, his phone rang very loudly. As expected, the professor smiled and asked, in his usual manner, "Is it for me?"

"They say it's for you, and it's urgent!" my friend exclaimed.

Very surprised, the professor grabbed the phone and answered: "Hello?"

So I replied, with my phone now to my ear: "Hello, Professor _______? This is Mr. Mozart. I just loved your analysis of my Grand Partita today."

There was an awkward pause, followed by great hilarity.

It was quite fun.

Hehehehe, that was funny!

A couple more suggested additions:

- Please refrain from clapping between movements. This throws the performers off and disturbs other concert goers. We understand that you do not want to miss an opportunity to clap like a wind up monkey, but please be considerate of the musicians and other concert goers.

- Please save standing ovations for only the most spectacular performances. It is not necessary to show exuberant over-appreciation for performances that merely get through the notes. Standing for everything demeans true standing ovation quality performances.

I couldn't resist the sarcasm. I saw the Iceland symphony in May with Olga Kern (Rachmaninoff #2) and no one moved between movements. I'm not sure that people even breathed. A few weeks later I saw an A list US symphony and you couldn't keep people in their seats. In fact, as I remember, I think they stood before intermission.

Karen

Agreed. Many times there are announcements before the beginning of a performance in a larger venue (and some small ones!) and of all the pointless things they say that no one cares about, I always wish that they would take the extra 15 seconds to remind people to not applaud between movements.


I saw Kern perform Rach's 2nd with the Cleveland Orchestra in Miami a few years ago, and there were people standing at the end of the 1st movement... Lame... As annoying and out of place as it was, it wasn't even deserved in my opinion. (I do like Kern, just didn't care for that particular performance.)

Daniel

Ah Daniel, you remind me of another pet peeve - the spiel before the concert. Where did this come from? I don't remember them as a kid (20 or so years ago), even with the local community orchestra. They are usually done by a schoolmarm-type woman who seems to know little about music, but wants to go on about how wonderful the concert is going to be.

I don't think that the "emcees" are aware that clapping between movements is frowned upon.

Karen