What would YOU do if this happend during a CONCERT

[chopinaninoff]

So I was sitting today, minding my own business, and a few thoughts came to mind. This may sound ridiculous, but hey, stuff happens.
Scenario: You are a concert pianist, and you are giving a big concert. You're already on stage and the following might happen to you.
A. A nose bleed
B. 2-3 sneezes in a row
C. Sudden muscle spasm
D.The pedal stops working
E. The key(s) fall in
F.You need to use the restroom ASAP
What would YOU do if one of these happened during a performance?

[invictious]

A. Continue playing, because I feel badass that way In all seriousness though I think would just quickly tilt my head up to stop my the blood from dripping onto the keyboard, and more importantly, my nice tuxedo. This is not recommended if your stomach cannot take blood and will eject all contents.

B. Sneeze away from the audience and continue playing if possible.

D./E. Stop playing and stand up. Pretend that I am Franz Liszt and I broke the piano.

F. If possible, finish the current movement and then walk off briskly. Walk back on stage with another handkerchief pretending that you need to wipe the keys off or something, concealing the fact that you went to the restroom. I actually would contemplate for once not washing my hands because it makes your hand slippery..

[chopinaninoff]

Hmm. very interesting! The reason I posted this WAS because I indeed had a nose bleed while practicing. and I have a white grand so imagine how long it would have taken me to get the stains off if it got on it!

[liszt1022]

A. Hold your nose with your right hand and play Godowsky.

[asianpianoer]

well what about this

i have dislocated two fingers while playing a chord


and also what would you do if you got hiccups

[hannah9]

well, I'd let the nose bleed run...

then sneze it all over the audience because it makes my nose tickle (2-3 times in a row) - whilst in the process I hit my head on the top of the piano. This then makes my muscles spasm and, as a consequence I stamp on the pedal and break it! Then, because everything is happening so fast, my head plumets down onto the keys - breaking them too.
Because I am so embarrassed I wet myself

- and that's just because of a nose bleed!!

[floydcramerfan]

Well, I've had to go during a concert, but it wasn't the same type of concert you're talking about.  I was playing at a little bar in Hickville, USA and I had been drinking too many Cokes while I was playing.  Luckily, we just had one or two more songs to play.  I looked at the guitar player beside me and asked him how long we had to play before the break and he said just to keep playing.  As soon as it was time for the break, I did a mad dash off the stage.  It was embarrassing.  I don't know what you'd do in a concert with no breaks.  I guess just try to concentrate on your playing and get your mind off your bladder.

[jollisg]

A. I've never had a nose bleed, but I think I just would keep on playing and tilt my head back a bit. I would never bleed on the keys!   Hm.. You can hope someone will get a little bit of paper to put in your nose while playing, haha!

B. Sneeze away from the audience and just keep on playing.

C. Try to ignore it if it's not that much. Or stop playing...

D./E. Stop playing and make someone tell the audience that the pedal stopped working/the key(s) fell in...

F. Try to finish the movement and then just go and... I have actually no idea

[richard black]

I've never had any of those, but I did have a string break in a very important concert. I managed to avoid provoking the horrid jangling noise of the broken string until the end of the gig.

I've also had a piano start falling to bits on me in the rehearsal before a concert, more than once. I've always managed to effect some sort of repair. On one occasion the I still had the piano action on my lap at 7.25 (for a 7.30 start), and most of the audience were in their seats already. But I got it back in and the repair held up.

[lelle]

well, I'd let the nose bleed run...

then sneze it all over the audience because it makes my nose tickle (2-3 times in a row) - whilst in the process I hit my head on the top of the piano. This then makes my muscles spasm and, as a consequence I stamp on the pedal and break it! Then, because everything is happening so fast, my head plumets down onto the keys - breaking them too.
Because I am so embarrassed I wet myself

- and that's just because of a nose bleed!!

I just laughed out loud. That would be terrible if it happened

[floydcramerfan]

This cracked me up.

