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The most memorable feedback that I have received about my playing was during one of my visits to a middle school in Sarasota, Florida. I played a program of many different composers, including John Williams, showing the students how some of the most popular tunes (Star Wars, Jaws) were influenced by composers like Beethoven, Bellini, and Debussy!
Afterwards, one of the kids came up to me and shared a picture he had drawn of me during the performance.
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I asked him:
"WOW! that is so much stuff in the drawing, what is all that?"He said:
"Well, I can't read music but I felt like I was seeing so many different shapes, objects, and stories through your music. I just wanted to draw what I was seeing. I want to know more about music after hearing you play and talk to us today. Maybe I can draw a new story next time."
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Needless to say it is always my goal to bring stories to life when I play music, and it meant a lot that this young man recognized it and was affected by it!
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Dominic Cheli What a moment to be treasured. This Kid has a rich imagination, I hope he go to study more arts. I wish to receive a compliment like that someday. Thanks for sharing.
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Dominic Cheli That is VERY INTERESTING! The power of music to move people and forge connections! There are so many layers to it, too! Thank you for sharing that, Dominic!
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Once I played a competition and got only this feedback from a judge: “You are talented. Why did you play Mozart?”
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Albert
...um...maybe because Mozart reveals musical and technical deficiencies more unforgivingly than almost any other composer and is therefore the perfect choice to show your talent? That judge must not have known very much about Mozart and his music... -
Albert I guess he wasn't the best judge. It's fairly well known that Mozart is easier for kids than adults.
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Carolyn Luskin I was an adult!
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Albert exactly!
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The most memorable and gratifying feedback I have received was last week when my teacher said “you are improvising freely…”
I know I have a long way to go with playing the changes, but this was music to my ears.
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When I was 15 I played for my teacher’s teacher. This gentleman said that my hands were too small and I shouldn’t continue with piano at all but may harpsichord would be OK.
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Gail Starr I am so glad you didn’t listen to his advice!
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Gail Starr Noooo ... +1 with Vidhya, I'm glad you are still playing the piano!!!
I wish these teachers could be more encouraging.
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Vidhya Bashyam I figured that since I wasn't planning to be a professional, it didn't matter much. But MY teacher was rather upset!
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Gail Starr you stuck with YOUR instrument and rightly so. Could this teacher's teacher not HEAR what you were playing? You're a wonderful pianist and that's that.
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Monika Tusnady He was actually a rather mean guy! He had a scary reputation, LOL, so even MY teacher wasn't really friendly with him.
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I only started to get more serious about playing the piano around 12. Prior to that I was very lazy about practising (particularly techniques and studies which I found
boringuninspiring) - my piano lessons were quite hellish then because my teacher was also very strict.Anyway, this one time I tagged along to my cousin's rehearsal for her teacher's studio recital. After all her students had done rehearsing, the teacher asked if I wanted to play anything and so I did (I believe it was Clementi's sonata) ... and she said "you played it very well".
It was a small comment that spurred me into practising - and since then the relationship with my own teacher improved (the magic of pratising
) and so did my own playing ... enough that a year later my teacher asked if I wanted to try entering a competition ... and the rest is history.I would not have continued to play the piano now without that small, encouraging comment.
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Priya Viseskul It's amazing how these small comments are embedded in our memories years later, isn't it?
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Gail Starr Yes - and for me that was my definite turning point (certainly didn't get scolded by my teacher from that point on
). It brings emotion and grateful feeling every time I think about it. Small thing can turn out to be quite profound 
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“Yes there were some problems but there were moments of greatness”
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Dominic Cheli This kid is a good artist, too, in addition to being very observant!
Frank I love this!
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A three-word sentence from my beloved teacher has meant more to me over the years than I can adequately express, and it has given me confidence through times when I doubted my ability. Rigorous in her teaching and economical with her words, she said: "You play well."
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Three comments come to mind. One teacher recently said to me after I finished playing a piece: “I really enjoy listening to you play”. And a comment from a music professor during a master class a few years ago after I finished playing Schubert’s impromptu: “This is Schubert, not Schumann”.
But the most memorable comment was a question from my teacher shortly after I restarted playing again: “How do you practice this piece?” In 15 years (from age 6 to 20) of professional music training, not one teacher ever asked me that.
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I was told by one instructor that I’ll never be Billy Joel or Elton John. That didn’t work well for me. But it was memorable.
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Probably the most memorable feedback about my playing was the nickname my brother gave me when I started to play the trombone: Moose.
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Michelle R
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