Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Performers should not show emotion

If the teacher thinks moving too much is counterproductive to the quality of playing then I think it is ok to address the issue. I had this problem and it definitely improved my playing when I learned to sway less. It was not easy to change my natural habits that were related to physical shortcomings, but I think it was worth it. One needs to develope body awareness and fine control, but the methods that work vary among individuals.

When in audience I prefer not to see the pianist make faces or exaggerated gestures. So there are some pianists I prefer not to look at. Some may still sound great and that is most important for me. Those who don't I won't bother to see again.

Yeah I mean I think I'd sum it up by saying :

If you're a "swayer" then don't move so much that technically you start losing accuracy.

If you're static then don't tense up.

Both will affect technique detrimentally.

But I think most people probably fall into an acceptable range as far as movement goes. Everyone's different.

I think it's more important to concentrate on what the hands are doing TBH.

For anyone who says that, please watch this and tell me that it negatively affected the performance.

I don't think he's either excessively stiff or swaying. The way he sits is tending in the direction of Gould, though. He was born blind, so his facial expressions aren't based on a lifetime of visual feedback.

Thank-you for posting this. Really lovely - I'll listen to it again and again.

Even The Zombies show emotion when they perform.

Hate to say this but since you asked, yes, it makes me feel uncomfortable, so I would prefer not to watch. But since he is blind, I think what he does may be useful for him in a way that we cannot really understand.

I won't say that I was uncomfortable watching this video, nor would I say that I enjoyed watching it. It left me feeling just a little uneasy, thinking, perhaps, that the emotion of the pianist is private and that shouldn't be up for public display. I think I understand outo, however. The tune itself is somewhat innocuous; a pop tune that just keeps repeating, and while it may be charming, initially, it soon cloys.

Perhaps the tune had special meaning for the performer and perhaps that's why the video was labelled "most moving performance." It didn't particularly move me as a performance, however.

Regards,

It is an Elegy for the victims of the tsunami in Japan that he wrote.

we were taught: 'don't put the music into the piano but ease it out of it', and: 'don't get emotional, let the audience get emotional', that kind of serious stuff. Whenever I was in a concert of one of the teachers, they took 'swan dives' or looked into the skies, or had seemingly a lot of pain/grief/joy...The teaching was fine, it meant: don't do any unnatural histrionics, it's cheap, I agree. Whenever I see myself back on recordings, I see me biting my lips, looking at the ceiling, eyes shut or face in rapture, it is the music, the scene, the moment, we pianists are living beings living the art we are performing 'live', that is just natural, but if,in the audience listening to a 'collegue', I don't like his or her expression, I close my eyes and just listen more intensely. There are some exceptions though, as to facial histrionics and dress, and these exceptions you all know, and to my taste these pianists have gained popularity more because of that than because of there exceptional musicality and that I dislike.