Mental preparation for performing for a "hostile" audience?

[lagin]

This question is mainly geared towards those taking performance at a college/conservatory/university, but anyone can answer.  What do you do when you have to perform for a hostile audience?  How do you mentally prepare for that?  What I mean is other teachers on the jury who you may not get along with, peers that are comparing your playing to theirs and judging you, and/or people who just plain don't like you very much (but pretend too!).  I've heard some horror stories about such things and I am entering that world myself next year.  My plan is to keep my head down and stay out of trouble, but I'm the type of person that won't stay silent if I see someone doing something wrong (gets me in alot of trouble sometimes).  Anyways, I thought it might be an interesting discussion.  And if any of you have been in such a situation (doesn't even necessarily need to be at one of the listed institutions), please share what you did.

[Bob]

I think there's another post about the same topic.  "Hostile" being the keyword.

[arensky]

This question is mainly geared towards those taking performance at a college/conservatory/university, but anyone can answer.  What do you do when you have to perform for a hostile audience?  How do you mentally prepare for that?  What I mean is other teachers on the jury who you may not get along with, peers that are comparing your playing to theirs and judging you, and/or people who just plain don't like you very much (but pretend too!).  I've heard some horror stories about such things and I am entering that world myself next year. 

Just play and work to the best of your ability. We can't control what others think of us and do, except by doing well ourselves. If you play well, some people will hate you for it, some will like you because of it; people are just that way. There will be good people and bad in your conservatory life, like in life itself. You love music; don't worry about the bad things that may (and some of them probably will) happen. You will learn a lot and meet people like yourself who love music and the piano. A lot of it will be fun! 

My plan is to keep my head down and stay out of trouble, but I'm the type of person that won't stay silent if I see someone doing something wrong (gets me in alot of trouble sometimes). 

That is a good plan for entering the lion's den.  Control yourself. If you see bad playing or teaching, observe and learn from it, but don't intervene or say anything untoward. It's the teacher's job to do that anyway, and they usually don't like it when a student puts their two cents in. You can't save everybody and it's better not to put yourself in the sort of situations you've described.

Mum's the word.....    

[jlh]

The one good thing about a "hostile" audience is that you will definitely appreciate more friendly audiences that you will encounter along your life's path!!

Sometimes we get so caught up with perfection at the hands of a jury of teachers or peers that we forget we're there to make music.  When you find an audience that is there for the music and not to judge, you will be taken aback with shock at how profusely they compliment your playing!!

 I recently had an opportunity to play for a church for about 10 minutes, and after I got done playing, I had SO many people coming up to me complimenting me up one side and down the other.  There were members of the PHX symphony that attend there and they were among the first to approach me saying how much they enjoyed my playing.  I went outside and there were people serving cake and lemonade and they asked me if I had played piano earlier.  They were like "that's the only thing people are talking about out here"...

What did I get from the jury a week later?  "he's rushing" "he's playing this part too slow" " he's not observing the rests satisfactorily" etc.  This type of audience is not there to listen and enjoy the music, they are there to point out deficiencies in your playing so you can improve in the future.  Even this type of audience is not against you -- they are trying to help. 

[liszt-essence]

Meditate...

Surrender up your fears..

Not just in regard to the piano, but with everything in life

Don't let fear control your life.

[ramseytheii]

This question is mainly geared towards those taking performance at a college/conservatory/university, but anyone can answer.  What do you do when you have to perform for a hostile audience?  How do you mentally prepare for that?  What I mean is other teachers on the jury who you may not get along with, peers that are comparing your playing to theirs and judging you, and/or people who just plain don't like you very much (but pretend too!).  I've heard some horror stories about such things and I am entering that world myself next year.  My plan is to keep my head down and stay out of trouble, but I'm the type of person that won't stay silent if I see someone doing something wrong (gets me in alot of trouble sometimes).  Anyways, I thought it might be an interesting discussion.  And if any of you have been in such a situation (doesn't even necessarily need to be at one of the listed institutions), please share what you did.

Frankly we are being judged by everybody, all the time.  This is just life.  As far as peers judging us, we have to have enough confidence in what we do that their judgment will seem less and less important; you have to be better than your peers.

Rosenthal relates an anecdote about Brahms; they were having a coffee in Vienna with another professor from the Conservatory, who had to leave to teach.  He had "the effrontery to say to Brahms, 'What a nice life you have!  If only I could enjoy my coffee in the afternoon.'"  Brahms replied, "Let me tell you something.  Work hard, impress your colleagues, and then you too can enjoy your coffee."

In the end, impressing an audience is nothing compared to impressing your peers.  Mozart too, cared the most when playing for the educated, who were appropriately amazed, and for the right reasons.

I don't actually believe that judges are as "hostile" as many seem to think they are all the time.  I suspect that many young pianists expect a certain reaction to their playing, and when they don't get it, they imagine the listener to be hostile. 

Walter Ramsey

[electrodoc]

May I suggest that you try to perceive the audience as non-hostile. Most of the audience will be pleased to listen to you and will be sympathetic to your interpretation. If you go into performance assuming that the audience is against you this will have detrimental effects on your playing.

Try to understand the position of those audience members who you perceive as being hostile. Fellow students may be envious of your abilities. Some may be very fearful that their own position as a student may be in jeopardy. Others may be insecure in themselves for a variety of reasons. These are factors over which you do not have control and thus they should not influence you in any way. Your job in performance is to express the beauty and drama of the music that you are playing.

You do not know how teachers and professors will be thinking about you. Even if you have irritated some of them in the past they will be professional enough to judge your playing on its own merits. Even if they do not agree with a particular interpretation they will respect it if it is a genuine expression of yourself. This should not go against you but may well go in your favour.

Now, go to this performance with confidence and determination to give of your best and see the audience as sympathetic to your performance. Best of luck with it.