Crying while performing?

[dolcejen]

Have you ever cried while you performed a piece?
Mostly I'm thinking of crying induced by the emotion of the piece rather than emotion brought on by a terrible performance. 
Have you seen a performer cry while playing?
Do you think it's totally corny or does it add to the performance?
Performers: do you try to avoid crying at all costs?
I guess what made me ask, is, as I work on Rachmaninov's Prelude in c sharp minor I have been very close to crying (it is such a truly moving and heart wrenching composition) and wondering what would happen if I started crying while I performed it.
Is it better to detach yourself from emotion entirely while playing or to encourage it?

[ted]

I do not perform and the mental state I usually get into while playing doesn't rest easily under the heading of "emotion". I probably appear a cold fish, but I'm not sure that is true either. Admittedly my crying reflex seems a bit peculiar generally and music is no exception. Put it this way, whatever the implied emotions of the music, I usually feel nothing but a sort of hypnotic joy playing it. That sounds silly, I know, but it's the nearest I can come to explaining myself.

[pianistimo]

i would be curious to ask some long time teachers this (but am kinda scared to ask).  i've wondered the same.  i try not to cry because if i did i wouldn't be able to see and my nose might start dripping.  on the other hand, if you are in the audience and really moved - the performer might appreciate the emotion.  (could we ever get a reaction from a jury panel like this?)  *just a what if.

[mrchops10]

My one and only pop concert that I attended was a Janet Jackson show in Minneapolis. After the first couple of numbers she descended the big set thing and stood on the front of the stage mouthing, "I love you, Minneapolis. I love you all," tears streaming down her face. The crowd went wild. I think I should try this sometime. 

[dinosaurtales]

I think if I genuinely cried while I was performing, it could only be because my playing sucked big time.  I have never played a piece so sad I would actually cry even if I heard it done well.  It would look totally stupid to fake crying while performing on stage.  If janet jackson can get away with it, it speaks to the intelligence of her audience.

[stevie]

ive cried playing while thinking about my girlfriend and how beautiful she is, randomly.

[lostinidlewonder]

I haven't been reduced to uncontrollable sobbing tears but my eyes have got wet. I really don't think that it is bad, it is an indication that you are playing with emotion but you cannot let it distract you.

I really get distracted when sweat beads on my head and runs down my face, that is (for me) the most annoying thing in the world to happen if you are peforming. I have angrily wiped the sweat from my head while playing because of the frustration. I think the same would be if tears fell down the side of my face from uncontrolled crying. Water torture!

[Bouter Boogie]

I've never cried during a performance and I think it won't ever happen to me, because I'm too concentrated on a piece during a performance and I don't even have time to think of crying

- BB

[pianistimo]

i'm like that, too.  the first time i heard the second brahms intermezzi op. 118, i was moved to tears in hearing it - but, then, like you i realized it wouldn't help a performance really (unless you're playing it at a funeral).  even then, people would hear you slow down (wipe your tears), lose your spot, and possibly walk off stage without finishing.  it's not really the emotion of yourself that makes the playing, it's the music, imo.  i tend to appreciate players that keep it 'together' for the most part.

maybe, though, i've lost a part of me that wants to share emotion observably.  i try to put it into the music, but maybe i've tried so hard over the years to get through the pieces that it ends up meaning something different than when i initially heard the piece.  that initial emotion (if kept) i suppose could be very helpful in interpretation.  i start listening for evenness, tone, pedalling etc. and so the mix is really a little bit of thought about the emotion and a lot of thought about how the piece is sounding.

[dolcejen]

Interesting to see the varied response here. I agree with those who stated that they would rather not go through the experience of having tears dropping all around and no way to wipe them away.  I guess I wasn't really thinking of "uncontrollable sobbing" but rather strong emotions brought on by the piece that overwhelm the soul (the physical part (tears, shaking, sobs, etc.) of emotion would be very bothersome as I think about it).

Is it better to control emotion or encourage it? Is emotion tacky? I guess it's tackiness is correlated to how it is displayed. Obviously fake tears, uncontrolled sobbing, and such are tacky. But is inward emotion while playing something to be encouraged? 

