this board is primarily intended for professional pianists and piano teachers as well as piano students and amateurs at an advanced level. if you are not part of this group consider posting in the student's corner.
There is a natural balance, surely? In the real world we are allowed humour, and in Britain it tends to be of a dry variety, especially amongst the intellectual classes, including estuary dwellers. Very often, members of specialist clubs spend most of their time discussing non-specialist matters. It is the security of the shared background knowledge and values which gives them the confidence to let their hair down. Exclusive concentration on specialist affairs is a sure sign of amateurism.
Clifford Curzon, after a player piano concert at the Purcell Room, in which his late teacher, Katharine Goodson, played by means of piano rolls, was tickled pink that he had been offered sherry during the interval, and went round telling everybody. Now, deep down he was no doubt far more affected by hearing his erstwhile mentor, but it somehow isn't British to dwell on such emotional matters in conversation, at least not without a good spoonful of lightheartedness to sugar the pill.
The "Anything But Piano" section of this forum is arguably one of the most rewarding. There are plenty of shallow threads on the other boards, so that, for example, I am amazed at the general lack of knowledge of pianos as instruments. But there are senior voices in such places, who are able to point students in the right directions.
On this board a different type of education is provided, it seems to me, and one that is just as important to young pianists. We talk of everything, which is the essence of life. Now, a posting expressing hatred of a particular nationality has been removed. Fair enough; this is not our forum, and one must make an effort to keep slightly to the rules. But in many ways I should have preferred to have seen the posting remain, because it is important to all of us, old and young, to be aware that such sentiments exist, and to be on our guard. We need to engage those who feel hatred, and to set an example which they can perhaps eventually come to follow.
The slight anarchy that develops on this board is very important. Life is anarchic, music is anarchic at times, or at least the performance of it can be. Some people can be too serious about themselves, as witness Lang Lang, in my opinion, and a good dose of humour is a wonderful teacher. The effective hijacking of the Polish Tramps thread is an example of how humanity can pull together to disarm extremism, and turn something rather negative into something that makes us smile. That's not bad, actually.
Topic: Washing Up