Discover How a Pianist Can Connect With The Audience

Have you ever listened and watched a pianist play and been completely mesmerised by them and almost drawn into what they are playing. This is all to do with the connection between the pianist and the song, and how they feel about the piece of music that they are playing. It's all to do with how they portray the song, and getting this reaction and link across to the audience.

As a pianist the one rule you need to remember is that you are a pianist BUT also a performer. If you keep these thoughts in set into your mind, then when you go to perform a piece of music whether it be a solo performance or as part of a group, the chemistry between yourself and the piano will come across to the audience.

Some advice on turning your favourite song into a fulfilling performance is to do the following with your song once it's prepared: -

Make use of dynamics - dynamics are one of the most important factors into bringing your music to life, you need to tell a story through your music, and dynamics will help you to do so. Below are a list of the main dynamics and their meanings, which you should always use when performing a song: -pp -Pianissimo, which means play VERY SOFTmp- Mezzo Piano, which means to playMODERATELY SOFTLYp - Mezzo Piano, which means to play SOFTLYmf - Mezzo Forte, which means to play MODERATELY LOUDf - Forte, which means to play LOUDff - Fortissimo, which means to play VERY LOUDCrescendo - Gradually get LouderDimuendo - Gradually become Quieter

A little guide to how a song could be played using the above dynamics is to start the music quite quietly, so moderately soft, then when you are approaching the next section i.e. from the intro into the verse use a crescendo to gradually get louder. Play with volume level of moderately loud, keep this level consistent throughout the verse, but remember to accentuate certain notes. Maybe at the start of each Bar you could just push into those notes a bit harder, just to give it some versatility.

Then on to the chorus. This really needs to build up and be quite dramatic, so another crescendo will be required, so you are playing the start of the chorus loud, and then build up again to play the song very loud.

This will put emotion and feeling into your music. Once the chorus is close to the end, use a diminuendo to gradually become quieter to lead the song back into the verse. Try not to be too sudden with this and fade in and out gradually.

This will really turn your song into a performance and help engage the audience into your music.

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Article Submitted On: April 12, 2011