Embarrassing, anyone?

[lagin]

What's the most embarrassing or humerous thing that has ever happened to you while performing?  Mine was completely forgetting the ending of a piece at a recital.  So I asked my teacher to help me, and she got up out of the audience and told me what the notes I was looking for were.  I argued a bit with her because I thought she was wrong, but she wasn't.  Then I finished the piece finally, and had to follow up with another!  I was only in grade three, and had only been taking lessons for maybe a month and a half, so it was excusible, but kinda funny.

[lostinidlewonder]

Getting money thrown at me to take more than just my jacket off. One pretty embarassing moment when i was younger i stopped in the middle of the appassionata sonata and said sh*t pretty loudly into the microphone.

[BoliverAllmon]

Getting money thrown at me to take more than just my jacket off. One pretty embarassing moment when i was younger i stopped in the middle of the appassionata sonata and said *** pretty loudly into the microphone.

LOL

[thierry13]

Getting money thrown at me to take more than just my jacket off. One pretty embarassing moment when i was younger i stopped in the middle of the appassionata sonata and said *** pretty loudly into the microphone.

Hahahaha just hilarous! But why have you stopped in the middle of the appassionata??

[lostinidlewonder]

Memory lapse. I started to think about my fingers then forgot what to do.

Ive once finished playing the Ritual Fire Dance from De Falla with a glissando and actually cut my finger on the keys and there was a trail of blood on the white keys lol. people where a little  ehehe

[nicko124]

Memory lapse. I started to think about my fingers then forgot what to do.

Ive once finished playing the Ritual Fire Dance from De Falla with a glissando and actually cut my finger on the keys and there was a trail of blood on the white keys lol. people where a little  ehehe

Ouch

[BoliverAllmon]

Memory lapse. I started to think about my fingers then forgot what to do.

Ive once finished playing the Ritual Fire Dance from De Falla with a glissando and actually cut my finger on the keys and there was a trail of blood on the white keys lol. people where a little  ehehe

I had a friend do hat on great balls of fire once. The crowd went nuts and thought it was the coolest.

boliver

[rhapsody in orange]

This actually happened to me during an exam a few years ago. Having played 2 of my pieces, the examiner said "Next, can I listen to the Chopin piece please?"
I heard it as "Next, can I listen to a short part of the piece please?"
And so I played the nocturne, and stopped halfway where i felt i was an appropriate place to stop at. I turned around and looked at the examiner, and he said, "How 'bout the rest of the piece?"
I was so embarrassed and then told him I misunderstood him and carried on with the nocturne.
Fortunately I still did well for that piece, apart from the moment of embarrassment =|

[Muzakian]

One pretty embarassing moment when i was younger i stopped in the middle of the appassionata sonata and said *** pretty loudly into the microphone.

Hahaha! 
I had a friend do a similar thing in his Year 11 Solo Performance exam. I think he was playing an arrangement of "My Heart Will Go On", and had a memory lapse in the middle - it was hilarious to watch. He stopped playing, stared at the keys for about 10 seconds, shouted "F***" and then walked out of the room.
The amazing thing is he still passed.

[pizno]

At a recital where I was accompanying a singer(we were doing the whole program), we warmed up before the audience arrived, and I left my music on the piano so it would be there when the performance began.  When the audience was all seated, we were introduced and walked out to their applause.  I turned around to sit down, and my music was NOT THERE!  I had to walk back out and go look for it! Fortunately, I found it in the room where we had left our things.   It turns out my singer had picked it up on his way out earlier, thinking it was his practice copy.  ERRRRRRR.  He still owes me for that one!  The audience was nice enough to applaud again when I walked back in with the music.  I had to force myself to not think of it as I began playing!     

[lagin]

HEY
I just found this old thread again on page twelve.  Come on people.  This is a really good one.  (Not just because I started it, hehe.)  Let the stories role!!  I don't think i've had any more embarrassing moments lately or else I would share, that is, other than they usual slips in performing at exams, festivals, and what not.  Nothing "note worthy."

[dinosaurtales]

I caught myself drooling once.  What can I say? I was really into it! - the music, not the drooling!

[Appenato]

Somewhat embarrassing, I found it more humorous, though... course, humorous only the next day and since this has happened.  It may be just one of those "had-to-have-been-there" things, though. Anyway...

I had memorized the third mvmt of Moonlight sonata for a festival a couple of years ago. Half way through playing it, my mind was diverted by concentrating too hard on what i was doing and I was thrown completely off. What an awful sound that came forth from the piano as I blundered through trying to find a spot to carry on! As I sat there in mild frustration over this, I both frowned and began laughing. It was ridiculous. After a few minutes of putting the judge through agony (i'm sure), i went back to a starting point even though i shouldn't have gone back. I started again and played it through with not too many mistakes, as though nothing happened. I left the recital hall and laughed a little, but felt a slight sting of disappointment when i saw my teacher waiting outside the door. she'd heard my butchering of the piece and wasn't too pleased..... but a few days later i found out i passed with the highest score i could get, as well as a surprisingly good comment/compliment from the judge. I have no idea how i got such a score when the movement was done so horribly. haha... it's amusing.

haha, i dread the day when i'm playing in a recital and i think of something funny and burst out laughing. i do that occassionally when practicing....

