Piano and Music Videos

If you’ve been to classical concerts with multiple movements you might have heard people applauding in the wrong places. For the uninitiated, it can be a challenge. You have just heard a performance of a piece with a heroic ending and then there is silence from the audience! As a musician – especially when it comes to solo performances – you want to avoid these random bouts of applause since they can disrupt the flow of the music. This article provides some tips on how to avoid applause in the wrong places and how to deal with them when it inevitably happens.

As a performer, you will want to give your audience clues where to clap. I recently performed the Schumann G minor Sonata (a 4 movement work) and the 1st movement ends with such a ferocious finale that you might think it’s the end of the piece. If you finish the first movement in a dramatic fashion and put your arms in your lap, you will probably garner applause. While you don’t want to temper your performance diminishing the energy, when you finish, keep your hands over the keys ready to play the next movement. This will signal to the audience that there is more to come. While there is no way to definitively stop an audience from clapping, this will certainly help cue them to the structure of the work.

So what do you do if the audience begins to clap anyway? Well, there are a number of ways to handle this and some are better than others. Some people might actually stand up and take a bow in the middle of the piece. I wouldn’t suggest doing this because it disrupts the flow of the piece, however, you should acknowledge the audience in some way. You can look at them and thank them by nodding your head and smiling. They will eventually stop and everyone will realize in a few moments that there is more to come. You can handle this in different ways. I have seen performers put their hands in the air and signal the audience to stop! While I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this, it certainly will help to quiet the audience. No matter what you do, it’s best to acknowledge the audience in some way so they don’t feel embarrassed.

A successful performance is not just about how you play, it comprises the entire presentation. If you find yourself in a situation where the audience has reacted before they should, you should simply thank them and move on. After all, they are there to see you and if they are applauding before they should it’s simply a sign that they have enjoyed the performance so far.

Here is a performance of the spectacular Liszt Hungarian Rhapsodie #6. I just performed this at the 90th birthday celebration for the great pianist, Madam Ruth Slenczynska, the last living student of Sergei Rachmaninoff.

This is a masterwork that explores the range of the piano from the delicate expressiveness of the Andante to the intricate cadenzas of the Grande Polonaise. Please enjoy!

Welcome to Part 1 in our ongoing series of the Psychology of Musical Performance. This is a very important and in-depth subject so today we are only going to scratch the surface. Today we’re going to discuss the mental stability necessary for performing and how to create a balanced state of mind for yourself.

Performing music is something that utilizes both sides of your brain. Before a performance you spend so much time practicing and making sure you’re playing technically correct. At the same time, you must let yourself go and be able to be creative with each performance. The trick is finding the right balance so that your performance is not too dry yet not self indulgent in your expression.

Sometimes emotions can completely control your performance in unexpected ways. Allowing yourself to delve into free expression can make you lose sight of where you’re going. For example, if you’re not careful you might take a tempo to a speed you can’t possibly handle! You have to be able to control your performance and reign yourself in.

While you definitely have to control your expressive side, you can’t let the technical side of you overwhelm your performance either. The last thing you want to present is a sterile performance. Musical expression is a completely different form of art from painting or photography in that it involves performance and there is a random element to that. No matter how hard you try, you can never replicate a performance again; each one is inherently unique.

We all have these conflicting aspects of our personalities and they collide with each other when it comes to musical performances. Finding this balance isn’t something you can teach easily; it’s something you must find within yourself through the experience of many performances finding the balance of emotion and reason.