what is the biggest audience you have played for?? (pianoperformance)

[sportsmonster]

i have only played for school-audiences with 150 to 200 people. never had the chance to play for bigger audience. (im happy of that ) maybee ill find a bigger audience in the future, and see how nervous i get.

i personally perfere to play and perform in private homes and smaller audience. i dont need
enormus audiences to satisfy my need, but it tells a little how brave you are.

the purpose of piano would disappear if you could not performe and share you talent with others. 

[berrt]

 5 members of my tennis club (we were all drunk, and it was a complete desaster).

bye berrt

[sportsmonster]

at least it wasnt: 5000 members....and then a disaster

[pianistimo]

who was the one person that clicked 5000 to 10000?  i'm curious!

the most i've played for is 500 people.  i played saint saens allegro appassionata.  (this was 20 years ago, now).  at the time, it seemed like a hard piece. 

i've played on satellite tv (around 1993?) for a church convention.  that was nerve wracking because i was pregnant at the time.  i told them i didn't want a shot of my stomach.  i was playing duet hymns with another pianist.  we didn't mess up, thankfully.  it wasn't really a recital, per se, but it was a performance experience.  the lights were hot and i could see the cameras out of the corner of my eye.  kinda distracting, but i was really focusing on what i was doing, so it was ok. 

i kind of like playing incognito.  what i mean is for restaurants and places where they talk and you can just play.  i made about $100. one evening (not much by today's standards) on valentine's at the sheraton hotel for about 30 couples. 

mostly, i just play for church.  would like to play for longwood gardens.  people walk through and enjoy the garden, and can sit and listen or move around.

[sportsmonster]

the scariest moment for me was not playing for audience, but playing for auditions(sensors) when i was trying to get in the music school.
there was 4 people watching me....like in idol......scary ........im happy i didnt get any sharp comments like in real idol ......but yes.....i got in.

[arensky]

It was about 5000 or more people, my Jazz band was opening for Chuck Berry and Bo Diddely at an outdoor summer concert in Worcestor MA,  summer of '89.

In 2001 I played piano for Rich Hebert, a leading man of the Broadway stage in a Stars to the Rescue Benefit at the Orpheum Theatre in Phoenix AZ. The other artists on the program included Huey Lewis, Wynnona Judd, Bruce Hornsby (who graciously allowed Rich and I to use his own Baldwin 9ft Concert Grand) and comics Kevin Nealon and Elaine Boosler. The place was packed, must have been about 2000 people in there. BTW Bruce Hornsby is a pianist who has carved out his own thing, most people know him primarily as the last pianist/keyboardist for the Grateful Dead, but he is an astonishing improviser; at this benefit he went out and just started to play, free improv a la Keith Jarret, but more interesting; this ran the gamut from rock, jazz, Asian (?) music, Hindemith, Ravel, all sorts of influences and things he had absorbed coming back at the audience after having been filtered through him. One of the coolest piano performances I have ever heard, better than most mainstream Jazz pianists. If you ever have the opputunity to see him play solo, GO. You'll be glad you did, probably.

When I was working as a pianist/conductor/musical director in Musical Theatre audiences of 2000 to 3000 nightly were not uncommon, but I was in the pit and not the focus of the audiences attention .
My biggest classical audiences have numbered from about 700 to about 2000...

[pianowelsh]

2200 College showcase.

[sportsmonster]

i wonder what would happen if i suddenly stepped in to an audience with 10000 people?

it probably takes a little time to get used to stuff like that

[pianistimo]

arensky, you're impressive.  actually, i guess it's probably the other way around, though.  i mean, it's sharing the music with others and giving joy to as many people as possible.  it's usually not to impress people, but just to share and have fun.  jazz performances are relaxing and allow people to tap into joy probably in a fuller way than sticking to the notes.  but, there's joy in classical piano, too.  it's just the audiences are smaller usually.

in my concerto class, the most improvisatory cadenzas played (and most professional sounding) were from cassedesus (spelling?).  sometimes cadenzas are too long, go too far - and just as in jazz, you have to have a sense of proportion.

[lostinidlewonder]

1000 people or 10000 people makes no different from my own perspective. 100 to 1000 does make a different you can actually see all 100 people in a concert but 1000 you give up trying to look at everyone. I mean you often cannot observe everysingle person watching you because of lights so the actual number of people there becomes irrelivant except in your own mind. If you play on radio you probably expose yourself to tens of thousands, but they are not watching you in person so that nervous feeling of a LIVE audience around you isn't there.

Each person is an individual, each person their own consciousness and reality. You are not trying to impress a big audience which acts as one with their ideas and emotion, each person is unique and feels their own personal emotions. So one should realise how unimportant the number of people watching you really is on a whole. Of course it is very important for many smaller issues like your ego, money, exposure, populatity etc but really that is all secondary to producing music isnt it?