[liszt1022]

Memory lapse. I started to think about my fingers then forgot what to do.

Ive once finished playing the Ritual Fire Dance from De Falla with a glissando and actually cut my finger on the keys and there was a trail of blood on the white keys lol. people where a little  ehehe

I play Ritual Fire Dance! it's such a fun piece!

I also had a "memory lapse" during a Beethoven sonata. It was during the exposition of mvt 1 of Op. 2 No. 3 (C maj) and I completely blanked and sat there poking for what felt like an hour (but was really under a minute) before just skipping 10 measures or so and picking it up from there.
the rest of that movement, and the remaining 3 movements went fine. but I had it on my mind the whole time.

[thierry13]

I had memorized the third mvmt of Moonlight sonata for a festival a couple of years ago. Half way through playing it, my mind was diverted by concentrating too hard on what i was doing and I was thrown completely off. What an awful sound that came forth from the piano as I blundered through trying to find a spot to carry on! As I sat there in mild frustration over this, I both frowned and began laughing. It was ridiculous. After a few minutes of putting the judge through agony (i'm sure), i went back to a starting point even though i shouldn't have gone back. I started again and played it through with not too many mistakes, as though nothing happened. I left the recital hall and laughed a little, but felt a slight sting of disappointment when i saw my teacher waiting outside the door. she'd heard my butchering of the piece and wasn't too pleased..... but a few days later i found out i passed with the highest score i could get, as well as a surprisingly good comment/compliment from the judge. I have no idea how i got such a score when the movement was done so horribly. haha... it's amusing.

Cortot's interpretation of the chopin etudes are full of mistakes and still some of the best ever. Same thing for you. It's the general interpretation you can do of the piece that counts.

[arensky]

I was playing the harmonium in Dvorak's Bagatelles for 2 violins, cello and harmonium. A harmonium is a small pump organ with two pump pedals. I was at a chamber music camp in rural Maine and my teacher found a harmonium in the church up the hill. And so the group was formed and I volunteered (no one else would touch the thing and I thought it was interesting) This instrument was about 100 years old, and worked pretty well. BUT...

In the final performance of the summer we were doing this piece and in the last movement one of the pump pedals detached from the instrument and went CRASH!! to the stage, (really loudly!)and I started pumping harder with the remaining pump, but it was not sufficient airflow; the *** thing started to wheeze and go flat. I got to the final g minor chord, which sustains while the strings do their thing; by the time they were done the g minor chord was about an eb minor, and barely audible (Thank God!).... The audience was understanding and gave us a big hand!

[pianistimo]

i think the most embarrassing moment for me was when i was videotaped for the first time many years ago.  i thought i had really great stage presence, and come to find out i was leaning forward and back too much.  in fact, my teacher sort of fast forwarded my playing and it was so regular (the forward leaning and backward leaning) that i looked like a metronome.
 
ever since then, i have tried to keep a posture for some time (leaning back a little) as my teacher does.  when i get really into bach or things that are intense, i still lean forward (but he's trying to get me to relax more and do the opposite).

[whostheboss]

well i used to really hate competitions and festivals and judges performances...i really really hated it..but my teacher insisted and insisted..she encouraged and inspired etc etc..it just wasnt me..and i always felt wrong..being marked for my playing of music..good or bad..i didnt care..i just want to play for me..anyways..

so im at a competition last year...so here i am..playing the Pathetique..yeah..everythings goin good...grave goes smooth..allegro goes good..well kinda..halfway through the first movement..i look up at the judges...and...that was it..i just stopped playing...and i look at my teacher..and you can tell shes "hurting" for me under the impression that i experienced a memory lapse..but...i just stood up...kinda looked at the croud as if to say.."yeaup..well..uhh"...walked off the steps and went home...embarassing?..nah..well..not for me lol...my teacher dropped me though...oh well

[phi]

Well... (this happened recently)...

I was playing at the summer school final concert, and it was being recorded. I was playing a Chopin Nocturne and a Scarlatti Sonata (which was very fast). I wanted to start with the nocturne, but they put them the wrong way round on the program. I couldn't start with the scarlatti, but I knew if I switched it, they would get called the wrong thing on the CD.

Anyway, so I started playing the sonata, and the weirdest thing happened. I suddenly didn't know what the hell my hands were, let alone what a piano was, and I couldn't seem to get my fingers to move. I attempted the first 12 bars or so, and it was so bloody awful that I just stopped, stared at the keyboard for an extremely long time as though trying to figure out what it was, sighed loudly and just walked off the stage. I played again after the interval (I didn't want anyone to think I couldn't play the piano), but it was a bit messy in places... kinda bad. I was not so much "embarassed" as "devasted to the point of suicide", and there were child prodigies there and everything.

