Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner How to respond to member recordings?

After reading a recent thread (carey's Nocturne thread) I am curious about how would you all respond to a member recording.

Any general guidelines?

What not to say/not to do when responding?

Any discrimination according to age, professionalism, amateurism, etc.?

Hakki, that's a tough one to answer. For me, age isn't a factor. It really depends on what the OP is asking for and how they ask for it.

The only guideline I can think of is: good manners, (but that is pretty much covered by the rules of PW). Posting a recording takes courage for some of us amateurs. It's like putting a big red target on ourselves. This is the internet, after all and there are those who use their anonymity as an opportunity to be cruel or tactless. In the nocturne thread in question, I think our members did a good job of reining things in.

Discrimination to the goal of the poster, nothing else!

Posting a professional recording that goes "This is how it should be" is rubbish!

Hakki, a few comments:

I've read many of your own responses to recordings, and find them to be quite good examples of how to respond appropriately. You first provide an overall reaction, and then typically have specific things to say regarding the details in the performance. If there are areas of open criticism, you are honest enough to say so, but you couch it within the framework of specifics, so that the OP member can clearly assess the character of the "shortcomings". So, IMO, keep doing what you're doing!

Since I do a lot of member recording reviews myself, in classical, popular, and composition forums (listening to them is really the main reason I belong to PW), I actually DO discriminate somewhat, based both on age and a general assessment of both musical and technical ability. And, briefly put I think it IS possible to be frank, without being BRUTALLY frank -- I believe most recording members really DO want, above all, honesty, and criticism, so long as it is, in fact, constructive: specifics, with a recommended path-forward.

Nothing pays off like restraint

Deborah, Tim,

Thank you for taking the time and "responding" to my request.

I take offense to this.. I responded myself, in my lack of response.

I think it is critically important to remember we are not judging professional recordings. I think, too often, we expect to hear RCA, Sony or Deutsche Grammophon, and then we are sorely disappointed. (Note that I am not discussing the pianist's ability here--but the recording, and possibly, the piano itself.)

My general rule of thumb is this: if you can't find anything pleasing about the recording, it's probably best not to post anything.

It is, however, certainly fine to give a balanced critique, especially when asked-for. (Hakki, I think this is what you do, which is great. I've always respected your intelligible responses to people's performances.)

What I don't condone is blatant ripping of the poster, either in "watch this video" format (with no subsequent intelligible commentary--as discussed in carey's thread), or in all-out brass-on-paper. Very few things get under my skin as much as disrespectful people.

For me, it depends on the poster, my perception of their level, and how they present it. If they ask for a full critique then they get what they get.
Obviously, for those that read the nocturne thread, I found the posting of a professional recording rude.
I recall having a similar thread awhile back when some of us thought you went over the top in a critique to the point of being unnecessarily mean. Maybe a clever searcher can find that thread.

Found it!:
Constructive criticism

It is similar for me too. Especially with talented young professional pianists I look for a more refined recording. And say so if it is not presented that way.



Thanks for reminding. I had my lesson on that, and I am "trying" to control my manners as Deborah has put it.

You quite recently told a pianist posting the Liszt Bsllade that the piece was simply not suitable for her as she was not up to the technical challenges. The timing was particularly bad because this was apparently shortly before she was going to play it for a DMA audition. So you gave her a choice of evils...either drop the piece at the last moment and try to learn something else or play it with at least one person saying the piece was unsuitable for her abilities.



I'd assume her teacher, who knows the student far better than you, thought the piece was appropriate for her and at least reasonably well prepared for the audition. If you thought certain areas were technically weak, IMO it would have been far more appropriate to offer some suggestions for improving those areas in the remaining time.

pianoloverus thanks for bringing this up again.

I especially need advice on how to respond properly to a member when my real impression is like the above.

a) Do not respond.
b) Respond, but do not tell what you think actually, instead tell a couple of "white lies"
c) Find a way (???) to tell what you think without offending the member

Simple: If you find something to be lacking, be positive, helpful and offer solutions.

Brad, if this is not much of an asking, would you mind providing an example, that is my words for Rachel's situation transformed to the way you are suggesting. It is obvious that I need help with this.

Reading the above posts makes me want to add to my "be polite" remark: be sensitive about your timing. If someone has a major performance or audition coming up in a very a short time, I think it's a pretty good guess that they have pre-performance jitters and are posting because they are looking for encouragement. If the performance warrants criticism, it may be tempting to be completely honest, but I'd hold it until afterwards. Just say something tactful and bland like, "good luck. I can hear you have worked hard on that piece." You can whale into them later, albeit politely.

Oh, and Hakki, this comment irked me.

I'm a complete amateur and am on the golden side of 50 but when I ask for constructive criticism I don't want to be held to a lower standard because I'm not a youngster with aspirations. I've always looked forward to your comments but this statement suggests they are just flattery and not sincere. I'd prefer criticism I can use.

Thank you for the advice. I will keep that in mind next time.



On the contrary, Deborah, I always follow your recordings. And I wish those youngsters present their work the way you do. Your playing is always mature, balanced and very pleasing to listen. In fact, even before listening to your recordings, I am almost sure that I will enjoy listening to your recording.

So don't get me wrong, there is no flattering, I am completely sincere with your recordings. And I won't hesitate if I have something to criticize.

That's good to hear. Thank you.

I offered a suggestion on a better approach in my previous post.

Thank you.
But I think you have skipped some of my comments which were not even close to what you have described above. I am trying to improve though.

I thought she was a very fine pianist, but her octave technique was not as remarkable as her other virtues in this piece. Maybe I should have only suggested her to take those passages more swiftly, instead of saying that the piece was not suitable for her.

So, I thought it would be better for her to play another piece for the audition. Maybe a movement from the op.109 Sonata, which she mentioned she had played at the same recital along with the Liszt Ballade. She should have been ready for that already.

My goodness, I still feel guilty. I hope she did well at the audition.

Hakki,

I somewhat doubt you feel that guilty. I do however think you may not enjoy looking mean/rude to members of the forum. If you really felt that guilty you would have apologized to me. I am seeing this through scanning through posts. As I am the person in question, I am guessing you would just like everyone on the forum to know you feel sorry for matter of appearances.

As to your question as to when you should post, I think you should ask yourself if what you have to say is constructive criticism or just negative criticism. If it is the latter, do not post. There is no need to ever lie to someone, there is also no law stating you have to respond to posts. If you have to question whether it is constructive criticism or not- Is it helpful to the poster? A practice tip to fix the part in question, maybe? If yes, it is constructive.