Piano Society

[rallentando]

Some time ago I posted some pieces on the Piano Society website and because it is run by amateurs I expected them to be friendly and kind but it was quite the opposite...

Has anyone else had anything to do with them?

[pianoplayjl]

No I've never heard of them. You are better off posting here, where you get more helpful feedback and advice from experts, students and amateurs alike. 

[lostinidlewonder]

I recently posted some pieces on the Audition Room of Piano Society and because it run by amateur pianists I expected them to be kind and friendly but it was quite the opposite...

Has anyone else had anything to do with them?

I am a part of that forum and didn't find them unfriendly (no more or less than here!) Could you post a link to your post on there or did you remove it?

[Bob]

What's the group?  Link?

[rallentando]

Yes, this website looks much more professional all round...

[pianowolfi]

I tried to register there a few months ago. It said that my request will be investigated and confirmed after a few days. But I never heard anything from them since. When I try to log in, it says that my account is not yet activated. Perhaps I have "ruined" my reputation with too many improvisations. (I think that improvisation isn't actually welcome there, as far as I have read...)

So, well, I guess I can live without them.

[rallentando]

I submitted my pieces and when I read the feedback I found Chris Breemer to be particularly harsh and unfair in his judgment. I suppose being one of the administrators of Piano Society he can get away with being unkind without getting it back from the other members...

[Bob]

Is this it?
https://pianosociety.com/new/phpBB2/index.php

[drkilroy]

I tried to register there a few months ago. It said that my request will be investigated and confirmed after a few days. But I never heard anything from them since. When I try to log in, it says that my account is not yet activated. Perhaps I have "ruined" my reputation with too many improvisations. (I think that improvisation isn't actually welcome there, as far as I have read...)

So, well, I guess I can live without them.

I had the same, but I tried again some time later and finally managed to log in.

Best regards, Dr

[rachfan]

Hi rallentando,

I'm a member at both Piano Street and Piano Society.  If you posted pieces at Piano Society's Audition Room, understand that the purpose of the Audition Room there is quite different from Piano Street's Audition Room.  Here at Piano Street anyone can post just about any music as long as it's in mp3 format. So here there is a wide collage of Classical, Jazz, Pops, Covers, New Age, and other music.  What gets posted at Piano Society is Classical only.  That's their sole focus.

The reason most people post in the Audition Room at Piano Society is to be considered for the site's Artists roster and to continue submitting recordings thereafter.  Piano Society does insist on certain standards.  A recording needs to reflect musicianship and artistry; the recorded sound has to be of acceptable quality; mp3 format also requires that standards for bit rate and bit sampling be within certain limits; and pianos must be in reasonably good tune. Also professionals are expected not to post recordings and run, but rather to participate in the forums and to critique the recordings of the other pianists.

"Candidates" (my word) to attain inclusion on Piano Society's Artists roster must submit three pieces. These are heard by the Administrators and other interested members and are critiqued.  The administrators have the final say on whether or not the recordings pass muster.  If so, the pianist is then asked for a musical bio and a photo in order to create their artist's page under their real name.  The pianists at Piano Society do have Usernames for the purpose of logging in, and the username will also appear on submitted postings.  However nobody can be anonymous there, which is a another rule.  We all know many of the other pianists present.  That deters some from joining Piano Society if they prefer to be anonymous.  

Accepted recordings at Piano Society go into a permanent Archive, while still being displayed as well in Audition Room.  A major goal of Piano Society is to build an archive of recordings of standard repertoire as well as music by lesser known composers.  At Piano Street virtually all recordings are automatically accepted and remain in Audition Room, although they may appear in Index to Audition Room.  

The administrators at Piano Society work at day jobs but dedicate themselves to the Piano Society website in their free time, and they work very hard at site maintenance, critiquing recordings, setting up artist pages and transferring recordings to the archive, responding to member requests, updating notices, etc. etc.  They're very busy.  Their critiques of recordings are very honest and candid, but often they make helpful suggestions for improving recordings too. Many members believe that critiques from the administrators and other members have helped them to improve their playing.  And I should add that the administrators do celebrate fine recordings too.  Anyone may resubmit improved recordings to the Administrators Board for further reconsideration to be added to the Artists roster.

I have not observed them being unfriendly, however, except on rare occasions when hoaxsters have been involved, unauthorized advertising has appeared on the site, or similar reasons.

None of the above is meant to imply that one website is better than the other or vice versa.  I am merely pointing out that they have different goals and requirements.

If you feel you were treated poorly at Piano Society, what I would suggest is that you go to the website Contacts page and send a message stating your complaint or concerns.  That would be the best way to resolve it in my opinion.

I hope this information is useful.

Best,

David

[littletune]

I tried to register there a few months ago. It said that my request will be investigated and confirmed after a few days. But I never heard anything from them since. When I try to log in, it says that my account is not yet activated. Perhaps I have "ruined" my reputation with too many improvisations. (I think that improvisation isn't actually welcome there, as far as I have read...)

So, well, I guess I can live without them.

That happened to me last year on a fish forum when my fish was sick and I wanted to ask for advice and they said exactly the same thing but then never sent me anything and I couldn't log in...  maybe at some forums they don't like people from other countries or something cause I mean how else could they decide... they can't know anything about you they can only see what country you're from.... 

[rachfan]

Hi littletune,

I hope your fish is feeling better now. 

[littletune]

Hi littletune,

I hope your fish is feeling better now. 

Thank you!!! You are very nice!!  Well this year all of my fish seem more healthy, I hope it stays this way! (Except some of the fish in the aquarium in my parent's room died some time ago but my mum says we had them for a really long time so they were pretty old for fish).
Thank you for caring!!   

[rachfan]

Hi littletune,

That's great news!  Thanks for letting me know. 

David

[rallentando]

They didn't disactivate my account but they were very harsh in their judgment of my performances. It put me off submitting any music online. Anyway, judging by their homepage it seems that what those guys are mainly interested in is promoting themselves: https://pianosociety.com/cms/index.php?section=1

[drkilroy]

Most of their recordings are very good, anyway!

Best regards, Dr

[quantum]

I am a member there as well.  Their audition room has a much different goal than the one here at Pianostreet.  Rachfan sums it up well in his post. 

Their focus does tend to be more narrow - very much classically oriented.  I seem to remember discussions of submitted improvisations or music outside of the mainstream scope that were not accepted, not necessarily because they lacked standards but because they did not exactly fit the vision of the site (or its administrators).

It is interesting to note that members who's recordings have been rejected (at times brutally) here at Pianostreet have been welcomed over there. 

[rachfan]

Hi quantum,

Yes, occasionally New Age music, for example, has been posted at the Piano Society Audition Room, and the posters have been politely told that the genre of music is simply not their focus there.  Usually the posters understand and take it fairly well.  Similar to Piano Street's Improvisations Forum, Piano Society has created a page in their archive for improvisations.  Here at Piano Street I've only posted one (my one and only) improvisation, "Poeme" which was well received and is still over in the Improvisations pages here. Likewise it still appears on Piano Society's Audition Room pages--but not in their archive of accepted improvs. Although the Piano Society admins. really liked it, because I had played/recorded it impromptu in the moment rather than polishing it, it didn't meet the archive standard of a finished sound. Overall you'd probably agree with me, quantum, that Piano Street is the more informal of the two sites.

David