would raindrop prelude be good in a hospital?

[sumpianodude]

would the louder parts be unpleasant for patients?
thoughts?

edit: will be playing in a lobby with people coming and leaving on a very nice grand piano. Sorry for not including the details earlier.

[pencilart3]

That actually brings up a good question. After playing in nursing homes, hotels, train stations, malls, etc.... I have found that what really makes the difference is how you play rather than what you play.

Raging crescendos, heart wrenching emotion and swelling climaxes are going to be distracting and annoying. People aren't really evaluating you for how well you are playing the piece, you are just "there" and "playing" and that's all that matters. Don't overdo dynamics and you should be fine...

That being said, a lot of it depends on the situation. Are you in the lobby? Near patients' rooms? How large and powerful is the piano? You can pound from a tiny upright but may find it difficult to play suitably on a "thick" grand.

Anyway, good luck and it's very kind of you to do a service in that way.

[visitor]

I usually out my ear buds on whenever I hear Chopin on a public piano unless it is unicorn rare good playing and I can usually pick up on that front  a very short snippet, if I don't habe ear buds i turn. Around a run away

But you go and play whatever you want

[arnerich]

I think so. Just stay away from the Funeral March 

[quantum]

I've played loud on a hospital piano before without objections. 

Try out a few pieces first to feel the atmosphere.  See if the listeners are willing to accept more volume.   

[mjames]

I usually out my ear buds on whenever I hear Chopin on a public piano unless it is unicorn rare good playing and I can usually pick up on that front  a very short snippet, if I don't habe ear buds i turn. Around a run away

But you go and play whatever you want

good, you dont need a reminder that he's better than anything else you listen to

[visitor]

good, you dont need a reminder that he's better than anything else you listen to

haha lol
i agree the music is supberb, i've never said anything else, but from personal preference standpoint, it's boring to me since i've heard it and played it so so so so much, and i spent so many months and semesters eating/living breathing the pieces in music school and growing up, unfortunately i burned out on most of the stuff (except when the playing is particularly exceptional which i said in my reply :-) ), save the trio,  and cello sonata, those are super cool and i don't tire of them, and the mazurkas, most everything else, unfortunately, as beautiful as i admit they are , i find myself wondering if i left the coffee maker on, or how much laundry i need to do later, etc, it just can't hold my interest after years and years, which is unusual, i don't get that with Beethoven , Mozart, and a few others, but the Chopin stuff i cannot bring myself to listen to it much lately.
actually as i replied i'm listening to this

[mjames]

I don't listen to music I'm familiar with, that's why I never complain about pieces being "over-played." If for example op. 9 no. 2 pisses you so much cause you've heard too many times, then it's your fault not the music.

Anyways I've moved on to Liszt, he my boy. : ^ )

[j_tour]

I think it's a terrific idea.  Moreover, I don't think the middle part needs to be played at ear-shattering volume at all.

It's not demanding on the listener in the way that, a Bach fugue might be.

A good many people will be familiar with it, and I think that's a point in favor of playing it.  I don't know that older people are always wanting to hear the latest and greatest -- maybe something that triggers some nice memories.

You could pair it with a nice, easygoing Joplin piece like "Bethena" or "Solace," to get the non-classical members of the audience on board, keeping with the theme of simple and familiar.

[outin]

In a hospital? I thought it was already dead and buried...it's about time...
Much better preludes out there.

[mjames]

In a hospital? I thought it was already dead and buried...it's about time...
Much better preludes out there.

Sure, maybe. But that doesn't take anything away from the prelude or the OP's desire to perform it in front of others.

[outin]

Sure, maybe. But that doesn't take anything away from the prelude or the OP's desire to perform it in front of others.

So that's what this thread was about? 

[cfluke]

You've probably already decided and done it or not, but for posterity, I would vote "no"

Cortot's epithet for the piece provides some clarity: "But Death is here, in the shadows."

The A section of the piece is saccharine-sweet, blissful, pastoral, but it's tied to the very dark, dramatic B section by the repeated A flat/G#. In terms of interpretation, this suggests the dark shadow of death lurking even among the tenderest, happiest moments. In other words, a questionable selection for a place where people regularly die, such as a hospital...