Tell us about your favorite memory performing for an audience (of 1 or more people!)
Tell us about your favorite memory performing for an audience!
This could be any number of years ago, for any number of audience members!
62 replies
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My memory is recent. I was playing an Oscar Peterson composition at my teacher's student recital. When I returned to my seat, a boy of about 12 turned around and gave me a thumbs-up and a big smile. That moment of connection was precious because although I knew I'd pulled it off despite my nerves, and that the audience had liked it, to know that one person in the audience had loved it that much made my day.
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My first performance at Kulas Hall in Cleveland, Ohio, I was 10 years old. I played the 1st Movement of a Haydn Sonata, can't remember which one it was. As I walked down the aisle toward my seat my teacher Ms. Edwards looked at me, nodded her head and smiled. I thought I had played well and she agreed. I was really happy.
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When I was 15, I attended lycée in Normandy for a year. I was fortunate to be introduced to some of charming, elderly members of the Rothschild family. They were gracious enough to invite me and one of my teachers for a splendidly sumptuous Saturday high tea.
In the main salon of the chateau was a gorgeous Hamburg Steinway from the 1930s.
Mme. Rothschild shared with me that, even though she didn't play piano, she had purchased it from a Jewish pianist in order to provide him with the funds he needed to leave Europe.
She let me play for a little while after we finished eating. This became one of my most cherished piano memories.
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I'm rarely happy about my performances -- I suffer from significant stage fright and it results in very noticeable flubs in most live performances. But about 15 years ago a dear friend was in treatment for a rare cancer (subcutaneous t-cell lymphoma) that at the time almost always was fatal. I decided to learn the famous Brahms Intermezzo op. 118 no. 2 for her (in part with the idea that I might play it at her funeral if her husband permitted). I performed it, dedicated in the program to her, in an evening variety show put on by the students in the graduate school where I was a professor (not music!). For a change, the performance was as good as I could give, and my heart was full of love for my friend throughout.
And there's a happy ending: she *did* survive, and has had no recurrence. -
Saint Saens Symphony 3 as organ soloist.
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This may not be kind of memory you expect, but it is memorable.
In my younger days I feared playing for many others and so I just practiced and played for myself.
Then I had a son, and when he was in middle school they suddenly needed a substitute pianist to accompany the chorus in practice. So I offered my services and found accompaniment to be a new and inspiring challenge.
However, one day the chorus went to choral festival in a large local church. After warming up in a back room with the chorus we stepped out on the stage...
I found myself sitting right in the middle of the stage at the piano and looked out to see 500 people in the audience looking back at me.
I wouldn't have thought it was possible, but my hands immediately began to sweat, water was pouring out the palms of my hands so that I had to wipe them off on my pants several times before I could play.
As it turned out, I played well that day and it was the beginning of public performance for me, already in my 40s. I would soon learn that fear is a bodily response with which we must become familiar. If we don't allow it to take on a neurotic mental dimension while we're playing we'll be fine.
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My first time playing with an audience was really quite funny, at least in retrospect. The venue was my first year in high school talent show. I had no chance to try out the piano nor even see the 9 foot Steinway rolled onto the stage. I started the "Military" polonaise and quickly the piano began to bounce up and down. Then the piano began to roll away. I just barely made it through without falling off the bench. I took first place and won $50, quite a nice sum in the 1960s. I seldom play in public but I do check every time.
And Dominic, your Goldberg Variations is superb. Thanks for sharing.