Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Is it right to drug our way to better playing?

I don't believe there's any risk of heart attack, but then I'm no doctor. What I can tell you is that yes, it definitely limits exercise capacity, assuming you define capacity in terms of heart rate. So if you're into cardio workouts, and insist on reaching a target rate of 150-160 bpm, you're going to find it difficult if not impossible to get there. But that in no way should prevent you from exercising, nor does it nullify the benefits of your workout. The only change you would need to make is to hide your pulse meter.

Music is art. Therefore all music competitions are art competitions, which is paradoxical. Who's better, Beethoven or Bach? Who deserves to win that title? It doesn't even make sense to compare! Who's to say which pianist is 'the best'? It doesn't make sense. Art is totally subjective.

I can't say that using drugs to control stage nerves is the healthiest thing to do, but I guess people can do whatever they want...

How is art only partially subjective?

I have taken serotonin uptake inhibitor for years and concentrate much better than I did when I was young. Helps a lot - plus I don't get angry as often. It helps with playing the piano - hard to explain.

Well in performance art, there's a score to adhere to. Everyone reflects the score through their own performance and insight, but still, the score is an absolute. And if it's there...objective comments can be made about a performance.

i.e. - you thought octaves were too hard and thus changed them to single notes in the Liszt sonata.

It would be interesting to know what % of professional musicians take beta blockers regularly(or occasionally). The article in my OP talked about 30% in one orchestra that was surveyed but who knows if that's typical. I was certainly surprised at that figure(wouldn't have guessed that high).

There are so many criteria to judge whether certain performance better than others. When the quality is very close, it will become difficult to discern which pianist is better.

The repertoire that people used are pretty standard, the judges are experience to discern who play close to perfection etc, then they weigh other factors. Unfortunately, these other factors can be subjective.

It is the same as in, say, diving. There is physical ability and also art. There are certain aspects of this sport that are objective and subjective. The same in piano, there are objective parts and subjective parts. Experience judges will be able to weigh both factors to determine whom they think is the best. There is no competition winners who happened to win the competition, they have tremendous musical talent, work very hard, and was taught very well. It is basically a very big project!

If its something people wish to do, then so be it is my thought - assuming they care to work their way past regulations and really put forth the effort in obtaining the drugs. Why worry about what other people do if it doesn't really affect you (I understand that you could make the argument that it does, but not without some grandiose extrapolation). Meanwhile, I'll spend my time practicing (or more likely writing on Piano World ).

Could you please be a little more specific????

There are all kinds of formal and cultural considerations in classical music that are objective rather than subjective. One easy example: the compositional techniques and rules Bach used in writing fugues.

Caffeine enhances the playing of many pianists, IMO. Not that it helps a performance directly, but it definitely affects mental and physical states during practice, which in turn does influence performance. I think many pianists rely on it in ways they may not even realize.

+1

I actually think I play at my best (or fairly close) when riding a caffeine high - you just feel so much "quicker" . There's nothing worse than wanting to sit and enjoy the piano, but just feeling tired - mentally and/or physically.

Rather than caffeine, I find eating grilled salmon before the performance helps.

Or Bill Evans?

Forrest

The worst recital I ever heard, consisting of piece after piece filled with errors, was by a drug-addled Vladimir Horowitz. At least that was the explanation by the press the next day - he was drugged up to cope with the flu.

A lot of people wanted their money back but who was able to police him and prevent him from performing in the first place? Sol Hurok? Wanda? His doctor? Usually Horowitz was his own best monitor of his physical condition, and would cancel if he felt he couldn't perform at 100% capacity, but this time was different. He seemed unaware how he was playing, so much so that he came out and played the Chopin Op. 53 Polonaise atrociously, and smiled afterwards at the audience.

The problem with drugs is that they may give the user a false impression of their performance. That's why I suspect most artists stay away from them. As for beta-blockers, if there use is prevalent it is too late to stop them unless some organization becomes the official tester for drug use. As someone involved in a piano competition, that would be the last role I would want to fill - taking blood or urine samples from each contestant. I think we will have to live with the situation as it is.

I agree. I was using the word "enhance" as it's used in the sports world, because others were bringing up the subject of athletic competitions. I think the phrase "performance enhancing drugs", which is used in the sports world, is a bit of a misnomer. Because if it were only "enhancing" athletic performance, there probably wouldn't be that much of a debate. But when a drug causes you to do something you could never in a million years do on your own, then that goes far beyond "enhancement". The word "cheating" comes to mind.

So, yes, I think pianists can enhance (conventional definition of the word) their performance by the use of certain substances (e.g. caffeine), but that in no way implies that the caffeine is causing them to play a piece of music that they are normally incapable of playing. They may play it better with a little caffeine, but they can still play it with or without the caffeine.

I fail to see the distinction. To enhance, means to make better, to improve, and surely that means to make better than normal or to improve performance beyond one's normal capacity. I am sure that there would be a debate.

You're right. I knew I should have left that sentence out, so I'm slowly walking backwards.

My bottom line on pianists using drugs is: Do it or don't do it. Just remember that your audience will have the final say.

I think the point Old Man was making is valid, aside from the word "enhance." If any of these substances improve musical performance, it would seem to be by increasing the chances that a player would perform at his/her best, rather than changing that "best" into something beyond what s/he could normally do.