Performing – Pianodao

Positive Performing

Supporting Your Piano Pathway
Written by Andrew Eales

For many, performing is one of the key goals for learning to play music. But is it essential to play to others, or to perform in public? And if so, how do we overcome anxiety, nerves, and any negative past experiences?

The following articles consider these questions, explore the toxic impact that a competitive approach can have on self-esteem and collaboration, and offer hope for a positive approach to performance that will bring joy to performers and listeners alike.

Why live performance matters

Fermata • Pause and Reflect

Supporting Your Piano Pathway
Reflection by Andrew Eales

The acclaimed musician, philosopher and writer Stephen Nachmanovitch writes, in his seminal book Free Play (1990):

“There is something energising and challenging about being one-to-one with the audience and creating a piece of work that has both the freshness of the fleeting moment and, when everything is working, the structural tautness and symmetry of a living organism. It can be a remarkable and often moving experience in direct communication.”

Nachmanovitch‘s comments ring true whether, like him, we improvise in front of an audience, or perform the great masterpieces of the classical repertoire, recreating and interpreting them for a live audience, alert to the singularity of the moment and its potential for connection.

It’s a simple, honest, profound truth that musicians and music-lovers the world over all understand. Live performances can be a remarkable and often moving experience in direct communication.

Facing our Fears

Fermata • Pause and Reflect

Supporting Your Piano Pathway
Reflection by Andrew Eales

Halloween is a time in which popular culture celebrates the macabre, but for pianists, our most destructive fear is often not an irrational terror of supernatural gremlins, but the panic that fills our hearts at the thought of stepping out on stage, approaching a looming grand piano, and performing to an audience.

I have recently written about the positive benefits of performing, but what about the anxieties that many need to overcome in order to do so? In this companion piece, let’s consider the terrors that must be overcome in order to give a confident performance…

Why Perform?

Fermata • Pause and Reflect

Supporting Your Piano Pathway
Reflection by Andrew Eales

I recently announced the MK Piano Celebration 2024, a chance for learners and amateur players to perform in front of a friendly audience of family, friends, and music enthusiasts, focusing on enjoyment and mutual support, rather than anxiety and competition.

But in an age where growing numbers learn online, perhaps playing purely for their own interest and enjoyment, some inevitably wonder whether performing is a worthwhile or necessary part of their piano journey.

I have explained before that playing the piano is an amazing journey that can bring immense personal satisfaction, cultural enrichment, and genuine enjoyment to our lives whether we choose to perform or not.

But I sincerely believe that there are many positive benefits to playing the piano to an audience, however informal, and in this post I would like to suggest a few of them.

A Child Prodigy Speaks

Fermata • Pause and Reflect

Supporting Your Piano Pathway
Reflection by Andrew Eales

The pianist Andor Földes (1913-1992) was one of the great child ‘prodigies’ of the early twentieth century, making his public debut performing a Mozart concerto with the Budapest Philharmonic in 1921 when he was just 8 years old. Földes went on to enjoy a successful concert and recording career, as well as writing several books, including the seminal Keys to the Keyboard (1950), in which he comments,

“Everybody knows about prodigies; the writer of this book happened to be one. But the great majority of people are inclined to forget that for every prodigy who has made good, there are a thousand others who for one reason or another have not fulfilled the promise shown in their early youth.
They are the less fortunate ones, whose careers may have been ruined by a premature start in public playing, or because of the inevitable conflict between the growing pains of adolescence and the growing responsibilities of the budding artiste; the ones who have never made the grade, to the everlasting chagrin of their parents.”

That Földes was himself a prodigy adds resonance to his viewpoint, and though he proved to be that one in a thousand who found continuing success, he undoubtedly witnessed those he describes as “less fortunate”.

Too Shy to Perform

Fermata • Pause and Reflect

Supporting Your Piano Pathway
Reflection by Andrew Eales

My recent article The Pianist’s Humiliation offered the following advice, courtesy of my wife (an advanced practitioner in child and adolescent mental health, with more than 30 years clinical experience.):

“Never FORCE students to play in public, take exams, sing, or expect them to learn music which is beyond their present level. Reject any coercion. NO always means NO, and we should all be attentive and unquestioningly respectful to our students’ wishes.”

As teachers we might find this advice surprising, even unsettling. Many of us do our level best to encourage students to perform. But there is a thin line between encouragement and coercion, and it pains me that on occasion I have misjudged this with students.

There are many reasons why some players don’t want to perform, not least of which is the fact that some people simply have shy personalities.

The Pianist’s Humiliation

Pianodao Wellbeing • Mind, Body, Soul

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.

Our Commitment to Music

Pianodao Articles • Key Topics

Guest Post by PETER NOKE

In this acutely observed and beautifully nuanced guest post, well-known pianist, educator and examiner Peter Noke deftly explores the links between examination concerns and the musician’s timeless commitment to live performance and personal connection.

“We risk recorded playing from the bedroom or the front room becoming mistaken for performance, its sense of occasion, its vital exchange relegated to something only professionals do in large concert halls.”

Banner image: Ateneul Român Romanian Athenaeum, Bucharest.
Photo credit: fusion of horizons

Making Peace with your Inner Musician

Pianodao Wellbeing • Mind, Body, Soul

Supporting Your Piano Pathway
Written by Andrew Eales

At time of writing, many around the world are celebrating Diwali, the festival of lights which signifies victory over darkness, and a beacon of hope that speaks to the heart of our present condition.

Digging out and dipping into my copy of the Bhagavad Gita, one of India’s most important sacred texts, the following verse jumped off the page:

“Those who are motivated only by desire for the fruits of action are miserable, for they are constantly anxious about the results of what they do.”

The Bhagavad Gita (2.48)

This set me wondering: to what extent do ‘results’ cause me anxiety?

“Stand back from the edge please!”

Fermata • Pause and Reflect

Supporting Your Piano Pathway
Reflection by Andrew Eales

As the words boomed along the station platform, I realised straight away that they were directed at me. I turned, looked up the platform towards a burly man in an official-looking hi-vis jacket and sheepishly gave him the thumbs up.

I had been momentarily transfixed in a meditation on the nature of fear. Looking down at the rails I realised how easy it would be (having of course first checked there were no trains on the horizon) to step down from the platform, hop across the tracks and explore the beautiful verge that beckoned me from the other side. The grass is always greener…

And yet I would never, ever actually do so.

A self-preservatory terror of the rails had been instilled into me decades ago by my mother. My guess is that most of the passengers waiting on the platform would feel something of the same fear.

When movie heroes leap onto the tracks, we regard it as derring-do, suitably convinced of the huge risks involved. Meanwhile we ignore the thought that ordinary Network Rail employees routinely mosey around the rail infrastructure on a daily basis without being vaporised on the spot.

Most of us rarely question the fears or values that were instilled in us at a young age. But perhaps we should do.