# How to start performing



## danchohen (Sep 17, 2013)

Hello
I've been learning playing the piano for 8 years and I have a small repertoire (Including: Beethoven's sonata #8, Chopin Fantasie-Impromptu, Bach 2 Prelude & Fugues, etc. ). Almost each work from the repertoire I performed in the biannual students concert, and sometimes I perform in my city's ceremonies, but I want to start performing alone - to have complete recitals. My question is: How can I start perform?
Thanks.


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## hreichgott (Dec 31, 2012)

If you want to present stand-alone recitals as an independent artist you need to have a good idea of who your fan base is: people you know will definitely come to hear you play, and enough of them to form a good sized audience. Find a location, time and program that will appeal to them, and go from there.

If you haven't developed a fan base yet then stick with student concerts, city ceremonies, and maybe places like retirement communities and piano stores that present small concerts and have a built-in audience.

You could always try contacting an agent. I don't know anything about how that would work as a student though.

And don't look down on student opportunities either. Most of my performances as a teenager came from my teacher's connections. Does your teacher know you want to perform more and can s/he connect you with ways to do it?


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## danchohen (Sep 17, 2013)

Thanks for the comment. My teacher knows that I want to perform more and she does what she can, but it is only a few minutes in the city-ceremonies and some works in the student's concert. I think a lot about finding a place and start form there, but I don't know how to speak with them - Should I go to a small hall and tell them that I'm a pianist and I'm interested in playing there?


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

danchohen said:


> Thanks for the comment. My teacher knows that I want to perform more and she does what she can, but it is only a few minutes in the city-ceremonies and some works in the student's concert. I think a lot about finding a place and start form there, but I don't know how to speak with them - Should I go to a small hall and tell them that I'm a pianist and I'm interested in playing there?


Another avenue to performing, experience, exposure, becoming known and making important connections within the active music community is to do chamber music and accompanying singers and instrumentalists. It is rare that a pianist worth their salt does only solo work, and often the path, or gateway to finding those interested in your soloing lies first in working with others. (Besides, playing chamber music and accompanying makes you that much better a musician


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## hreichgott (Dec 31, 2012)

danchohen said:


> Thanks for the comment. My teacher knows that I want to perform more and she does what she can, but it is only a few minutes in the city-ceremonies and some works in the student's concert. I think a lot about finding a place and start form there, but I don't know how to speak with them - Should I go to a small hall and tell them that I'm a pianist and I'm interested in playing there?


They'll probably assume you just want to rent the hall and do in it whatever you want during the rental period. 
(Which actually you could do.)


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## danchohen (Sep 17, 2013)

Thank you for the comments, you really helped me a lot. I think I will find a musician to play with and I will rent some hall and perform both solo and duo works. Thanks!


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## Animato (Dec 5, 2013)

Hi Danchohen,

may I ask you: what is your purpose to perform before an audience? The answer seems to be a matter of fact, but not at second thought. I'm at the same point: I would like to play piano-solo-works before an audience - only that I'm presumably about 30 years older than yourselves. I play the piano for 40 years, which does not mean, that I'm a professional. I've got a lot of stage fright, really a lot. For many years I played only at home without listeners. So what would be my purpose to overcome my stage fright (which will need a lot of energy) and to play before an audience? Do I seek recognition? Why not? Do I expect the audience to like my way of playing? Not really since they may listen to professional playing on CD any time. 

With that background I' ll ask you: What is your purpose to perform before an audience? In case you want to start a career as professional pianist, my question may be ignored.


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## danchohen (Sep 17, 2013)

Thanks for the replay, Animato. I really want to make it my career. My purpose to perform is to perform. I like playing in front of the audience, it's much different than playing at my home alone. Even if I will make one recital in a few months and I won't earn much money, I want to perform, to make the playing professional and to be on stages. I'm 16 years old so I think it's a good age to start..


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## azumbrunn (Jul 14, 2014)

You are 16 years old. It is a good age to start. Start being the operative word. Assuming you want to play classical repertoire you'd want to formally study music, not just piano, but theory as well and history of music.
The competition is incredibly tough, so set your goals accordingly.
Alternatively you can wait a few years and go for some higher education more generally. When you are twenty and still eager to become a professional performer you can still start (the ideal time to start is of course much younger than you are, being a wunderkind would make you stand out).
There is nothing wrong with preparing a recital and inviting your friends to your home and play for them. You'll find that a whole evening is hard work.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Re-visiting this, I admonish you to think carefully if you are ready to play a full-length recital (about an hour and twenty minutes, with one intermission) or if you expect to make shorter length recitals to begin with. If the latter, this is not enough to attract other than an audience who are one way or another already fond of you personally and as a performer, because one hour programs or under are just not the professional standard or enough to motivate an unknown to purchase a ticket, go out, attend the event.

