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I contacted them. Unfortunately, one needs to be a student of Music Institute of Chicago, otherwise, one cannot participate.

Update on my attempt to start an adult piano group in my area:

Dismal! I personally talked to several piano teachers who had adult students, wrote an invitation to their adult students, set up a time and place for an informational meeting etc.

Result - only 1 person showed up. The teachers I spoke with said their adults don't like to play for others. Even though I emphasized that the main point was for adult pianists to meet and that playing wasn't required, I don't think the message got through.

So, in my area there doesn't seem to be an interest.

A R

The statement "...their adults don't like to play for others..." is really rather sad, don't you think? Practicing piano is a solitary pursuit, and I feel that it only reaches some kind of fulfilment and fruition when one is able to share what one has accomplished and what one feels about the music one plays.

Perhaps you should keep pursuing this.

Regards,

It is very hard to start something like this and takes a lot of organization. I tried to get a small group together just to meet casually and play for each other, and there was not enough interest to keep it going. I did finally join the DC area group mentioned earlier in this thread (AMSF), which is great, but it's a notch more formal than what I was envisioning. And the problem there is that the recitals and other events fill up quickly, so you have to reserve a spot early. This shows how popular it is, though!

Bruce, I agree. I do think that most piano teachers don't really want to promote or encourage their adult students. So the students get the message that they aren't good enough to play for anyone, and it's a vicious cycle.

The group that I have been organizing and running for almost six years now, remains alive, well and active. While we occasionally only have seven or eight members at our monthly performances, we usually have from ten to twelve and sometimes as many as eighteen.

It doesn't require much on-going effort on my part except for
- arranging the venue (whose house this month?),
- sending out email reminders (everyone is on an email mailing list) which become more frequent as the date approaches, and
- printing out copies of the program.

The hardest part is most likely getting the group started, and that had already been done when I took it over.

Regards,

The adult amateur adult piano group I started over two years ago is still going strong: http://www.meetup.com/Long-Beach-Piano-Meetup-Group/
We've met monthly (usually Sunday @ 3PM) since February, 2010, and recently convened for the 28th time . As you can see from the website, the AMSF was my inspiration, but our structure is far simpler--at a typical meeting, each of us performs for the assembled group (up to 10 minutes, unless a longer time is arranged in advance). We wind up with a buffet supper, and encourage everyone to stay awhile to eat and play some more (this is when some of the most inspired musicmaking can occur!) The overall performing level is advanced intermediate and upwards (our "Read more about us" statement is quite clear about this). Collaborations of all kinds occur spontaneously; we've have many four-hand performances as well as various combinations of piano with cello, violin, flute and voice.

We do discourage non-performing guests, although the occasional supportive spouse or SO is certainly welcome. We have had several teachers attend as one-time-only guests (including my own teacher, who holds regular performance classes for her adult students and heartily supports our group).

We use Meetup software to reach out to potential members(they often find us through Google), keep everyone informed about upcoming events and publish photos. Meetup also helps with planning: I can cap monthly attendance at 20-25, periodically weed the group of non-contributing members and ban the occasional bad apple

Like BruceD, I've observed that the group behaves like any social group--although we have over 100 members, the "core group" has remained under 30, and it's rare, given peoples' commitments and foibles, for more than 20 members to attend at one time. Some join and never show up, a few attend once and never return; some join, attend regularly for awhile and drift away; evn the core group has morphed significantly over the life of the group. And, yes, like most groups, we've had a few hissy fits and meltdowns and even a few internecine squabbles...

Most events have taken place in my home (with a cathedral ceiling that helps my Yamaha G-2 sound way better than it should), but we've held several special recital events in a nearby church with a mellow old Steinway, and a fellow member has hosted several times; we've also held a successful master class and plan to make that an annual event.

Good luck with your ongoing plans--I'd be happy to share anything else that's helpful

Here in Chicago, we have our quarterly recital at the Piano Forte recital hall. Great place and excellent piano (Fazioli). In general, only 10 people performed. It is very hard to organize, requires numerous phone calls and e-mails. Adults are just not into this kind of thing. To me, it is a great opportunity to practice playing in front of people. But most adults do not see this way. I always look forward to attending this event. The next one will be this coming Sat. July 14 between 2 pm and 5 pm. If you are interested just go there and join the recital (8th floor). You need to contribute $10 , the money will be donated to Piano Forte Foundation.

Unless one is talented and started performing in front of audiences (or taking part in competitions) when young, my impression is that most adult pianists don't enjoy playing for strangers or even acquaintances/friends in formal or semi-formal settings. Most don't even feel comfortable playing during dinner parties, when there's less scrutiny. You feel exposed and any tiny mistake or unevenness is magnified 100-fold in your mind. It's worse than having to stand up and give a formal speech at a wedding reception (at least, one can lubricate one's vocal cords - and inhibition - with the appropriate fermented drink then ).

As an amateur pianist in early adulthood who'd never played in front of anyone other than family, teacher or examiner, I wouldn't even have dared to play a piano in a showroom, until circumstances forced me to do so, if I wanted to play the piano at all. It's immensely liberating once one has lost that self-consciousness, and don't give a dam* what others think about your playing, because you're enjoying yourself so much on a fine piano .

