Not everyone who plays the piano feels comfortable with the word performer.
You may play only for yourself. You may play for family now and then. You may have had difficult experiences in the past, or simply never felt drawn to the spotlight. Still, the question remains: what happens when your music is heard by someone else or you imagine someone else listening?
The moment when playing becomes performing can bring up all sorts of reactions.
Some of them are practical: memory, security, concentration and preparation. Others are more personal: fear of mistakes, fear of judgement, unrealistic expectations or the feeling that you’re somehow not the “kind of person” who performs.
And yet performing can be one of the most positive and rewarding parts of playing the piano. It can give your practice greater focus and direction, help you refine and deepen your relationship with a piece and bring a special sense of fulfilment that only comes from sharing music with others. Even informal performance can create a positive cycle – one that builds motivation, momentum and a stronger sense of connection to what you are doing at the piano.
We’re currently developing a new short course with Adina Mornell that explores how pianists move from solitary practice towards sharing music more freely and comfortably with others. The course is not only for seasoned performers, but also for those who hesitate, hold back or feel unsure whether they belong in that category at all.
As a first step, we’re inviting pianists to take part in a short anonymous survey.
This is not a test, and there are no right answers. It is simply a chance to reflect on your own experience of performance – whether that means recitals, exams, informal playing, teaching, recording yourself, or just imagining someone listening from the next room.
Your responses will help shape an upcoming online event and the course that follows. They will also help us open up a more honest conversation about what really gets in the way when we want to share music: expectations, self-judgement, past experiences, preparation habits and the assumptions we quietly carry with us.
So whether you perform regularly, rarely, or not at all, your perspective matters!
Click here or on the button below to take the survey and share your thoughts.