Nursing homes, well-to-do retirement communities, schools, both middle-school and high schools, often welcome a guest artist, and are happy with programs lasting between 45 minutes to one hour and no longer. A good first step to try yourself out, make sure you have enough repertoire, including some longer pieces so your program is not filled with nothing but brief four to six minute pieces, or sonatas with movements of similar length. _Those venues may have nothing to pay, or very little to pay,_ but this is often where you have the opportunity to 'practice' giving recitals without major critics if you have a slip here and there, and _to prove to yourself that you have the mental and physical stamina_ to fully support playing solo in public for any duration of time.

I repeat, opportunities to play a full or one-hour long program (often for nothing) are greater for a pianist and a few string players than a solo pianist. Many a larger city library has a hall, and a regular free lunchtime recital series, with young performers, most graduate students wanting to 'practice' - get their feet wet and start to gain some general exposure.

But the professional length program, with a variety of repertoire in a variety of scale, and durations? I would not aim for that as your first step in this journey.


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## danchohen (Sep 17, 2013)

Thank you very very much for the reply. I will think about it.


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## danchohen (Sep 17, 2013)

azumbrunn said:


> You are 16 years old. It is a good age to start. Start being the operative word. Assuming you want to play classical repertoire you'd want to formally study music, not just piano, but theory as well and history of music.
> The competition is incredibly tough, so set your goals accordingly.
> Alternatively you can wait a few years and go for some higher education more generally. When you are twenty and still eager to become a professional performer you can still start (the ideal time to start is of course much younger than you are, being a wunderkind would make you stand out).
> There is nothing wrong with preparing a recital and inviting your friends to your home and play for them. You'll find that a whole evening is hard work.





PetrB said:


> Re-visiting this, I admonish you to think carefully if you are ready to play a full-length recital (about an hour and twenty minutes, with one intermission) or if you expect to make shorter length recitals to begin with. If the latter, this is not enough to attract other than an audience who are one way or another already fond of you personally and as a performer, because one hour programs or under are just not the professional standard or enough to motivate an unknown to purchase a ticket, go out, attend the event.


Thank you all for the tips and the wonderful advises. I thought about it and I decided to make a 50-60 minutes recital, about at September, and it will be in front a small audience (25-30 people - some of the other students, family, etc). I know it's a very small recital, but after reading your wonderful answers I think it's quite fine for the beginning.

After I've seen how helpful you are, I want you to look at my program and say if it looks fine:

The title is "Works by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin and Debussy" and I've written the duration of each piece. This is the program:

Bach - Prelude & Fugue no.2 (3'), no.18 (5')
Mozart - Fantasie k.397 (6.5')
Beethoven - Sonata "Pathetique" 1st movement (8')
Brahms - Capriccio op.76 no.2 (3')
Chopin - Fantasie Impromptu (5.5'), Mazurka op.67 no.4 (3')/Waltz op.64 no.2 (3.5')
Tchaikovsky - October (5')
Rachmaninoff - Prelude (4')
Prokofiev - Romeo & Juliet "Montagues & Capulets" (4')
Debussy - Prelude "la fille aux cheveux de lin" (3'), Golliwogg's Cakewalk (3')

My teacher wants it will be very varied and although I know other great pieces and the other movements of the "Pathetique" sonata, she decided I will perform only the first one, because some of the other students are young / not used to sit a hear a long classical recital.

What do you think? Thank you very very much.


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## Actor (Jul 23, 2014)

Maybe a good suggestion would be posting some works on youtube or recording them so that you could send the works out for auditions or interviews.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Actor said:


> Maybe a good suggestion would be posting some works on youtube or recording them so that you could send the works out for auditions or interviews.


*No Youtube, not until you've already established a substantial record of live performing, and numerous live performances at that, in small venues, and along with that have acquired some audience.*

Classical or any other genre, that is how it really really works. The romantic notion of being 'discovered' by someone via a youtube posting is mainly that, a romanticized fantasy. Those 'got talent' shows, 'this country's best new pop singer,' etc. are most productive for the owners of the program as commercial TV. Ditto Youtube as a venue to start or build a career.

I'm afraid it is the old-fashioned play for little or nothing in small venues for quite a while.

The repertoire you say you have is nowhere near remarkable enough to warrant any expectations other than some appreciation for a young person who plays pretty well, i.e. it will not startle audiences enough or otherwise attract attention enough that what you play will catapult you into anything more immediately exciting and / or several steps up the ladder.

I worry that your ambition may well be clouding a more practical vision of the reality, i.e. there are profoundly adept prodigies and highly capable young professionals who get booked, recorded; their level of competence, and the expected level of virtuosity of both technical bravura as well as depth of musicality are so high, that I am near certain (without ever having heard you) that you are no where _yet_ near that level of assured and reliable delivery, any time in the near immediate future.

Ergo, you can only begin from where you are. Occasional, _well prepared,_ shorter recitals, without biting off repertoire so advanced you can not get really on top of it to play it assuredly and with seeming ease, and psych yourself to 'pay the dues,' play in ensembles often, use them along with playing a solo piece or two in shorter mixed recitals in venues like the public library, and the rest already suggested to you. If you have not yet played a full program _accompanying a singer in a lied recital,_ or _performed one or more piano trios or quartets_ with other instrumentalists, you are truly lacking some requisites needed before you trot yourself out on the boards as a solo recitalist.

