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Does anyone else agree that your concert playing levels are completely different to your 'normal' playing levels? I mean the last piece i played in front of a large audience was Golliwogs Cakewalk (Grade 6-7?) but i wouldn't play something harder, like Moonlight Sonata (i mean all of it) or something.

A friend of mine did his favourite song (on guitar) at a folk festival. Encouraged by the applause he then tried something he'd only just learned, and died a slow horrible death in front of 1000+ people.

For me, it's exactly the other way round. When I play in front of an audience, I play much better than I usually do.

mrenaud:

You're lucky... my experience is pretty much the opposite. If I don't have something down "cold," then disaster strikes. I don't enjoy playing in public, and really admire people who can rise to the occasion.

I always end up feeling that I played far worse than I do at home alone... and can't even remember playing some portions, sometimes. Yuck. That's why I have to have the piece down so I can play it in my sleep.

Nina

Same here! Tonight I am going to play Liszt's Campanella in front of the audience for the first time!!!! I've been working on it for months and I feel prepared!!

My old teacher used to say that a piece had two lives: a practice room life, and a stage life. It's a completely different experience when there's an audience. So she had us constantly playing for each other, monthly master class with her, weekly group sessions where we played ofr each other . . etc. She used to say "Honey just grab ANY stranger off the street and say come listen to my Bach!" Stretch that stage life, get to know it. All my experience since has born her out.

There is a direct relationship between the quality of my playing and the amount of caffiene in my system. :p

I don't drink coffee at all!!!!

Who said anything about Coffee? I always start my mornings with a wafeup canful of JOLT!

"All the taste and twice the caffeine," if I remember correctly.

The few times my playing has really come alive, have happened when I was playing for someone else, but only for an individual. Get me on stage in front of an audience, and it reminds me of a cartoon, with an elephant on stage in front of a piano, facing the audience, and saying, "Now remember, I'm an elephant." But I can understand why Artur Rubinstein said that he chose one person in the audience to play for.

How did it go?? Did you just walk out on stage, sit down cold-turkey and launch into a virtuoso performance tempo of La Camp?

I hope you at least got to use a well-lacquered Steinway or Bosi for the performance. I think if I looked at the fallboard and saw "Mason & Hamlin" I'd take a flying leap into the orchestra pit . . .

Hi rvaga!

Unfortunately, it was neither a Bosendorfer nor a Steinway! The bass volume didn't play too loud as my piano does! And also a few keys didn't have great action! But I did the best I could. I didn't mess up on the Campanella and it was my last piece on the program. In the end, almost everybody stayed to meet me! I had a GREAT time and they told me they want me back at another date!!

Hahahah! I have a recital today, and the thing that makes me the most nervous is a Bach piece I am playing. I have LITERALLY grabbed people I don't even know who are just wandering around the building and said " hi, my name is Amy, could you listen to me play Bach for 6 minutes?" I have probably played it for about 40 people this way! So I am hoping today everything will sail smoothly.

PerfectPitch,

Congrats on your performance! Glad it went very well and you are pleased, even though it sounds like the piano wasn't the best (ain't it so often the case...!). Have you learned any of the other Paganini/Liszt? I used to program these many times over the years as a set, and of course once mastered you can always pull them "out of the bag" so to speak when necessary. Always glad to hear of you young folks (grin!) doing so well, and attacking the advanced repertoire so early in your careers. Nice to feel confident that the Art is continuing on, and not being replaced by Nintendo.

Ed -- my comment about M&H only makes sense if you read between the lines. But, I didn't provide any, so it was definitely a comment from left field on my part! Sometimes I seem to forget that all we have to go by is the written word, a smirk while typing just doesn't seem to get through!!

One of my all-time favorite instruments was a 9' Mason and Hamlin,one of the stage instruments when in grad school. I was the only one that ever used it though, because it was a big 'ol truck, with very heavy action. Because I was a pretty strong fella (with a very physical approach), I could make that truck roar (I mean reeeeely roar!), so I loved the instrument, and I liked the fact that I was the only one that could control it (at least that's the hype I told myself). But, it had that glorious warm M&H tone, that was to me like an orchestra in all the rich colors one could get from it, using various technique and pedal tricks.

La Campanella requires (in my opinion) a bright clear sound (i.e., "bells" which is of course the title), and the M&H touch and tone would have been scary to try and control. Hence, my "jump off the stage" comment -- based on my recollections of the 'ol truck. But give me Brahms on that old babe. . .!

But, I've played and owned Mason & Hamlin, and I would still be rather hesitant with performing certain repertoire, unless I knew ahead of time what the action/tone was like. Just my personal view, don't mean it's right.

And, I am not familiar with the "new" M&H's in terms of full performances. Unfortunately, I am familiar with the "old" circa 80's pieces of junk Aeolian that had Mason & Hamlin on the fallboard.

Bought one and beat it to pieces (action), dragged it out into the back yard and shot it . . .

Oh yeah almost forgot . . . smirk!!

Hi rvaga!

No, I haven't learned any of the other Paganini's by Liszt! But I have learned Hungarian Rhapsody no. 2. I am ready to add more pieces to my new repertoire. Do you have any suggestions about Paganini's by Liszt? What are the names of the pieces you just mentioned about "PULLING OUT OF THE BAG"?! I used to spend too much time playing Nintendo too!!! But now I am too busy doing other stuff to even think about it!

There are 6 in the "Grandes Etudes de Paganini" or "Six Grand Etudes."
No. 3 is "La Campanella," no. 5 is "La Chasse," no. 6 is the most famous caprice that has been the source for theme/variation for Rachmaninoff, Schumann, Brahms, etc.

There was an initial edition published, nearly impossible to play. Years later when Liszt was more concerned with affect instead of virtuoso display, he revised them. Still plenty hard (e.g., La Camp), but playable, and a heck of a lot of technical fun. No. 1 is perhaps the most dull IMO, but you should acquire a CD or perhaps listen online somewhere if you have not heard the others. I think the E major no. 3 is about the funnest thing I've ever enjoyed playing, it's all one line very fast. . . like a violin.

I find the first one the most exciting, and not dull at all. The others are obviously constructed in a virtuoso architype, but the first one has a mystical feel (and very musical) to it, especially when it climaxes in that wonderfully section around the middle or so. It isn't supposed to be all brilliance, even in these etudes!

Yeah, "dull" wasn't a good word choice. But, I'd certainly not consider it "the most exciting" of the group. I've never had anyone tell me, "wow! -- that first one is most exciting!!" although all of the others tend to be hits for one person or another. Subjective of course. Maybe my interpretation is dull!

Could be. . .

I chose my words wrongly, I meant exciting as in one does not know what will come next when musically following it. It is of course not the most technically exiciting, must it is a great piece regardless!