You could be right. I played in front of people since I was young. It could be the reason that I do not mind playing in front of people. In addition, I used to play in church.

Hi, Bruce,

Yes, the solitary practice does get old and I believe in sharing one's playing with others. I will keep in touch with the ONE adult who responded by at least going to luch and talking about our piano pursuits.

A R

Ronald,

You are so right. I've gotten much better playing at my teacher's recitals after getting more experience with playing in front of adults during the piano retreats I've gone to. Plus, sharing the ups and downs learning the piano with other adult students face to face in my locale would help to break up the solitary practice.

A R

What you say above may be true, but I made it real clear that the group I was trying to organize did NOT require one to perform. I was trying to get together a group of adults who loved piano and wanted to share their experiences in an informal setting, such as meeting for lunch, and just Talking about piano. We could go from there as to what we might do as a group. But only one person responded to the invite and no one came to the second meeting. (The one person who came the first time wasn't available). The community in which I live is very insular and unless you've been raised here, it is difficult to meet people with similar interests. But I thought I'd give it a shot but organizing a group didn't work out.

A R

The primary reason that our group was formed was to give adults the experience of playing for others in a supportive, non-critical environment which excludes teachers, friends and even spouses who are not members.

One member who has been with the group since I joined six years ago was so nervous when playing in front of others that she could hardly control her shaking and played as many wrong notes as right ones. She, however, persevered, mostly because she saw how much others with less nervousness enjoyed performing and she wanted to be among those. She now performs regularly with much greater ease and self confidence, she continues to improve, and she gives credit to our group for her liberated status as a "performer."

I do wonder, though, about the goals of those adults who take lessons and who practice diligently but who don't aspire to perform even for close friends or relatives. Would an amateur painter study painting without ever showing the result? Would a budding writer never let anyone read what was written? Yes, there must be some sense of accomplishment for mastering repertoire in private, but those who refuse to perform must surely be missing out on the greatest accomplishment in music: sharing with others.

Regards,

I think the terror of performing that people experience when they try it the first few times puts them off of it -- they think that it will always be like that. And in a way, it is :), but at the same time, it's a vital part of the musical experience. And it's not just adults -- I've talked with so many people who had these terrible experiences performing when they were kids and never wanted to do it again. I don't know exactly how you persuade people that if they persist, though it's never exactly easy, it will get easier.

There are several gentlemen in my group who have no courage to perform. To me, it is too bad. What will happen if they mess up? Nothing...a little embarrass may be, but move on, try again next time. I messed up big time too, but I kept trying.

Another problem with adult is that they do not want to perform the same piece twice. They think that people will say something. Like several people in my group, they are starting running out of pieces that they can play so that they do not want to come any more. I agree that it is kind of embarrassing to play the same pieces over and over. But my thought is that I will not give up a piece until I can play well in front of people. They may say that I can play only one piece, but I do not care. At the end of the day, I feel that I am able to conquer the piece if I can play well in front of people.

Last weekend my wife and I went to a piano night organized through Meetup (our first time). The hostess, a teacher who works mostly with kids, said to some of the more reluctant/nervous performers "Dont worry. Nobody is going to pinch you if you make a mistake!"

To the OP: I hope you won't give up hope. Even if it's just you and the one other person who took the bait, that's a start, and better than nothing.

It may surprise you to learn that there are many, many amateur painters/artists who have a huge stash of paintings, watercolors and drawings which noone has ever seen but themselves: I was reminded of that when the paintings of Sir Winston Churchill went on display for the first time ever last week. Does anyone know that this great Prime Minister was a very accomplished painter? It was a private hobby for him. And the same applies to writing, for many people. (There must be lots of potential 'War & Peace'-like novels lying around in people's attics around the world, whose authors never let anyone else read, let alone contemplate publishing....).

And I'd guess that applies too to playing piano, for many people who took it up as a hobby - it also applied to me: I never thought of playing in public even after I obtained my performance diploma. (I was, and still am, very shy, and would never dream of speaking in public even now, after losing my fear of playing in public long ago ). Piano playing was just one of my private passions (chess too, though it's usually more satisfying to beat a human opponent than a computer , so I did enter some public tournaments).

If you were taught from young that the goal of learning to play a musical instrument was public performance, and your teacher made you play in front of others regularly, you would have a very different mindset to someone who only ever had private teachers who never encouraged their students to perform for others.

There 3 stages:
1. You get in peace with the piece.
2. You get in peace with the piano.
3. You get in peace with the audience.

I guess you have accomplished no. 1 and 2, you should challenge yourself to conquer no. 3. Use it as a goal....it is fun and satisfying. You get better as you do it over and over.

Performing in front of ANY kind of an audience is surely good for one's musical growth. You work so much harder when you have a performance coming up. You also learn so much about yourself, controlling nerves, being extremely well prepared, etc. After all of that work don't you want to share with someone else?? I would hope so.

+1, I always learned something every time I perform.