Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner What kind of feedback do you want when posting music here?

Many of us post recordings of our own playing under the PW forums. I'm thinking of participation both in e-citals and e.g. PC "Members' recordings". The objective of posting may be different from person to person. It can be sharing favourite pieces, but also showing others ones own skills and progress. And last, but not least, to get feedback from others.
Participants of e-citals are very clever commenting on the posted music, and in most cases the feedback is positive. Og course it is very nice to get this kind of comments, and I think that this very supportive culture is very inspiring, particularly for beginners.


Personallly I would also appreciate some critisism. I think it is difficult to be objective about my own playing, but I suspect that I have considerable potential to improve. Therefore I would find it very useful if anyone could tell me where I have my weakest points. This would give me a chance to become a better pianist.

I did an experiment recently. I posted a piece at two different places. It was a piece I composed myself. Under the ABF quarterly recital I got exclusively positive feedback. Absolutely nothing wrong with that. I really appreciate the supportice culture of the ABF community. Then I also decided to post the piece under the "Composers longue". The response I got there was more mixed. Not unexpected I was told that my music is very traditional and uses chord progressions that are far from original etc. It was also pointed out that the music lacks contrast and drama. In spite of this I got the impression that also the "Composers lounge" is very supportive, and the comments I got there gave me some things to think about. In fact I'm inspired to try to continue writing some music and see if I can do better.

As long as critisism is constructive it is useful, at least for me. If somebody tell me that I should be more concious about dynamics and phrasing I'llbe grateful for the comment. If somebody say that my music is boring, on the ither hand, I will at least ask for some clarification, e.g. what should I do to make the music more interesting?

In my mind, the e-citals in which we have been participating are to a large degree a celebration of the music and of the performance levels that we have achieved. In that context, then, I feel that a detailed critique might be out of place. A few general comments, more on the positive than on the negative side, help not only to encourage the participants but also to make them feel welcome to future e-citals.

Performances posted in Member Recordings might be a more appropriate place to provide detailed critiques, but even those should contain something positive and the criticism of unsatisfactory performances should be constructive.

In some cases, performers ask for critiques; in others, it seems that the performer is simply sharing what s/he is performing.

It's a bit of an art to be critical of weaknesses and to be constructive at the same time, but a positive slant should be the goal of all who decide that their criticism is going to be posted.

It's easy for a performer to request criticism, but it is probably not as easy for a performer to post a performance and then, somehow, discourage criticism. To some listeners, every posted performance implies a chance to present their views of a performance, whether those views are asked for or not.

Regards,

Personally I think negative feedback in the recitals is out of place except in the mildest of forms. It's not a competition. However, throw a recording in the Members Recording forums and ask for feedback....well you get what you get.

I don't need someone to tell me the notes I missed (I know), but if I'm doing something that doesn't work, musically, I don't mind being told.

I try to focus on the positives when I listen. If someone has specifically asked for things they can improve upon, then if I have anything worthwhile to say I will. But for the most part, I don't think one can go wrong with being encouraging of the successes someone has accomplished. I don't make up stuff, though. Being fake won't help anyone. It's just hard because if they were my student, I would certainly tell them what they need to do because that's my job. That's not my job here unless advice is solicited.

Good point. The conclusion is maybe that the e-citals are not the right context to give critical feedback. At least if the participant hasn't explicitly asked for it.

I never thought about it from the performer side, probably because a) I don't post many recordings (3 in 9 years), and b) I consider constructive criticism part of the game. But I have thought extensively about what kind of comments (and when and where) I will leave for a performer, so here are my thoughts there:

Like others have already said, I won't publicly criticize a performance in a recital. If the performer has asked for constructive feedback, I will PM them my thoughts, but I won't put it in the recital thread. I do this for a few reasons: the celebration of music approach that Bruce and others mentioned, a desire not to derail the performance thread itself, and also to keep my thoughts private for the intended recipient.

If someone posts in another way, Member Recording, etc, I'm a little more open in my responses, and will often post in the thread itself.

What kind of comments I leave often has a great deal to do with my perception of the performer's skill. I'm not going to tell a month-one beginner, for example, the same thing I might tell one of the 30-year veterans. I usually tend to reach for larger concepts with beginners, sometimes adding specific technique ideas; where with experts, I usually reach for smaller, targeted concepts and more general technique ideas (which usually manifests itself as a discussion of phrasing).

I appreciate any feedback to my performance. I have thick skin (coming from work). Most of the comments are not ill intended and mildly worded. I have never seen extreme comments like "You are awful, why do you bother playing the piano. You should quit" type of comments. Now that's a bad comment to which I would really enjoy responding, sarcastically speaking of course. I would not be affected by direct comments as long as it's performance related regardless if it's effective or not. I know it takes time to listen and write comments. I just appreciate the effort.

For giving comments others, I consider where they are at in their piano journey with respect to where I am. If I hear something I don't understand and the performer is not a beginner (=better than me), I would ask question about it. I would not criticize it. It must be something I don't know why he or she slowed down here and there...why certain dynamic etc. I learn a lot from asking and I believe it may not be so bad for those performer to get feedback.

If the performer is in the early stage of piano journey, I try to give lots of encouragement.

Like FarmGirl I also think I have pretty thick skin. It's easier to take flack on a forum than in person too; you learn how to skim past any less-than-useful posts.

I find giving criticism to be useful too, it makes one a more considerate listener. It's a bit of a responsibility too - to try and pick out what's important to focus on and how to say it. I like asking a performer how they would rate their own playing, to see how they measure up to their own ideals. Anything over 70% in the performer's opinion I would consider a success, heheh.