[ahinton]

We all know about the potential and actual menace of mobile phones going off during concerts. There's a tale - possibly apocryphal, but I'd like to think not - of Shura Cherkassky during his final years giving a recital in which, midway through Schumann's Étude Symphoniques, one of these wretched things went off and he immediately rose from the piano stool, faced the audience and said "is that for me?"

Best,

Alistair

[mnmleung]

F. If possible, finish the current movement and then walk off briskly.

My first impression was that you were talking about bowel movement, and I got the giggles.  Thanks!

[floydcramerfan]

Wow, I would hope that people who are going to a classical concert would know to turn their phones off, but I guess people are stupid today.

[m1469]

Wow, I would hope that people who are going to a classical concert would know to turn their phones off, but I guess people are stupid today.

haha ... I have heard of performer's phones in their pocket, "sounding off" during a performance.   

[lorditachijr]

Recently I was playing violin in a local orchestra concert. We had planned on me doing a piano solo some time during the concert, but I was never told when. I wasn't even thinking about it, and then right after we finished our 3rd piece, the conductor announces that I will play a piano solo. I don't really blame him, but wish he had given me some prior notice. I decided to play a Prokofiev Sarcasm(we were playing some other Prok that night, and I had been working on the Sarcasms). And, as I found out in the 6th measure, the pedal on the piano was broken. I guess I don't have to say it ended up to be a fairly bad performance. I ended up just using the sostenuto pedal for the sections where it was truly necessary. Thank gosh none of the other things have happened to me on stage.

[floydcramerfan]

Oh man, put you on the spot.

[mnmleung]

haha ... I have heard of performer's phones in their pocket, "sounding off" during a performance.   

I page turned for an accompanist during dress rehearsal when his watch alarm went off.  Trying to turn it off for him while he was playing was an adventure for both of us.  Bless him, JLD.

[orangesodaking]

A. Hold your nose with your right hand and play Godowsky.

This post wins. 

[vandermozart3]

what if your leg starts twitching...sending your whole body into spasms as you try to control two hands and a pedal all at different rhythms....

:O NOT GOOD, NOT GOOD AT ALL
(known from experience.)

[floydcramerfan]

Or how about if you get sick while you're trying to play and have to rush off stage.  That happened to me before, but it was at church and not during a professional concert.  It was still embarrassing, though.

[carl_h]

Whatever you do, do it like a boss! 

[stefstar83]

Ha!  I was performing a duet at a very large venue when my partner farted.  The both of us couldn't help but laugh.  I laughed so hard i had an asthma attack..... what did i do??? I kept playing!!!! lol

I think it's important to remain as professional as possible (not that the laughing part was too professional, but hey, who wouldn't have!?)

[pianoplayjl]

A: like others said, I would tilt my head back.
B: I don't know but probably play on.
C: Stop playing
D: Improvise the fingering to make the piece sound legato
E: Don't know but probably stop playing or omit that note if possible.
F: Finish the piece or movement and sprint. As soon as finishing going to the bathroom, explain to the audience you forgot to switch off the phone and someone coincidently rang you during the performance.

[megadodd]

A. I would hide it untill the cadance and make it fffff and show how much I hit the piano by sneezing it out all over the place!

B. Stand up and yell : WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL THIS DUST?!

C. "Why is this piano leaking electricity?!"

D. Start playing Mozart.

E. Fall in, as in dosn't go up when u press them down?
I guess I would just start playing on the strings. I mean, how hard can it be?

F. I would go into dump mode with a smile.

[wsmith]

My nose once began to bleed not during a performance but shortly before I was due to begin. I was wearing a white shirt and by the time I threw my head back to stop the bleeding there were already red stains on the lower part of my shirt. I ended up wearing a casual jersey that totally did not fit the occasion, but oh well. . At least nobody could see the blood stains.

