why solo recital? list of advantages please?

[RealPianist]

Can anybody help me to lists what are the advantages we get by having solo recital or becoming soloist in a chamber or orchestra?

[ramseytheii]

Can anybody help me to lists what are the advantages we get by having solo recital or becoming soloist in a chamber or orchestra?

As far as fees, the advantage is towards concerto solo, because you get paid more to do less work.  The disadvantage may be that peopel would leave the concert talking about Mahler 5th symphony, not the pianist they heard before the intermission.

But I also think that in general concertos restrict the level of nuance that's possible in a solo concert.  There are some exceptions of people who just overpower the orchestra, like Horowitz.  I don't think concertos allow for as much expression, and so often, you are playing both hands unison, or left hand has some meagre accompaniment, while in solo amterial, you have everything.

Walter Ramsey

[RealPianist]

thanks for the first reply Mr. Ramsey!

But, how about a solo piano recital?

[pianowolfi]

Well a solo piano recital is still the ultimate kick to me as a pianist. It may sound like being much Ego but it is in fact very social! You share your most intimate musical personality, all you can give, all your most precious inner thoughts with an audience, having the goal to reach their emotions and even change their life a bit (together with you). It is magic and you just need to have this experience to get it! So go for it and plan your next (or first) solo recital 

[m19834]

I think that the replies so far are both good.  I think aside from what a person can musically do in a solo recital, the amount of potential personal growth is at the least different than in ensemble playing, but perhaps greater, too (it can be actually truly extreme).  While it does require very special skills to be an effective ensemble player, it's a whole different animal to carry the music and an entire show on one's own.  It can be a whole different pleasure, or a whole different nightmare.  The kinds of things a person has to face within oneself are different for solo playing, in my opinion. 

So, personal growth -- an advantage.

[gerry]

You might ask yourself why you are practicing and perfecting your repertoire. Is it purely for your own pleasure, to be kept in your practice room just between you and your piano? Or do you have any desire to share your talent with the possibility of enhancing others' lives?

What kind of standard do you set for yourself when practicing and perfecting a piece? If you only play for yourself, you run the danger of developing a false sense of your own abilities. By playing in public, you find out if you are able to really communicate your musical sensibilities to others, i.e. you find out if your any good. (This can also be achieved to a certain extent by recording a CD and sharing it). But in the end, it's sort of like a painter keeping all his art in his studio, looking at it from time to time, then burning it upon his death. You just have to decide what it means to you to be a musician.

I spent most of my life just practicing and playing for myself, accompanying, and occasionally playing for family, but never with a view to critical scrutiny as a soloist. Only now have I returned to taking lessons with a desire to share with others that which has meant the most to me  before I'm too old and feeble to do so. I really want to know if I can move and inspire others as I have been moved and inspired by music.

[dan101]

Solo piano recitals increase your awareness of how much mental stamina is required for a full length concert. Recitals also allow you to catagorize stable repertoire and use it for future recitals. When introducing new repertoire, it helps to have this stable repetoire combined with first time recital pieces, so as not to put too much pressure on yourself.

There are many other benefits. However, making sure your pieces are well prepared is a number one priority, as you do not want an unprepared performance... not healthy for the ego.

Good luck.

[m19834]

You might ask yourself why you are practicing and perfecting your repertoire.

Yes, this is a really good point.  I am not sure that you meant it in the way that I am thinking about it, but practice definitely takes on a different meaning when you are doing it as a soloist and for the sake of being a soloist.  Especially if you are not meeting with a teacher anymore !  A person's own standard, their own experience, their own knowledge, their own musical reasoning have to be enacted and drawn on.  And, the decisions that are involved in this are a bit more taxing, to some degree -- and then, it's easy to wonder how much of the detail an audience is actually going to hear and get ? 

Also, solo playing in general can be a pretty lonely path.  There is not the same type of musical and social interaction, there is not a kind of "built in" outside purpose to your work unless you are preparing for actual gigs -- and there may be long periods of mere preparations without a clear goal or gig in sight (probably at particular stages in a person's life).  I think a person has to more or less discover and develop their own purpose and meaning in doing what they do -- and that is not always easy to come by !

I think that solo playing makes a person clarify everything that pertains to music and practice in a different light and perhaps at a different level of oneself entirely.