You can only begin from where you are, and it sounds like you are a solid intermediate player. There is no short-cut to jumping to being a far more greatly advanced level player. There is no short-cutting the cumulative incremental learning and progress, no cheating what is needed in making the many rounds of those local and more humble venues wherein you gain the experience enough to be a confirmed and reliable performer. Do go about making that happen first, and concentrate on the now, and not the later. You concentrate on the later when you are much more in reality just coming to it, or are in it.


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## danchohen (Sep 17, 2013)

PetrB said:


> *
> The repertoire you say you have is nowhere near remarkable enough to warrant any expectations other than some appreciation for a young person who plays pretty well, i.e. it will not startle audiences enough or otherwise attract attention enough that what you play will catapult you into anything more immediately exciting and / or several steps up the ladder.
> 
> I worry that your ambition may well be clouding a more practical vision of the reality, i.e. there are profoundly adept prodigies and highly capable young professionals who get booked, recorded; their level of competence, and the expected level of virtuosity of both technical bravura as well as depth of musicality are so high, that I am near certain (without ever having heard you) that you are no where yet near that level of assured and reliable delivery, any time in the near immediate future.
> *


*

Thanks for the answer. Actually it's not my repertoire, it's just the recital program and my teacher decided it won't be a very long "classical" recital, but small and varied (Thus I have some small pieces of different composers and I have baroque, classical era, romanticism and impressionism) . I accept your advices and it's important to me to make it clear that I don't expect to get an immediate excitement, or to jump several steps up by this small recital. This recital should be my start in performing more than 15min (my position today). I want to see how I "handle" one whole hour. Of-course I will not rent a huge hall and expect it will be full, I will perform in a small hall and most of the audience will be people who know me / other students.

What do you think I need to change/add/replace in the recital? Can you describe me what kind of pieces do you think I should add? Thanks.*


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

I think your first outing will be fine, and the program you have is very much as per academic training requirements, (A baroque / contrapuntal piece; Classical -- to demonstrate your understanding and ability to clearly bring out Sonata-allegro form; Romantic; the Impressionist being about the earliest era qualifying as 'contemporary' these days 

And that _is_ what you should be doing. If you can add a suite of some sort, perhaps more contemporary and maybe, for both you and your listeners, gently so, that would add further variety (and length.) A cluster of shorter pieces within a genre (a few selected Poulenc _Nocturnes_, 
or his _Trois Mouvements Perpétuels_,




or _Suite en Do_





If you're up for it and to it, Irving Fine's _Music for Piano_ is a great piece I've been reminded of again, and at ca. fifteen minutes' duration, would certainly add length to your program.





Anything like, later mid-20th century, neoclassical while still on the conservative side, would add some spice and length to that otherwise 'expected' roster of pieces you now have (which are what they are for the reason already stated

I do very much appreciate your earnestness, and what sounds like a true desire to perform, not for the glamor of the role, or the attention, but out of what I think is a love of the music, playing, and wanting people to hear those pieces. I had to check, and you seem to understand that you move forward, technically, musically and as a performer, in gradual progressive steps necessary to develop all the needed skills -- and physical and mental stamina, the latter both intellectual and emotional.


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## danchohen (Sep 17, 2013)

PetrB said:


> I think your first outing will be fine, and the program you have is very much as per academic training requirements, (A baroque / contrapuntal piece; Classical -- to demonstrate your understanding and ability to clearly bring out Sonata-allegro form; Romantic; the Impressionist being about the earliest era qualifying as 'contemporary' these days
> 
> And that _is_ what you should be doing. If you can add a suite of some sort, perhaps more contemporary and maybe, for both you and your listeners, gently so, that would add further variety (and length.) A cluster of shorter pieces within a genre (a few selected Poulenc _Nocturnes_,
> or his _Trois Mouvements Perpétuels_,
> ...


Again thank you very much. You don't know how I appreciate your answers and your help. Your answers cleared the whole topic for me. I think it's a wonderful idea to add some more contemporary music and add some short pieces of the same genre. It is exactly what we wanted from the beginning: We want it to be very varied.

In my studies there is a long "vacation" which is the opportunity for the students to learn a few pieces alone. This period will be finished in a 6 weeks approx. , so when the next year will be started my teacher and I will talk about your advices and will decide about the finished program. Nowadays I taking care of some topic - we decided on a list of pieces that I can add to the recital and we decided that the recital will take place approx. at September, but we didn't really decided on the program and the order of the pieces. Therefore, it will take a while till I will have the really finished program, so I will write here in few weeks.

Again, if I didn't have this help I don't this I could decide on the program in this period and the whole topic wouldn't go on. Thanks.


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## Peter Gibaloff (Jan 10, 2015)

For beginning, find colleague other musician (maybe guitarist). You could be independent. First 20 minutes let guitaist play his role and then you play your 20 minutes. Guitarist has to play first because piano much louder than guitar.

or, find violinist, clarinetist, flutist or singer. Play duos 20 minutes and than play solo role.

And, enjoy in every note you produce.


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