OMG, I enjoy Japanese audiences so much more than American!

[jamie0168]

Hey, I just got back from a 10 day trip to Japan. We played two concerts and both times I noticed the major differences between Japanese and American audiences. First of all, and most importantly, it was absolutely silent during the performance. In my American experiences, I've had to deal with constant coughing, whispering, cell phones, watches, rude people, etc. I didn't experience any of this at all while performing for the Japanese audience. This pleased me so greatly.
I also noticed that the applause at the end of the concert was joined by rhythmed clapping instead of standing ovations (which we normally get in America.) And although their clapping didn't seem so enthusiastic during the concert, we got 8 encores (while we got only 3 in America for the exact same program.)
I know alot of this has to do with cultural differences. I was simply amazed at how pleasant it was to perform for such polite people.

[pianistimo]

eight encores.  don't they know when to stop.  clapping in rhythm would drive me crazy.  but, you know what - i agree.  they're extremely polite in general.

maybe they value classical music more as a culture?  what did you play?  must have been good!  congratulations!

[jamie0168]

Well, I must confess that even though my main instrument is the piano, I was performing with the Oklahoma State Univ. Wind ensemble for the All-Japan Band Directors Convention (We have a pianist though, but I play clarinet in the ensemble.)
We had a long program (Elsa's Procession to the Cathedral-Wagnor, Leux Arumque,  Slalom-Pann, Procession of Nobles, Music for Prague-Husa, Come Sweet Death-Bach, "Hey!"-?, Stars and Stripes, and Oklahoma's state song.)

[chocolatedog]

I lived in Japan for 18 months about 10 years ago, and found the Japanese to be wonderful people - very dignified, very helpful (if you stop in a station and look lost, guaranteed someone would stop and help you get on the right train, and sometimes not only that but travel with you to your stop, show you off the train and then get on the train going back to where you'd just come from.......) and very generous (my Japanese friends kept bringing me gifts and souvenirs if they'd been anywhere) and organised (train timetable ran like clockwork!!) Loved the country, loved the people.......wish I could go back more often........

[henrah]

Makes me want to visit Japan even more now...

But Canada's far cheaper

[gyzzzmo]

agree. I like russian audience as well, for same reasons.

[kaiwin]

I want to try this:
go to Japan and play

Final Fantasy Music on the Piano in front of the Japanese

they will love you forever   

[kghayesh]

You should see Egyptian audience. They rarely keep clapping on for 10 seconds before the performance even if it was superb. It really sucks to feel you worked so hard to get something right and then these people only giving you this feedback.

[jspash]

just don't mention the war!!


nevermind, i was thinking of somebody else 

[forevere2]

Yea, people from different cultures certainly respond differently as an audience. Regardless if the performance was good or not (I don't know by what you wrote), the audience should still give you prompts for performing whatever you did. However, I feel IMO that Americans can be often rude. This is obviously due to the whole "free-speech thing". I mean look at the news, the supreme court just ruled on limiting free-speech in the government public serves. That makes perfect sense! Why should you be able to yell back at your boss for something that was simply your fault...

Anyways, I think many cultures (other than the majority of American audiences, mainly in urban areas), give lots of respect to performers, although some more than others. Amerians living in urban environments tend to be more hectic, and less obedient (cell phones). It's no wonder you can notice such as big difference. But I think in order to be a great performer, one should understand how the audience would respond to the performance, and adjust accordingly.

[henrah]

But I think in order to be a great performer, one should understand how the audience would respond to the performance, and adjust accordingly.

But then you are playing for the audience, and not for yourself. This, in my honest and most humble opinion, is not good to do for every performance.

Here I will go on about my saying (which you may quote at any time): You must conform to be successfully different. To become a well known performer, you must first get your name out there, and that involves playing flashy/showy and well known repetoire because people are buying tickets from seeing the recital list, not your name. After that, you are then able to play what you wish and not have to worry about guaranteeing an audience as they will most likely be buying tickets from seeing your name, not the recital list.

Where you say 'to be a great performer, one should understand how the audience would respond to the performance, and adjust accordingly,' I see that as adjusting the repetoire being played, which I'm sure is what you mean by it. But this is where my honest and most humble opinion comes in, and what I think about playing music in general. I think that it is best to play the music for yourself, and that a recital/performance is simply allowing others to watch and listen in. I think that playing music should be entirely for yourself.


That being said, I'm going to go play my composition to my aunt. Not because I am playing it for myself, and she is listening, but because the recording I have on CD is rubbish.

Heh, I'm such a hypocrit, but wateva! lollers
Henrah