How important is the audience?

[anda]

very imortant for me, i always knew it. but but this recent experience shocked me. in short: we recently had a chamber music recital well prepared, we spent a lot of time polishing these works. the audience was very friendly, and the recital went very well, everyone said it was great, and we felt great, enthusiastic, and everything.

then, a few days later, we performed some of the works from our recital program for an exam. no audience, just the judges. the atmosphere in the exam room was frozen, i could almost hear them hoping we'll mess things up. consequently, our performance was "correct" - nothing more.

have you had similar experiences? how important is the audience to you?

[m1469]

Hmm, it's interesting.  Ultimately, I have a thing in me that says it should not matter who you are playing for nor where you are playing, but that is tough.

I think what matters more than anything is one's perception of the audience as well as one's ability to handle his/her perception of the audience.  Along with a VERY strong sense of purpose in each performance, ideally not to be influenced by a cold audience, as the case may be.


m1469

[timothy42b]

Wonder what would have happened if you'd imagined the friendly audience from the previous performance were in the room, instead of those critical, career controlling judges? 

[galonia]

The worst thing is having to play AFTER someone else to apparently cold audience - I remember at school, a trumpet ensemble started the concert by giving a very fancy fanfare that went on for a few minutes.  It was magnificent.  They finished and the audience just sat still and in total silence.

I was next - I was playing crumhorn in a Renaissance ensemble - and we just completely froze in horror - how could we play for an audience that is so unreceptive?

But we went on, and after our performance, the audience did applaud.  Later, we were told that they didn't realise the trumpeters had finished!!!

But yes, I've noticed playing to a panel of judges is much colder, much harder to get in the right mood, than for a proper audience.

[whynot]

I care about my audience very much, wondering whether they are having a nice time, caring about the music etc.  I have an older friend who's been performing since forever, who insists that if the performer has a good time, that's all that really matters.  I completely disagree.  I don't think that's what's being said here-- I interpret other posts as saying more that we should play for the sake of the music, no matter what the audience thinks or does.  Again, I can't agree, although I see the artistic point.  For me, once someone is listening with my permission,  it's not just about me and the music anymore.  I mean, why do we let them be there, even pay to be there, if we don't care about the experience they're having?  Although, having said that, it is also true that we don't always KNOW what experience they're having, even if we think we do.  I've had friends play very, very well and instead of the ovation that I think they should get, the audience is just frozen at the end.  I find out later that they were so moved, they couldn't bear to clap and break the spell.  That never happens to me, hmmm...  And other times, audiences don't clap because, as other posters have found, they just don't know it's the right time, but they loved what they heard.  One of the famous magicians, I forget-- the guy who married Claudia Schiffer-- he said in an interview that he used to be painfully shy and it was a horror for him to walk out on stage and speak to the audiences.  He started telling himself before going out how grateful he was to all those nice people for coming to his show and allowing him to make his living doing what he loved.  Grateful!  yes, I think that's a great outlook, and a respectful one.   

[dinosaurtales]

What an interesting topic! My teacher relays some experience with this, since she has been on all sides - as a recitalist, teacher (with a student GETTING judged), and as an adjudicator, in competions and college juries.  As a recitalist, she says she always pinpoints the spot(s) in the audience where there are people who WANT her to screw up.  Then she plays like mad for them.  Interesting, eh?

I should have such an experience, but I don't seem to feel it.  I play for a small piano group where we all play for each other.  One of the members is a piano teacher who, I think, doesn't like MY teacher.  So I would expect her to want me to screw up, well, just because - I don't know why.  But I never get those "vibes".  i just get regular nervousness and I either do well by my own standards or not, but never feel it's because of "that" pressure.

[whynot]

I forgot to say that I appreciated TimR's point about pretending the judges are actually a friendly audience.  It's bizarre to play in a critiqued situation without a real audience, very contrived and unnatural.  I try to think of the judges as people who love music first, and as judges second.  Depending on the judges and how they present themselves, this can be a supreme act of will and imagination!  But many people in that position are not as jaded as they appear, I believe, and even though their function at the moment seems to be to find fault and cause problems, they might still be able to really care about the music, and we as performers can help make that happen.  Does it work?  I have no idea!  But it gives me something to do besides trying not to throw up, and it helps me normalize the setting a little by letting those people be an audience for me.  Blah blah blah, I talk too much.  This is a good topic, though. 