[tocca]

3-400 i think. My teacher was a member of a teacher organistation called Pro-Piano, and twice a year all students gathered for a concert.
First time (i think i was 14) i did that i got quite a shock, i had no idea it would be that big. She (my teacher) had said nothing about the size of the audience, a small but fullpacked church, maybe 300 people (parents and friends to all the students).

The fact that we were so many students playing did make it easier i think, it wasn't until much later i played my first solo and it was a different thing. But it was also a more rewarding feeling.

[ralessi]

i was invited up on stage to play when billy joel came to Gainesville and had a Q&A session....i got the chance to ask a question, and he invited me on stage to play. so i did! and it was f**king AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i think there were like 4,000 something people there...maybe more but i put the 3500 whateever one up there...

[Bouter Boogie]

700 - 1200 persons I think Might have been a bit more, but I'm not sure anymore.

- BB

[sportsmonster]

my parents= audience on 200 people.

if i play for an audience that has 200 people with my parents in it,
then the audience is 400

[crazy for ivan moravec]

i think i played for 2000 people when i won the national competition here in the philippines. it was the winners' concert and i thought that i got more nervous than in the competition itself, haha.

[gruffalo]

i wrote 50-100. this is for piano. for singing i could say between 5000 and 10000. i have sung in the Royal Festival Hall and many cathedrals and operas. i also did solos in the film soundtracks to Sleepy Hollow, Unbreakable and Lord of the Rings and Hpotter. yet funnily enough i feel more natural with the voice but love the piano way more. i dont really listen to singing music.

[sportsmonster]

i have learned that before performing for the audience....it could be smart to have a look at the piano on stage before performing.

i have experienced supprises where the piano is very much different than what i practized on last. (difference on keys specially)

[pies]

1 - my dog

[sportsmonster]

my 2 cats was never in the room when i practizen my crazy improvisations.
(and my parents)

if you want to know why.....donload my mp3 from audition room.

https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php/topic,13267.0.html

[Bouter Boogie]

1 - my dog

Lol I bet he appreciates the music

- BB

[perfect_pitch]

i was invited up on stage to play when billy joel came to Gainesville and had a Q&A session....i got the chance to ask a question, and he invited me on stage to play. so i did! and it was f**king AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i think there were like 4,000 something people there...maybe more but i put the 3500 whateever one up there...

YOU LUCKY BASTARD!!!! I HATE YOU...

I WOULD KILL TO BE AT A CONCERT LIKE THAT!!!!

[pianodaria]

Hm... Unless you are severely underprepared - how does the number of people in a hall matter? When on stage - you are alone like a bug on a plate, but, if you have something important to share, you become the center figure and have no fear whatsoever. That's my experience as a performer, and a listener.

[stevie]

Hm... Unless you are severely underprepared - how does the number of people in a hall matter? When on stage - you are alone like a bug on a plate, but, if you have something important to share, you become the center figure and have no fear whatsoever. That's my experience as a performer, and a listener.

the biggest audience for you though must shurely have been at the cliburn, thousands in the hall(possibly), and thousands and thousands more at home watching on their computer.

[sportsmonster]

ill rather play it in on a cd.....and then do some changes and fixing on details to make the piece sound better ................yes i know that is cheating

actually.......i can perform live a crazy, wierd song..........i come up on stage and panic and start banging and fisting on the piano............and then people cant see the difference between the crazy song and me panicing

[pianodaria]

the biggest audience for you though must shurely have been at the cliburn, thousands in the hall(possibly), and thousands and thousands more at home watching on their computer.

You are probably right. Nevertheless, neither with thousands people watching, nor with ten in a nursing home did I feel different. Anxiety follows you on stage anyway, and there is too much to think about besides being scared of a crowd.

Actually, it is a different topic. A fun one, though:))

[infectedmushroom]

My biggest audience is 2 people (2 friends of mine). 


Well, I only play for about 3 months so when I get better maybe I can perform something live for a bigger audience. I do practise to play for an audience. I record a lot of stuff of my own and when I know I'm recording something, I get some kinda feeling and get more concentrated. I have that feeling too if people are watching me, but of course there is a big difference between 2 or 20.000 people. 

And when I play something, I mostly do a piece wich isn't that hard. Something from Nobuo Uematsu mostly do the job. I just play To Zanarkand and everyone loves it.

[sportsmonster]

the worst audience is youself.....because you never clap and give your self prices,
and you never throw garbage at your self.

if a lot of the pianists saw them self through the audiences eyes.
he would probably die of happines.
(or get sick )...if they have a wierd fantazie of you

[sportsmonster]

are some audiences better than others?

some clap more than others?...and some are just boring

or maybee somethimes you have a crazy black metal audience that is banging their heads agains the wall?

