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This weekend I played the first movement of Rach 3 in a masterclass. The lady who ran the masterclass had some very nice things to say to me. These included, but were not limited to:

1. You don't understand Rachmaninov
2. You don't care about the music
3. You can't sing out over an orchestra
4. Die in a fire (not really, but she might as well have come out and said it)
5. Oh, you play the SMALL cadenza? :::smug indignant eye rolling:::

I had never been so embarassed in my entire life. It was an awful awful awful experience. She wouldn't let me get two notes into a phrase without telling me that I was outright wrong for playing the way I was playing.

I'm trying to find some positives from this experience, but I'm still searching. Two months ago a Cliburn Gold Medalist gave me a speech about my abilities as a pianist/human being that inspired me to no end, and now I have this lady basically telling me that I have no business playing Rachmaninoff...which is kind of a big thing for an aspiring concert artist.

FOCUS: Respond to this or share your own awful and embarrassing piano stories. What did you gain from them?

I was in lessons here at CCM last week and I did the dumbest thing I've ever done that is piano related.

We're working on 3 etudes for an etude competition, and one of the ones I'm playing is by Moszkowski in D Major. Now keep in mind it says "ETUDE IN D MAJOR" on the top of the page in boldface.

I hadn't slept that night and had been getting maybe 4 hours a night for the entire previous week. Not only that, but I didn't get a chance to have breakfast or lunch that day; and I had been in the practice room from 9:00AM until 4:30pm which was when this happened.

I kept hitting a natural instead of a flat, and my teacher asked me what key we were in. I suddenly compeltely, completely went blank and forgot my key signatures as well as literally everything else because of what a high stress situation it was. I sat there for thirty seconds staring at the page, totally missing the D MAJOR in boldface, trying to figure out what key we were in.

Such an incredibly simple thing, and my mind simply quit on me. To make things worse, there were two masters students sitting in on my lesson as well. I sat there stuttering..."uh g majo...no...d min..no"

My teacher was rather incredulous.

I have absolutely no idea what the heck was wrong with me and it was incredibly embarrassing.

At least you get to play Rachmaninoff, while I'm over here trying to play sixteenth note legato thirds at pianissimo at 146 tempo for four pages...

When I was a kid, I played in a master class in which the pianist was a Chopin competition finalist. I played Chopin Etude Op 25 No 12, and it was next to flawless. I felt super good by the time I finished the piece. The pianist told me to play again but play it very slowly and hit every key as solid as I can. After a few measures, I made a mistake. She told me to repeat. Again, I made quite a few mistakes in just the first page. She said I could play it fast, but I had very little control over what I played. My feeling went from one end of the spectrum to the opposite end in a blink of the eye. But it's really one of the most valuable lessons I've ever had, and I am glad that the pianist was very direct at my problem. I think when you play in a master class for a pianist that would tell you as it is and not afraid of hurting your feeling, you probably learn more. That's just my own experience. Just like when I post any recording here, I rather hear people tell me what's wrong with it.

If that is indeed true, then I would question the qualifications of this individual to be giving a master class in Rachmaninov 3 in the first place.

The "small" (what a silly thing to call it) cadenza worked just fine for Rachmaninov, Horowitz, Weissenberg and Argerich. (Or were they just ignorantly deluded?) As I've said before, the larger cadenza is undenyably impressive in its own right, but the slimmer (better word) cadenza I feel works better in context with the rest of the movement.

I'm sure I'll post a personal humiliation before long. Just a matter a selecting the most dramatic.

I'm sorry you had a bad experience in the masterclass.
I've seen some people treat performers in masterclasses in a very caring, respectful, helpful manner, while still being critical.
I've seen people tear apart masterclass performers, but then put them back together again.
I've seen people abuse, insult, and dismiss performers. There's absolutely no reason for this type of treatment.

