Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Dilemma: Adjusting your playing to the Piano provided

I want to have a discussion on how pianists adjust their touch on the piano provided for your recital.

I was spoiled by my college department with beautiful Steinways so I got accustomed to their touch. Although being very different, they kinda have something similar that unifies their touch that I got familiar to.

Then I had to play on a joint recital, on a 9ft Baldwin, probably 50-70 years old. Long story short, I stumbled onto my pieces because I was focused on how foreign the piano felt for my fingers. I couldn’t get my focus back on the music because it was like a total shock.

Aside from playing more recitals and getting accustomed to different actions (which I can’t right now because of coronavirus), how do pianists handle this situation?

I'm afraid that the short answer is that you play on as many different pianos as possible. If you do that often enough you will adjust pretty well instantaneously when moving from one piano to another.

Play a lot of different piano's. Also accept that on lower quality/poor maintained piano's you will just have to give up nuances in your music.

Some actions are just to inconsistent.

While that short answer is undoubtedly the best answer, we still may not be totally prepared for a "clunker" that's put in front of us. If the recital is of any importance, I might make myself objectionable (or appreciated!) by insisting that I have a trial run on the piano before hand. Of course, that is not always possible, so one does what one can with what one is given!

But it does go back to "... play on as many different pianos as possible."

Regards,

I would also add that playing on as many different pianos as possible is also good, maybe even very important, for developing technique.

When I played in recitals, we each had access to the piano on stage for about 30 minutes morning of the performance. The challenge is being able to feel out the piano in that short time. It's no time to still be practicing pieces. Ask to see if you can gain access next time you have a recital. And have for yourself a piano test routine. If nothing else, at least you won't have to deal with being shocked during performance.

Even the best pianists in the world usually get and need extensive time to practice on the pianos they will perform on. One should always attempt to get a lot of practice time on the piano one will perform on. I think any reasonable performance venue should make this accommodation.

Do a Glenn Gould and bring your piano.

Of course, concert pianists are given time to practice in the venue. But as an amateur who only occasionally gives performances, I have never been given time to ‘practice’. I have been given time to test but about 15 minutes

I did precisely ten piano exams in my lifetime (it certainly was a lifetime ago..... ), and in none of them did I have the opportunity to really get used to the piano beforehand.

At most, a couple of minutes.

Only the one used for my diploma exam was a grand (not a Steinway - I cannot remember which brand. But it was gleaming black and looked too big for me to handle......).

One makes do with what one is given. The uprights in the practice rooms in my high school, and then university, were all different to each other. I was just happy to find myself an unoccupied room: occasionally, I'd have to wait outside until the occupant finished.

Once I left home, I had to learn to adjust rapidly to any piano I could get. (Actually, almost every piano I played on at high school and university - and in the exams - was better than my cheap home vertical, with its very bright, piercing, unvarying tone quality and very light key action.......).

Why couldn't they give you an hour?

For exams or for competitions(except the biggest ones) there are time constraints and many people playing on the piano during the same day. The judge can't be asked to wait around while each pianist tries the piano for a half hour before they play. For a recital, I think any reasonable venue should be willing to let the pianist, whether professional or amateur, practice for at least an hour either right before the recital, sometime on the same day, or even on a different day if that's all that's possible.

You keep repeating that amateurs should be allowed to practice. ‘ Should’ is great except when you get s ‘no’. A venue doesn’t need a reason that the amateur pianist would find acceptable . Maybe others have had better luck

I would Recommend not assuming you will get your request and develop comfort with as many pianos as possible.