[Dazzer]

lessee.

6-7  hundred odd boys, + each boys parents.

played afew times in the sydney town hall and sydney opera house school concert only that's all

[sportsmonster]

sydney opera house??....i would be happy if i just could be the audience there.
problem nr 2. im on the wrong side of the world

[sportsmonster]

hmmm......and what does people want to hear on the piano....that brings such a big audience?

[noelle]

I've given speeches in Japanese (not fluent!!) in front of almost 2,000 people, but I think as far as a recital, around 200 people.

[sportsmonster]

once it was probably around 500 birds flying ouside the window while i was playing the piano.
so i can say that iv had an audience on 500.

i also had an audience on 32435345345 counting the bacterias etc.
maybee this is in their mind when they vote

[sportsmonster]

6-7  hundred odd boys, + each boys parents.

this is how my childhood was like.
in school i always had to perform for my parents and all of the classes.
and i had to stand in wierd costums and do stupid stuff, because the parents thaught that was so adorable...and cute..............blćh ......from now on i only perform piano pieces.

[sportsmonster]

i live in north norway........and there is no audiences to play for here.
where can you find all the audiences?

where is all of the piano competitions?........talent competitions?
where is it all happening?...where do they arrange things that you can participate in?

(is there any social piano clubs anywhere too?)

[zheer]

Good question sporsmon, i have about one hour of good music ready to play for others, music that people can really enjoy, but i have no audiance.

[sportsmonster]

maybee you can arrange your own concert then?
rent or get a stage. hang up information evrywhere etc.
hire people for ticket stand and stuff like that. can it be soo hard?

[hodi]

800+-
school

[zheer]

Well sportsmon you have just answerd your own question.

[jas]

A couple of hundred, I suppose, but that was with an ensemble. Solo, only about 100ish. I hate performing, though. It's terrifying!
If anyone has any tips about not turning into a nervous wreck, they would be much appreciated.

Jas

[sportsmonster]

if your performance anxiety is extreemly bad:

A number of performers have advocated the use of various drugs as surefire ways of reducing/avoiding anxiety. While it is certainly true that drugs can be effective, it is equally true that their misuse can be highly dangerous. Never use anxiety-reducing drugs unless medically directed.

"Beta blockers, such as propranolol (Inderal in the US), block the body's response (reaction) to adrenaline. Propranolol is well recognized as effective in reducing performance anxiety. It is one of the safest drugs ever developed, having been in use for treatment of high blood pressure, angina pectoris, and hyperthyroidism for more than 20 years. Unfortunately, beta blockers have at least one potentially fatal side effect: they will worsen the severity of asthma attacks and may precipitate an attack in an otherwise well controlled asthmatic. Persons with heart failure or mild degrees of heart block should usually not take beta blockers, as they can worsen these problems. Propranolol is supplied both in straight tablet form (taken every 6 to 8 hours) and in a long acting (LA) formulation, so be sure to find out from the prescribing physician how soon before a performance to take the medication".((quoted from Les Taylor performace anxiety expert))

i dont know i such drugs is good....im sceptical from such tings as drugs in this but another ting:

Many people suggested (temporary) dietary changes as a means of calming nerves prior to a performance. Indeed, one of the most popular remedies would appear to be the humble banana. Eat a couple of these before you perform and you'll have no problems (or so we are told) - apparently they contain some sort of natural beta-blocker

but eating food and drugs alone wont help all that much i think. best ting is to be prepared and know that you have control.

[jas]

Drugs I'm not so sure about, but bananas I can do! I love bananas, anyway, so that won't be any great hardship.
If I were to take something for nerves I'd much rather it was something natural. I've got a book on natural remedies and things somewhere, I might rake it out.
Thanks for the advice!

Jas

[zheer]

Put on a facial mask , that will help calm the nerves, its a sicological thing honest.

[jason2711]

i was going to say 20000 but then i realised that you were talking about piano performance.  Yesterday I had the opportunity to play in front of an audience of 20000 in an open air concert in Belfast as part of an orchestra, playing the bassoon (principal bassoon at that ).  However, no solo-type bits so it wasn't terribly nerve-wracking.  It was awesome though to look out on the stage and just see a large sea of people

Biggest piano solo audience probably would have been about 500 or so at my school speech day last friday.  Just played Poulenc's Novelette in B flat minor. Problem is that it requires you to be in a relaxed and jovial mood to play, so i usually play it after a few other pieces.  Not having this luxury, and a bit nervous to be the only soloist, playing in a rather formal atmosphere made me not play it my best, but it still seemed to go down ok (including the speaker who complemented me enthusiastically when i received my prize)

[prodigy1220]

just lose your self in the music your playing and thats how you can play in front of  so many people because youll be so into the music that you might forget your even playing in front of people