Some people will say that a person running a masterclass who is overly "direct" is doing the performer a favor by saying things like "you're not musical," "you don't understand Rach.," "you have no sense of rhythm," etc. I don't happen to agree with that. The coach doen't know the background of the performer, how long they have been working on the piece, if they're having a bad day. It's more the role of the teacher to be direct and honest about shortcomings, and how to improve them, and that should be done one on one behind the closed door of the studio - not in a humiliating fashion in front of an audience.

people who do not know how instruct positively are to be pitied.

phonehome, have you read Charles Rosen's marvellous book "Piano Notes"? I think you would be encouraged by his thoughts on masterclasses.

"... The question could be put in this way: whom does one teach during a master class, the performing student or the attendant public? In most cases it has to be the public rather than the performer, the latter playing the role of the sacrificial victim."

"... humiliating and generally useless. I have seen divas in a vocal master class reduce the young singers to a state in which they were incapable of producing a single note. It may be true that sadism is an important element in teaching, but it is better if it is ... not openly encouraged by being flaunted before an audience."

"But the ambiguous nature of the master class troubles me: ... one must be more respectful of the pupil's ego than is necessary or even helpful in a private lesson."

Don't be discouraged!! The conclusions from this are to be drawn about the lady, and not about yourself.

I'm just reminded of some women teachers I had... Women in general should be allowed to teach only young children, pre-teens.

While the teacher may have been perfectly correct in the criticisms she gave, as you can see, its really counter productive to say things in such a way that makes a person feel bad about their efforts.

I think the mark of a great teacher is where the student looks back upon their experience with great fondness and with the satisfaction that the teacher brought out in them what no other teachers were able to do.

Ten years from now, I think you will look upon this experience the same way you do today, remembering only what an awful experience it was.

Just as we strive to become better students, I think good teachers will always strive to become better ones. Its too bad you didn't have a video tape of the class to give to her, so she could see herself as others see her.

There's always two ways to say something; pick the nicer of the two.

Not everyone can be a good teacher.

I'm playing Chopin's Op. 10 No. 1 in a masterclass in 2 weeks. I'll let you guys know how it went.

My experiences in Master Classes have been limited to the summer school sessions I have attended for the last six years: one class a day for a period of three weeks for each summer school session. These classes are open only to other students signed up for the classes; there is no invitation to the public to attend.

My experiences with four different teachers in six years have always been nothing but positive. I have not always played well in these sessions, but the faculty are always supportive and encouraging even in their criticisms.

As a teacher myself, although not of piano, I learned early on in my professonal life that one can get better results from encouragement and support than from tearing down the efforts of students, even when those efforts were ill-conceived and poorly realized.

Not everyone can be a good teacher; it is unfortunate that some who have great reputations as performers and interpreters are allowed to traumatize others in the ego-trips that seem to be at the core of their "master" classes.

There can be no rationale, no justification, no excuse for the comments directed at phonehome's performance. It would be inconceivable to me that phonehome has no idea how to play Rachmaninoff; no conscientious student goes to a master class without some idea of how to perform a work and without most - if not all - of the technique necessary to carry it off.

As others have observed, this critique says more about the teacher than it does about the performer. It is almost a certainty that others hearing this performance recognized the inappropriateness of the comments made and have made their own judgments on the quality of the critique, although that certainly doesn't do much to assuage the humiliation phonehome was made to feel.

Regards,

Right that's my indication not to pay any more attention to your posts.

I do recall a small girl leaving the masterclass crying...

These people are just cruel most of the time, for the bare reason that they are forced to give masterclasses instead of concerts! The goal of an artist is not to make his students commite suicide...

I feel for you, man.

I attended a masterclass last year and watched one of my teacher's best students literally destoyed by a pompous, egocentric jerk, who shall remain nameless. The student who had just won a concerto competition tried for 15 minutes to play the very first bar of the Chopin F minor concerto. He couldn't get through it without this jerk stopping him."No. Not like that. You must play Chopin like this. Your technique is not good." Then turning to my teacher, "You need to assign him some Brahms studies, numbers....". I glanced at my teacher who looked like she was going to jump on stage and strangle the jerk. But she couldn't. The university had actually paid big bucks to this joker.

