Interviews!

[rc]

I went hunting around for pianist interviews one day and came across this treasure:

https://pianoeducation.org/pnoarcin.html

There's about 30 interviews with various teachers, professors, performers & other creatures.  They're asking intelligent questions and getting some great responses.  It's inspiring to hear all these professionals talk about the art they love, I can hardly get through some of these without being overcome with the urge to practice.  It's also interesting to hear the different perspectives, attitudes and approaches there are to teaching/learning/playing piano.  Valuable stuff!

Here's a good bit I just read:

PEP: When you adjudicate a piano competition, what do you look for in students' playing? What separates a "winning" performance from a merely good performance?

DRS. GEORGE AND SUSAN DERSNAH FEE: We listen as a perspective audience member. It is easy for an adjudicator to get lost in knit-picking at minutiae and miss the big picture: Which students have a powerful message and a personal statement to make? We can use fewer Beckmessers and need more Hans Sachses. We will quote the following, which some listeners found helpful, from one of our lectures regarding what we would like a performer to accomplish.

"When you perform, I, the listener, want you to uplift me--I want you to transport me--out of my day-to-day mundane thoughts and activities, and into a spiritual realm. I want to feel your love, your warmth, your humanity. I want you to express naturalness, to be free. I want to feel your gracefulness. I want you to exhibit a flowing quality, a flexibility.

"I want your playing to sound easy--as easy as breathing. I want to hear your imagination at work--your fantasy. I want you to feel the drama, the struggles, the psychological--but not physical--tension.

"I want you to have a sense of style, a charisma, a stage presence. I want you to look, to dress and to act the role. I want you to have a vision--a concept of the work, a plan, a structure. I want meaning in every phrase, even in every trill. I want no mere passagework--ever. But I don't want the plan to show. The music must never sound planned, studied, or calculated. I want you to take chances--to arrest me from the start--to create suspense--to not be afraid. I want to feel the depths of your intensity, and the heights of your ecstasy. I don't want the music to be driven and frantic. Please don't go too fast.

"Show me something special. I want to feel your search--for Peace and for Beauty. I want to experience your probing the instrument for every shade and color it can express. Even if you don't realize it perfectly, I can still feel your intentions. I'd like a balance of head and heart. But if you must err on one side, let it be towards the heart.

"Let your intuition show, and trust it. At the most, you might play a role in healing my life. At the least, aim to move me--communicate to me--I want to be moved by your message. But even if that doesn't happen, make a personal statement. It doesn't really matter exactly what, but say something with your playing."


...Does anyone else have links to good interviews?