[pianistimo]

well, when you go through what you think is the 'worst' then it can't get any worse.  think of it as a good thing.  you've experienced the worst possible situation.  it didn't kill you.  it might even make you laugh later.  maybe help you to get a better nights sleep before concerts and not be up all night worrying.

that's one thing i've learned.  if you're not prepared the day before, don't stay up all night, too.   (of course, i haven't really had that many solo recital experiences - mostly accompaniments and things where you can use your music).  am getting back into memorization and find it's a whole lot easier now.  i think it's like riding a bike.  you learn, you don't forget, but you have to practice to keep the muscles working (like your mind).

ps  what about the idea of bad days, too?  i think everyone has a bad day, including concert artists. 

[gorbee natcase]

I once cut my finger deep, and bled on to my piano and completely covered the keys in blood, it was like wet oil, yet I carrid on playing,  dont ask about my psychy at that time, I covered every key completely in blood and I dont have any idea why?

[phi]

Well. I've never normally had this at concerts... I always have a burst of confidence and play well... it's the first time it ever happened. Now I have to play in front of my whole school the first day back and i'm terrified it might happen again!

[Kassaa]

At an exam: stopped at the wrong part of a Mozart sonata.

At the same exam: The examiners said: Play your chopin nocturne please, I thought they said: play your Chopin Etude please, so i played the first measures of the 25/2, and they stopped me: We asked for your Nocturne, not the Etude. Then i said: No, you didn't. You asked for my Etude! My whole face was red when I finally started the Nocturne lol.

[jeremyjchilds]

I was at my own studio's recital...so I should have played perfectly

I had a piece with fast stacatto scale sections, and I did not realize that my hands were almost frozen due to over-active air conditioners...

They were moving sluggishly, but I did not screw up untill my fast stacatto scale....then all hell broke loose

[dinosaurtales]

Well that one reminds me.......  have any of you ever done the big buildup heading for the critical climactic crash?  ----- and naile the wrong chord?

I did, once. 


ouch

[arensky]

At an exam: stopped at the wrong part of a Mozart sonata.

At the same exam: The examiners said: Play your chopin nocturne please, I thought they said: play your Chopin Etude please, so i played the first measures of the 25/2, and they stopped me: We asked for your Nocturne, not the Etude. Then i said: No, you didn't. You asked for my Etude! My whole face was red when I finally started the Nocturne lol.

                         What was your grade? That's a harsh situation......

[ted]

I was once having breakfast in my pyjamas and dressing gown when visitors came. I was excited about a new piece I had written and played it for them. Afterwards I realised that dressing gown and pyjamas had fallen open and block and tackle had been on view to all.

[Kassaa]

What was your grade? That's a harsh situation......

No grade, I had to pass the exam to go on to the next year.

[lostinidlewonder]

This wasn't on stage peforming, but in a lesson I took a mouthful of cold coffee (cos i always forget to drink it while teaching) and started to play a piece for my student and then i coughed and brown coffee, all over the music and keyboard. The student looked at me shocked.  The stains on their sheet music is always there to remind me of that now!

[lagin]

Hey lostinidlewonder,
I laughed harder at yours than anyone else's!  Partly because I'm quite tired, and partly because I can TOTALLY imagine that, as my teacher also drinks cold coffee.  I'm still laughing my head off actually!   Thanks for the laugh.

[kelly_kelly]

Well that one reminds me....... have any of you ever done the big buildup heading for the critical climactic crash? ----- and naile the wrong chord?

I did, once.


ouch

Yup. At my first recital (a few months ago), I was playing the 3rd mvt. of the Pathetique, and I completely missed the three fortissimo chords at the end of the piece. Luckily, nobody there noticed anything (including my teacher, isn't that pathetic?).

[viking]

Well that one reminds me.......  have any of you ever done the big buildup heading for the critical climactic crash?  ----- and naile the wrong chord?

I did, once. 


ouch

This reminds me of 3 years ago in competition.  It was an open class, and I played Rachmaninoff's C sharp minor prelude.  I absolutely nailed the whole piece, and then when the slow soft final chords came in the end, I totally forgot one of them.  I played the sickest sounding thing, and held it for the required time and played it like it was actually right.  Everyone knew it was wrong though.   Btw I won the class.
SAM

[jeremyjchilds]

This reminds me of 3 years ago in competition.  It was an open class, and I played Rachmaninoff's C sharp minor prelude.  I absolutely nailed the whole piece, and then when the slow soft final chords came in the end, I totally forgot one of them.  I played the sickest sounding thing, and held it for the required time and played it like it was actually right.  Everyone knew it was wrong though.   Btw I won the class.
SAM

I feel your pain...

[026497]

I once cut my finger deep, and bled on to my piano and completely covered the keys in blood, it was like wet oil, yet I carrid on playing,  dont ask about my psychy at that time, I covered every key completely in blood and I dont have any idea why?

Why did you cut your finger? like Van Gogh cut his ear?
What did you do after that? buy a new piano? clean it?

[stevie]

I was once having breakfast in my pyjamas and dressing gown when visitors came. I was excited about a new piece I had written and played it for them. Afterwards I realised that dressing gown and pyjamas had fallen open and block and tackle had been on view to all.

remind me not to accept an invite around your place again ted