Bored audiences

[catherinezng]

I find it hard to sit still in some performances of classical music; I can get bored and lose focus. Because my reactions are basically reciprocal of the general audiences', I'd like to understand how to prevent this kind of reaction to my own piano performances.

One of my dreams in piano performance is to play so well that the audience is literally mesmerized and there is not one second where a thought like "when is this over" crosses their head.

How can I do this?

[lostinidlewonder]

Play the right music. A general audience who do not normally listen to classical piano would like to hear things that are somewhat familiar to them. Bad choices are usually long pieces, the attention span of most audience members is not very long so playing pieces that go on past 10-15 minutes is always a risk if you are not playing something that is overall exciting. I love piano music but if a concert was full of long pieces full of the same effects over and over again I would be bored to tears and look at my watch wondering when it's all going to end. You can get critiqued for having a fragmented concert if you are full of short pieces but why not mix it up with a tendency to shorter pieces. It is also important to have something interesting to say about pieces you play so that the audience have established some kind of emotional reaction before even hearing the first few notes.

[Bob]

Interesting topic.  I've been thinking lately, "I could go to a concert... or I could practice.... or sleep (or what if I fall asleep during the concert?)... and I'd have to squish my schedule together so it better be worth it...."  I haven't gone to a concert for a while.

And then yes, I see it's the entire works of So-and-So and I'm thinking I'd like to listen through that but probably not all at once...

So I've been listening  more on Youtube. Sometimes focused, sometimes not.  No commitment to sit still and listen.

What I could go for are shorter/45 min concerts without a lot of pauses. 

[charmsjr94]

I want so badly to see the Chicago Symphony; they're right in my backyard and they happen to be the best brass in the world. The only problem is that they generally play the same period of music from month to month. Beethoven, Mozart, Bach, etc. Stuff that would put me to sleep. Although, in May, they're doing a Debussy/ Ravel concert I'm hoping to see. But they really should be playing stuff like Gerswhin, or Williams, or crowd pleasers more than once in a blue moon. I think Classical music gets bad rep because the general population automatically associates it with a bunch of stuffy old people going to watch more old people play Bach for two hours.

Part of being a performer is making yourself marketable. Play pieces that you know will entertain people.

[ppianista]

One of my dreams in piano performance is to play so well that the audience is literally mesmerized and there is not one second where a thought like "when is this over" crosses their head.

How can I do this?

Be mesmerized yourself - by the music you're playing.

[ppianista]

Play the right music.

One of my teachers used to say: There's no bad music; there are only bad performances.

[catherinezng]

Thank you all for your replies! I agree, some music is simply harder to get into than others. E.g. for the general audience, Bach's Goldberg variations are definitely harder to get than say, a Liszt transcendental etude.

In addition, what do you guys think of movement during performing. I mean, that's pretty much the visual of the audience. Even though in the classical community, Lang Lang is not too popular, mainstream, he's the guy that everybody automatically remembers; he's a performer and he moves excessively.

[indianajo]

Many people enjoy a catchy melody but can't sustain interest through all the development and variations of classical music.  You must remember, the people that came to the symphony originally traveled some distance to see something that was the high point of the week. The competition was puppet theater and street performers.  
Playing requests ensures the interest of some part of most audiences. There is no reason why somebody that can appreciate and master Beethoven and Bach shouldn't also learn some Jerome Kern or Lennon & McCartney.  I tried with no effect to get my piano teacher to teach me to play by ear in 1963. She thought the chord training in the book was sufficient. That doesn't train your ear to hear chords, only to write them down.  She also saw no reason to remember "that old chestnut",  Riders in the Sky. The fact that it was a big scene of the hit movie Blues Brothers 2000 says hers was a minority opinion.  Since retirement I've been trying to address this blank part of my musical education - pop songs and playing by ear.  Doesn't mean I've given up Beethoven- I went with 1100 other (mostly grey haired) people to the Louisville Orchestra last month to hear Beethoven Symp #7 just the way it was supposed to be, and Tchaikowski Concerto # 1 also as good as anything on LP, but with better sound. And I play a JSB 2 part invention or two every practice session as a warmup.  