[pianoplayjl]

Yesterday the worst possible thing happened to me during an exam. In the middle of a piece I was playing my Ipod suddenly sounded and I got a feeling it was at maximum volume and the examiner could hear it. I rushed through the piece and quickly switched it off. The examiner luckily didn't berate me for havingan Ipod. The examiner was amused instead, much to my surprise. I took out everything inside my pocket, again much to the examiner's amusement.

JL

[minor9th]

"F" would present a special problem if one had diarrhea. I think there would be no option but get up and leave, take care of business (if not too late...), then start the interrupted piece again.

[pytheamateur]

In a recent concert, Julian Jacobson had a series of bad coughs right in the middle of playing Beethoven's Tempest Sonata.  He tried hard to suppress the coughs and managed to carry on playing, but had to drink much water before he started the final movement.  He did it remarkably well.

[williampiano]

A: That almost did happen to me once. But I was able to stop it before it was my turn to perform (with about ten kleenex).
Though, if it started when I was actually performing, then if it were small I would just try to sniff it back up best I could before my performance ended. If it became very bad, I would stop and tell the audience I couldn't play anymore. If I were a concert pianist, and I was playing in actual concerts, not just recitals and festivals, then that would be a different story.

B: That's happened to me, in fact, a few times. I just briefly cease playing with my right hand and cover my face so I don't sneeze on the piano and gross all the following performers out.

C: That happened once when I was performing Mozart Sonata K 309 for Certificate of Merit level five, a few years ago. I didn't stop or anything, I just made a lot of mistakes because of it.

D: That has never happened to me during a performance, but if it did, I would probably stop using it and play as legato as I possibly could.

E: I'm not sure what you mean by (keys fall in). But if that is along the lines that they don't work, then I would omit all the broken notes and improvise with all the remanding keys, hoping no one notices. I've had to make up the ending to a few pieces during recitals, not necessarily because the 'keys fall in', but because I forget the piece. Hint: people notice.

F: Once, during the Sonatina Festival, that happened right before my turn to perform. So I rushed to the restroom and barely made it back in time.
But, if it happened while I was performing, well I suppose I would just hold it best I could as that would be my only option.

[sunshine_keys]

well, I'd let the nose bleed run...

then sneze it all over the audience because it makes my nose tickle (2-3 times in a row) - whilst in the process I hit my head on the top of the piano. This then makes my muscles spasm and, as a consequence I stamp on the pedal and break it! Then, because everything is happening so fast, my head plumets down onto the keys - breaking them too.
Because I am so embarrassed I wet myself

- and that's just because of a nose bleed!!

I LOL'D!

[black_keys]

A. Hold your nose with your right hand and play Godowsky.

Loooooooll 

[ajspiano]

..I have epilepsy.. its extremely well controlled though so essentially never have a seizure, let alone have one mid performance though..  I've always thought it would be pretty weird though, I'm guessing I'd just mash keys and shake around a bit..  the audience would freak..  about a minute later it'd settle and i'd start playing again and pretend I did it deliberately.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

I would improvise like there's no tomorrow VERY loudly, and then finish the piece with one last FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF chord to break some strings and walk off the stage like Liszt.

[roseamelia]

I'd sneeze. If that happened to me I'd scream.

[pianoplayjl]

I'd sneeze. If that happened to me I'd scream.

Clearly you didn't read the thread properly, Rose. The OP is asking what would YOU do if if suddenly had a nosebleed or sneezed or something unexpectedly happened in a middle of a performance, not what would something happen in a middle of a performance.

JL

[roseamelia]

Well the i'd be really embarrassed but would keep going.!

[pianoplayjl]

Well the i'd be really embarrassed but would keep going.!

That's more like it.

Hmm imagine if in the middle of a performance you have the sudden urge to defecate and you just started a piece. A very long one. I wonder what the audience's reaction will be if the pianist doesn't manage to hold out.....

JL

[roseamelia]

Hmm imagine if in the middle of a performance you have the sudden urge to defecate and you just started a piece. A very long one. I wonder what the audience's reaction will be if the pianist doesn't manage to hold out.....

JL

Me too.