[pianistimo]

yes, but how?  after the initial response the first time you hear it or play it well?  there's so much repetition to practicing.

[dolcejen]

yes, but how?  after the initial response?

So, you think that pieces only stir emotion at the initial response? I'm not trying to be argumentative, just curious. 
When I know the story behind the composition or if I make up my own story and I enter into that story as I play I can feel emotion more than just initially. I suppose actors have the same thing happen as they "get into their part" and feel as if they are living the part, thus enabling them to give a believable performance time after time.
Another way I can stir emotion is by thinking about something in my own life that has given me the same emotions in the piece, whether it be joy, anger, sadness, etc.
My question is, does this enhance or detract from playing, allowing the emotions to take an active part in the experience of performance?

[pianistimo]

i also feel like i'm 'acting,' but it is not the same response as the first one i have.  the first one (if i really like the piece) might actually be to cry (usually in private listening or playing).  i usually never again feel this same intense emotion.

[rob47]

I've only ever seen people cry while performing because of mistakes and bad playing.

You're not going to cry in a performance because you're moved by the music;  you are the tear inducer provided for the audience to sniffle too. You are the one conveying that sad mood; if you start crying, everything is lost and the whole thing becomes exaggerated, phony, disgusting, pompous? and stupid. I say this because tears are likely a conditioned response to say, extreme pain or terrrible loss, unless of course they are staged. Now lets say, people cry when listening to sad music becuase they associate it with the conditioned stimulus (i.e. remembering a friend that died, or something.) This is all believable, possibly many melodramatists in the audience enjoy doing this. 

However, my 60% in introduction to psychology probably won't allow me to further elaborate what I am trying to say so I'll put it bluntly and thuggish.  (I forget which parts of the brain do what) my theory was:

I think the story the performer is telling the audience would go dramatically downhill if they genuinely started crying, fragmenting the piece into exaggerated and hollow playing.  And as for controlling the movements of one's fingers, i think the energy in the tears would result in shakiness, unease thus uneveness and an inability to create the desired phrasing/sonority etc. ? 

To summarive my nonsensical rambles....you play a piece with your mind, so show the audience the sadness in the music mentally.  If you are focused you won't cry.

However, I could very well be completely wrong.

 

[dolcejen]

...you play a piece with your mind, so show the audience the sadness in the music mentally.  If you are focused you won't cry.

Would strong emotion without actual crying be permissable?

However, I could very well be completely wrong.

Canadian grace at it's best...  I truly do appreciate the diplomatic attitude of Canadians in general (just recently spent some time in Vancouver meeting some very kind Canadians)
That was a compliment, by the way, not sarcasm. Serious.

[gaer]

Some people are able to project deep emotion when they play without showing it in any way. I prefer that.

But others are involved in the music and can't put themselves totally into it without movements and even facial expressions. I find this distracting, since I normally like to focus on the body and hands of performers, to see what they are doing, but I would certainly have no problem closing my eyes and fully enjoying the performance.

I do think that crying is an extreme. I can't imagine a performer doing that without losing some control in a way that would cut down on the effect he/she would be attempting to communicate.

On the other hand, I think it's a very natural response when listening.

Gary

[rafant]

Being in the audience, I'd feel uncorfortable if the pianist start to sob or if his/her tears becomes much evident. It would seems to me even ridiculous. A pianist must control his/her emotions, otherwise it's sentimentalism and bad taste. But for the listeners it's well to cry, provided that they do it silently.

[jamie0168]

I've never cried while playing from emotional aspects. I have, however, worn mascara and have it melt from stage lights, and irritate my eyes so badly that I had to cry....so humiliating. I have cried many times while listening to concerts though. Personally, fro performing, I don't think it wise to cry emotionally, just because it distracts the audience from the music. Just my own opinion though.