[anda]

Wonder what would have happened if you'd imagined the friendly audience from the previous performance were in the room, instead of those critical, career controlling judges? 

i can't. i feel them, and their contempt, and their lack of good-will.

[galonia]

i can't. i feel them, and their contempt, and their lack of good-will.

I have to agree - so cold - no matter how much people say the judges want to award us marks, not deduct them, I just don't feel it when I'm in the room.

[anda]

As a recitalist, she says she always pinpoints the spot(s) in the audience where there are people who WANT her to screw up. 

i can't "pinpoint" anyone, i just feel the overall atmosphere. and i think it's great for her that she can feel motivated to play her best to move exactly those people. but i can't - i get discouraged if i feel them wanting me to screw up. (anyway, you gave me a great idea - i think i'll try working on this attitude)

[wintervind]

the other wierd thing about playing for judges is their reaction afterward.

They don't react the same way an audience reacts (mostly by clapping afterward or some sort of reaction)  Out of habit, I bow before an after, mainly to make-believe that I am accually performing for a "human" audience.
As the performer, playing for a jury goes against every grain of a normal performance and therefore isn't a performance at all. Its a trial. Or worse, a punishment.
But then again, it makes real performances a piece of cake:)

[pianowelsh]

anda - been there - its horrible playing to an exam panel. Particularly if you dont even know who they are! We have a situation where our final exams for year UGrad are panel only in yr one but from yr two we have option to have invited audience and in the 4th year its a compulsary open recital. I much prefer playing to audiences - even audiences of pianists (which admittedly are not my favourite) but a marking panel is not nice when the only sound you hear is the turning of the pages and the furious scribbling of a pen...urgh! roll on the day when exam performances will no longer be required and concert giving will be what is meant to be again - giving the audience pleasure!!!

[anda]

anda - been there - its horrible playing to an exam panel. Particularly if you dont even know who they are! We have a situation where our final exams for year UGrad are panel only in yr one but from yr two we have option to have invited audience and in the 4th year its a compulsary open recital. I much prefer playing to audiences - even audiences of pianists (which admittedly are not my favourite) but a marking panel is not nice when the only sound you hear is the turning of the pages and the furious scribbling of a pen...urgh! roll on the day when exam performances will no longer be required and concert giving will be what is meant to be again - giving the audience pleasure!!!

thanks, it's good to know i'm not the only one
and yes, i wish they would let me perform on stage and grade me on my recitals/concerts.

anyway, the recent experience i was talking about: it wasn't my exam! they weren't grading me, they were grading my chamber music partners. and even though the judges weren't hostile in my direction particularly (they were towards my partners though, and  suppose therefore to all of us). and i still couldn't play for real... 

but i have an upcoming major event (not that soon, in about 2 months) and i think i'll try the recipe dinosaurtales was talking about. who knows, maybe there are solutions even for those "hypersensitives"

[anda]

Out of habit, I bow before an after, mainly to make-believe that I am accually performing for a "human" audience.

i don't. when i was a student (and had exams), i always stopped in front of them, say hello and give them the paper - before playing. and doing this, i took the time to look at each judge, just so they could feel me confident.

and it's easier (at least for me) to play in front of a panel of people i never heard of. it's easier for me to imagine that they haven't played the piano for at least 20 years, and therefore i can feel supperior to them (for actually being able to play). i know it sounds stoopid, but it helps me.

[wintervind]

 

and it's easier (at least for me) to play in front of a panel of people i never heard of. it's easier for me to imagine that they haven't played the piano for at least 20 years, and therefore i can feel supperior to them (for actually being able to play). i know it sounds stoopid, but it helps me.

It isn't stupid! (at least I hope its not!) It is the exact same for me. I perform much better for a panel that I don't know at all.

[pianowelsh]

We dont get to meet/greet panel. We submit music with timings(ac) and prog notes before hand -then when we get backstage cue go out and give the recital. For some mid year assessements we have to give verbal prog notes from mem (with distinct target audience set by them ie children or music club or pensioners club etc) but there is no personal contact with the panel they sit at the end of a 60ft room and you play at the other end - and you have to bridge a c56ft gap so i much prefer to have 'people' filling the space between - it somehow feels more human.