Interview with concert pianist Ronald Brautigam about stage fright and more

[debmel]

I was very fortunate to have world class concert pianist Ronald Brautigam give me an interview for my blog www.pianoways.com. In the inspiring conversation we had he talked  about how to keep nerves under control in a performance, how not to get bored when practicing a piece ,ideas for young musicians who would like to have a musical carrier and more.

[bronnestam]

Thank you for this interesting interview. Good job!

As with all interesting articles, I get some spontaneous reactions so here is my feedback. He says that he gets so immensed by the music when he performs, that he forgets to be nervous. Which of course is an ideal situation. I am like that too ... in theory. But in reality I am not performing at all, I just practice - sometimes I relax and "just play", having a performance to myself, if you like. Or to my family members. After all, piano playing should be about enjoying the music too, not just practice. However, 99 % of the time I struggle with practice and I very, very seldom reach the level when I can just enjoy the music. I am too occupied with the challenges!

He also mentions that the competition is harder as everyone is getting better and the performance opportunities do NOT increase ... rather the opposite ... I have a little comment here. This reminds me of the discussion that has been ongoing for 200 years by now, about machines "stealing" jobs from humans and so on. When the computers and industrial robots got introduced, there was a common fear that this would lead to mass-unemployment as so many people lost their jobs to the machines. What people did not consider, though, was that when old jobs disappeared, new ones were created. We all know by now that the computer revolution - let's call it that for now - created far more job opportunities than it "destroyed".

Aaaand ... the same should go for musicians. We have this traditional view of pianists as concert pianists in gala outfits, performing under big crystal chandeliers to an audience in gala outfits, everything looking just like it has since the days of Liszt. And then there is a worry that these concerts get less and less audience - because they are dying from high age - and the concert occasions are not as frequent as before. But if you change perspective you see lots of more opportunities today.
For example, two months ago I saw a wonderful dance-piano performance here in Sweden. Three dancers with a very contemporary and interesting choreography, and a world class pianist doing three Beethoven sonatas (The Tempest, op 110 and Appassionata) together on stage. Yes, together. There was a very interesting dynamic between the dancers and the pianist, who also made some dance moves himself. It was very untraditional because it was not just a hidden pianist doing accompaniment to dancers who jumped around to the music of Beethoven. The piano was on the centre of the stage, for instance, and it was like a dialogue which ended with the dancers evacuating the scene while the pianist was left alone in the limelight, doing a fierceful Appassionata coda.
The point is that most people in the audience, I think, did not consider that this was "old" music and a renowned classical pianist star doing it. It felt very timeless, or contemporary if you like, and the reviews from all the newspapers were very enthusiastic. "Unlimited passion" as one headline said.

So I felt this was the future of classical music - one of the possible futures, at least. Even classical pianists have to find new ways and new settings, because what they have to give to the world is still pure gold, right?

[debmel]

Thank you for your interesting and encouraging observations and comments!

[bronnestam]

 https://vimeo.com/234997613

The trailer to the dance show I mentioned above. Not exactly Swan Lake style but a wonderful experience in a non-traditional way, and isn't the music just very right here?