[hfmadopter]

One of my teachers used to say: There's no bad music; there are only bad performances.

To a certain degree I agree with this. Some of todays music is beautiful and add that special expression to your favorite piece of it I say. We used to have a performer around here who did  a professional recital each year, official Chopin and Debussey but also the darndest Rainbow Connection you could imagine, enough strength to bring tears to your eyes. And Chopinesque Beatles if you will, same result, make goose bumps all over your body. He included those in the mix. But this is the USA, where we tend to run from tradition now and then. Still, standings O's and a full house every time he put one of these on.

From him I learned how a seemingly weak piece can be delivered as a strong piece and never forgot it.

[pianoman53]

pick pieces for the audience. Obviously not playing things you don't like, just to try to please the audience, but to maybe not pick, say, hammerklavier to a bunch of 4th graders who've never listened to classical music. But to skip the fugue from a prelude and fugue for a jury audience is not quite clever either...

[catherinezng]

It seems we've reached a general consensus that picking crowd pleasing pieces will retain the audience's attention. In addition to pieces, what other things please crowds? 

[birba]

This really couldn't be farther from the truth.  If the music speaks to you, and you have the talent, it will speak to the audience.  I remember a davidsbundler tanze played by kempff in carnegie hall, and you could hear a pin drop.  And we're not talking about the warsaw concerto here.  On the other hand, you could play a warhorse like that,  and if the music is only played as a crowd-pleaser, i'd probably fall asleep, too.

[lostinidlewonder]

One of my teachers used to say: There's no bad music; there are only bad performances.

There is plenty of bad music, bad in the sense that it will bore a general audience to tears.

[bronnestam]

Most experienced, professional pianists of today - not everyone, unfortunately - know that playing a solo recital (for instance) isn't just about entering the stage, sitting down at the piano and play (with a face of someone who hates the audience just as much as the piano itself) and then run out again.

Modern pianists simply have to be good entertainers as well. You cannot have eye contact while you are playing, of course  (unless you don't want to look like a bad version of Liberace        ) and you DON'T have to be Victor Borge either,  but giving a good presentation to the music you are going to play is essential. Tell the story behind it, and the audience will at once get more interested. Talk to the audience, meet them, greet them, be nice and enthusiastic. YOU must show that you love the music and that you love your audience and are curious about them. Then they will, hopefully, respond.

[ppianista]

There is plenty of bad music, bad in the sense that it will bore a general audience to tears.

"Oh, I takes the gospel
 whenever it's poss'ble
 - but with a grain of salt..."  



Sure, there IS bad music. But there are bad audiences, too. Personnally, I don't like intolerant, narrow-minded audiences. And I hate music which is calculated to please them just for money's sake.  
But neither I like artists who approach their audience in an educational, parenting attitude...

For an artist, it's OK to please the audience. In a basic sense this is his job. But the "mesmerising" effect catherinezng was talking about doesn't result from the artists good will to please the audience. That's not enough. Not by a long shot. It's a somehow msystical quality of the performance that one can't produce intentionally. Just the opposite: It's somehow the effect of transcending all intentions.

[virtuoso80]

For a less educated audience, I find you can try and 'telegraph' the ideas of the piece a little more broadly. Make contrasts and different sections more obvious and less subtle. Also, you can try and keep their attention through normal social methods - occasional eye contact and such.

Perhaps it's arrogant of me, but in keeping with my heavy metal spirit, I tend to always want to play in a way that demands attention. Lively, energetic, aggressive, etc. I'm not background music for your stupid social gathering, dammit! That attitude is not always appreciated, though. :-)

[j_menz]

Some music is more approachable than others.  In this context, a concert of "difficult" music can be very demanding on an audience. A spoonful of sugar (something more fun, easier to listen to) really does help the medicine go down.

Also, way too many performers play stuff to either show off their pianistic skills or because they feel they should play it.  Not because they have any real feeling for it, not because it moves them, and no0t because they wish to communicate something special through it. Frankly, if you have nothing to say and if you spend a long time saying it, it's hardly surprising that the audience gets bored.