Competition – Pianodao

The Pianist’s Humiliation

Supporting Your Piano Pathway
Written by Andrew Eales

Written in partnership with Louise Eales RMN
Louise has more than 30 years of clinical experience as an advanced mental health practitioner, with specialisms in child and adolescent psychiatry, and neurodiversity.
I am grateful for her professional insights, specialist advice, and collaboration in the writing of this important article.

WARNING: The following article discusses and includes accounts of humiliation which might trigger distressing memories or thoughts for some readers.

Humiliation is a deeply painful emotional state caused by public exposure of a person’s mistakes or weaknesses. Recognised by psychologists as one of the most potent of emotions, it can have a long-lasting impact on a person’s self-esteem, wellbeing, and mental health.

A mounting body of research shows the connection between humiliation and social anxiety disorder. Additionally, it is associated with episodes of clinical depression and linked to suicidal ideation or acts.

Humiliation is fundamentally done to us. Neel Burton M.D. explains in his article The Psychology of Humiliation, which appeared in Psychology Today,

“Whereas shame and guilt are primarily the outcome of self-appraisal, embarrassment and humiliation are primarily the outcome of appraisal by one or several others, even if only in thought or imagination. But whereas we bring embarrassment upon ourselves, humiliation is something that is brought upon us.”

Most piano educators, from local teachers to adjudicators, examiners, and conservatoire professors, would balk at the suggestion that we would ever humiliate a student. But realistically, many of us will have inadvertently done so, and will likely also have experienced humiliation ourselves.

We have fostered a culture around piano playing that leaves players of all ages and abilities precariously vulnerable. I find many adults returning to playing recount painful episodes in their piano journey where they have felt humiliated and debilitated.

Running in place of horses

Fermata • Pause and Reflect

Supporting Your Piano Pathway
Reflection by Andrew Eales

This striking passage from a classic of ancient Chinese wisdom offers many analogies and images that are worth pondering:

“Don’t run in place of horses,
or you’ll exhaust your strength.
Don’t fly in place of birds,
or you’ll wear out your wings.
Don’t act before others,
so you can observe their examples.
If you stir, you lose your position;
Be calm, and you’ll spontaneously succeed.”

Guanzi, attributed to Guan Yiwu (725-645 BCE), translated Thomas Cleary
The Way of the World: Readings in Chinese Philosophy (2009)

Any mention of horses on a piano-themed website inevitably reminds us of Bartók’s famous quip that “competitions are for horses, not artists”.

Guanzi’s rejection of competition seems to go further, however: compete against a horse in a race, and the horse will likely win. Try to fly like a bird, and your ‘wings’ won’t prove fit for purpose.

Such competition is bizarre, unnatural and entirely pointless. Follow through Guanzi’s thinking, and you’ll soon appreciate that the only living being worth competing with is actually yourself.

Guanzi goes still further, explaining that his admonition not to “run in place of horses” means, “not taking away the capacities of the capable.” In other words, let others be their best selves. Don’t try to take away or replicate their success, steal their identity, or compete for their position.

We can observe and learn from the examples of others without taking away what is rightly theirs, or seeking to replace them. Don’t try to beat or to be somebody else‘s personal best; try to be the best version of yourself.

Avoiding injury: a fresh outlook

Fermata • Pause and Reflect

Supporting Your Piano Pathway
Reflection by Andrew Eales

The question of why some pianists suffer injuries that are seemingly related to their piano playing is one which has occupied the minds and research of pianists, pedagogues and medics for decades.

The meticulous consideration of “cause and effect” in piano technique by leading teachers and pioneers of performing arts medicine has rewarded us with helpful insights which we must certainly all consider with care.

And we also now have a better understanding of How to Practise, avoiding the many unhealthy, unproductive and obsessive approaches of the past.

But the causes of injury are not merely mechanical, and in more recent years the focus of enquiry has rightly been broadened to include such issues as general health, diet, hydration, sleep, and mental tension.

And allied to this, we simply cannot continue ignoring the link between performance injury and the stressed, anxious mindset that results from and is fostered by today’s unnecessarily competitive approach to piano playing, in which even small children are pitted against each other on stage.

Competition & Conflict

Pianodao Articles • Full Archive

Supporting Your Piano Pathway
Written by Andrew Eales

In an interview in International Piano, January 2014, the marvellous concert pianist Maria João Pires suggested:,

“To compete always damages your soul.
If you compete you are not a musician any more.
We old musicians should perhaps give the new generation alternatives. I think our mission is to transmit what has been transmitted to us. This competitive world, this marketing world, has destroyed a lot of that transmission.
Competitions are not the way, that’s for sure!”

We are frequently presented with the spectacle of competing pianists pitted against one another by an industry that would have us all believe that there is no other way to launch a career. But like Pires, I have long felt uneasy about this competitive spirit, and the toxicity that too often accompanies it. And like Pires, I believe there has to be a better way, for sure!

The climax of any competition is of course the victory of the winner. Everyone knows what the opposite of a winner is, and competitions usually produce lots of them, too. There are far too many bright, aspiring pianists for whom these events prove to be a truly crushing experience.

Mitigating this perhaps, multiple medals and accolades are sometimes awarded. But when players are divided up into good, better and best, they have still fundamentally been divided.

Ironically, professional success actually depends on forming creative partnerships with others. For classical music to have an assured future, it is therefore essential for us to work together and find more positive ways to support and promote players.

But if we determine to change performance culture for the better, we will need to start by rethinking the events we put on for children.