[ako]

I cry a lot when I'm practicing but never during a performance. I would hold it back because it would seem "uncontrolled" and of course the tears would blur my vision, etc. But I do love the feeling when my playing induced my own crying during practice. It's a great feeling to let go, totally out of control and let your emotions take over. It's a bit hard to explain unless you've experienced it. Actually, it's very addictive (to me). BTW, I cry easily in other people's performances also. And I do love that feeling also.

[Jacey1973]

I've never cried during a performance and I think it won't ever happen to me, because I'm too concentrated on a piece during a performance and I don't even have time to think of crying

- BB

Yeah me too. I think when you are the one performing a piece - especially if it's from memory you've lived with that piece for so long that it is hard to have fresh emotion - if you know what i mean. Whereas i cry all the time when i go to see other people/orchestras performing because sometimes i will hear something that is new to me, or perhaps the way a piece i know well is performed differently by a certain performer that makes me see it in a different light.

I randomly cry at many performances, even if the music is supposed to be happy! At Christmas i was watching a performance of Swan Lake and i hadn't seen it since i was 7, so i'd forgotten about the beautiful duet between the main characters (the Prince and the swan) (for violin and cello in the orchestra) and i started thinking about how the cello is representing the swan and the violin the Prince, and started crying, a performance of the Sleeping Beauty i saw on TV today also made me cry, but the piece i cry most at is Debussy's "Prelude a l'apres midi d'un faune".

[la_leggierezza]

itīs funny u have put that question because i have asked myself the same question serveral times! 
i cried when i played the Moonlight sonata because i found the first movement very emotional. of course you cannot cry when u are playing the third movement! i would be impossible! lol thatīs why there are a second movement! lol
i have cried in some chopin peices! they are so sad!

[dolcejen]

itīs funny u have put that question because i have asked myself the same question serveral times! 
i cried when i played the Moonlight sonata because i found the first movement very emotional. of course you cannot cry when u are playing the third movement! i would be impossible! lol thatīs why there are a second movement! lol
i have cried in some chopin peices! they are so sad!

Do I sense a kindred spirit here? In thinking about crying during performance with the help of all of these other posters, I would think that it would be rather tacky to do so in performance...but it would be permissable to have very high emotions in check I think.

[la_leggierezza]

Do I sense a kindred spirit here? In thinking about crying during performance with the help of all of these other posters, I would think that it would be rather tacky to do so in performance...but it would be permissable to have very high emotions in check I think.

?

[celticqt]

...but it would be permissable to have very high emotions in check I think.

I would think some emotion is necessary in order to give a convincing, communicating performance.  Emotions are what inform the notes.  If I have no emotional connection to the piece I'm playing, it comes across dull and lifeless.

I've never cried while performing myself, but there have been plenty of times when music has moved me to tears.  (This can be embarrassing in public.) 

[dolcejen]

?

ummm...I don't understand what you're communicating here...

[la_leggierezza]

ummm...I don't understand what you're communicating here...

sorry about my last post!! dont know what happened i did not put that smiles!! i just wrote this i dont know why the program transformed the ? in
anyway i wrote the ? because i didnt understood your post (i m not english)!! now i believe i do understand you! i didnt cry while playing in public! i cried when i was playing for me!!! i agree with u that it would be very embarassing!!!!!!!

[la_leggierezza]

sorry about my last post!! dont know what happened i did not put that smiles!! i just wrote this i dont know why the program transformed the ? in
anyway i wrote the ? because i didnt understood your post (i m not english)!! now i believe i do understand you! i didnt cry while playing in public! i cried when i was playing for me!!! i agree with u that it would be very embarassing!!!!!!!

see... i really dont know what is hapening!!! it is supposed to transform in smiles when u put 3 or more "?" ? stupid thing....

[dolcejen]

Don't worry about it! No problem... so, what is your native tongue?
I think my post was very hard to undertand even in English. 
Are you Italian?

[la_leggierezza]

you r asking if iīm italian because of my username? lol  it is from one lisztīs 3 concert etudes...  iīm portuguese! lol i usually don t have many problems in understanding the posts in this forum but i didnt understood yours... sorry