It was horrible, humiliating and absolutely not productive in the least.

At my next lesson, when we discussed it my teacher said about the pianist, "I think he has become a very bitter man. His career was never as big as he expected it to be." Maybe the same can be said for "Miss B._." (If it's who I think it is.)

This sounds like the expert from out of town.

Doesn't everyone stop listening when it is the pianist being attacked?

It comes to my mind that people involved in these horrid displays of berating someone, especially constantly, and stopping the music to rant need to be chastised by the audience - standing up the first time in protest. Leaving if possible if it keeps happening. Take video tapes or recordings. If you must stay, look at it as an example of what not to do as a teacher.
Make sure your fellow student, friend, gets a good round of applause for getting through that circumstance.

Thank of how your teacher feels during those times - impotent but furious. Even a captive audience can find ways of protesting. Make sure she understands no one is buying this treatment.

How much money does someone like this receive?
If it were a fulfilling masterclass, it would be well worth it.

Pianist (people) should never be diminished in the guise of music teaching. Find the positives as well as the omissions and improvement places. And, talk to the power of the music and not to discredit the pianist as a poor example.

Sad story.

The kinds of criticisms which are personal are the ones that are disrespectful, painful to hear and unhelpful. They serve to boost the critiques ego more than anything else.

If you can find nothing useful in her criticisms, then I hope you are able to view your experience in the light that said master class lady had a self-serving reason for blasting you, i.e., to elevate herself (or so she thought)in the eyes of the audience.

In 10th grade, a judge told me not to pursue a career in music, that I started too late and didn't really have much raw talent. I got "honorable mention" (which meant fourth place out of four.)

Took me almost 5 years to get back any sense of self-esteem. When I did, I won my school's concerto competition and came in 3rd in the state round of the MTNA collegiate competition (out of 11 contestants, several of whom were graduate students from Mizzou and UMKC - HA!) Went on to get two graduate degrees and a university position, and I get invited to perform quite a bit.

She was wrong. And it's a good thing I've forgotten her name because otherwise I'd be tempted to call her up and tell her to four-letter verb my three-letter noun.

Also, please PM me and tell me who gave the masterclass. I want to make sure none of my students ever play for her.

For future reference, have these stock answers ready for any of those accusations:



"Is he one of the many voices in your head?"




"I also don't care about you, lol owned."



(start singing loudly to prove her wrong)



Scream "YOU FIRST," set her on fire, and then scamper away giggling.



"Coming from someone who drives a VW beetle, lmao!"

I know who you're talking about - she's not that good of a pianist (IMO), so take it in stride. View it as a learning experience of how now to act towards your friends and future students.

I don't know why everyone thinks they are an expert on Rachmaninoff. Some of the most vicious remarks I've ever heard in a masterclass are directed towards people playing Rachmaninoff. Yes, we all love it and love to play it, but I often wish that some teachers would at least acknowledge that other pianists have equally valid viewpoints on his music.

I generally agree with these sentiments. While some teachers can be insightful and encouraging in a public matter class setting, more often the instructor simply puts on a show: potentially entertaining for the audience, lucrative for the teacher, but not particularly educational for the student. Reflecting on my student days, I'm not sure that I ever signed up for a master class out of a desire to learn. I was probably more enticed by the opportunity to make a career connection, or by the prospect of receiving public praise from a famous pianist (all the more meaningful if the instructor has a reputation for nastiness!). Not the best motives, needless to say.

Phonehome, don't let this experience shatter your confidence. Remember that someone will always dislike your playing, whatever you do. And the stronger your interpretive profile, the more detractors you will have. Some of those detractors will be intelligent and well-respected musicians. But as far as your career prospects are concerned, negative votes simply don't count; the only thing that matters is the number of people who like your playing enough to attend your concerts or perform with you.

HAHAHAHAHA