Play what your audience wants to hear

Performing can be super fun!! Especially when you have a favorite piece in mind that you are dying to play.




 But...be careful.  It might not fit your audience, no matter how great you may feel about the piece.  Before you select your pieces, ask yourself:

Where are you performing? Is it a casual place? A fancy restaurant? An extremely formal recital, or outside at a festival?  A family reunion?  Are you throwing your own recital like we discussed in the last post?




Who are you performing for? Who's your audience?  Is it a bunch of children at a birthday party?  Is it your uncle who loves Frank Sinatra? Is it a bunch of older folks at a nursing home? Is it in front of a panel of judges for an orchestra audition?

What should you perform?  This is the part where you might be disappointed: despite the fact that you put your heart and soul into your favorite piece(s), that might not be the most appropriate choice because that's not what your audience would want to hear.  For example, my students and I  collaborated with the piano section of our school, and we all played at a church festival this past summer.  The theme was fiddle music, because fiddle music fits the situation.  Let me be more specific about this festival: it took place outside, and the festival consisted of primarily families with young children running around.  There were rides, games, you know...typical festival stuff!! Of course there would be people in the crowd who would enjoy a piano student playing every movement of Fur Elise...but do you think that's what the majority of the crowd would want to hear?



The answer is no.

What would you guess our attire was?  GSOM Tee-shirts (which are on sale by the way!!)  Do you think we'd chose the fiddle theme wearing tee-shirts for our main, extremely formal, annual recital?  Of course not.  That's a totally different type of situation.  But in this case, the event was super casual, laid back, and that's exactly what fiddle music is.  It's also good to play familiar pieces to audiences who don't understand or appreciate the more difficult, classical pieces. 

It's important to play what your audience wants to hear. Don't worry, you'll be able to perform exactly what you want in time.  Just save it for the right opportunity!!!!!

Til next time,
 
~Givi Girl