How to Adapt to Room Acoustics in a Musical Performance

This is a very common problem for many performers and it can be a challenge to overcome. Learning the correct playing methods for different room acoustics can be tough but I’m going to give you a few tips to help you out.

I performed a concert recently at the Laguna Beach Art Musuem. The room was incredibly loud – it was in a museum gallery with wood floors and a tall ceiling. The sound reverberates incredibly well in that room and with too much volume it can be overwhelming to the audience. So how do you cope with something like this?

The general key to adapting to room acoustics is that the more “live” (echo and reverberation) a room is, the more clean and detached you’ll have play. For example, if you are performing the Schumann Sonata in G minor in a loud room, you will want to limit the use of the pedal and delineate the notes to make things clear. You don’t want to play too legato in a loud room, it will muddle the notes. If you are in a quieter room with carpet and dry acoustics you will want to use more pedal and play legato; it will produce a better sound for the environment.

The ultimate way to test this is by playing in the environment in which you will perform. If you have the opportunity you should get to play and test out the piano in the room before performing. A big challenge is that once people are in the room the acoustics change because the bodies absorb sound! If you are unable to get into your performance space early and get intimately familiar with the room, just follow the general guidelines listed above.

Thanks again for joining me Robert Estrin Robert@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729