Performing - What Do You Enjoy About It? Options

[skylark]

I would join this, but the thing is... the more I play in front of other people, the more I want to?


I don't think it's "showing off", but more a matter of proving my worth and making sure that I can do it?

The above post in the Reluctant Performers thread (piano forum) made me wonder why people like performing. I must admit I enjoy performing on clarinet, and in my case, I think it's because of the type of music I like to perform, which is the popular vocal music of the 30s or 40s and the music from the older musicals. I had the most brilliant time performing in the orangery at a National Trust property recently - a group of two couples came in and they knew all the music I was playing. They sat down to watch and it was like they were having a private concert. They asked me to play Strangers on the Shore and were very kind about comparing me to Acker Bilk (I'm Grade 4) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) I played quite a lot for them and they wanted to get up and dance to Begin the Beguine but were too shy in the end. I would have loved it if they had done. They kept asking me to play some of the songs again and stayed with me for quite some time. I can still feel the warmth and pleasure from that group, and it's wonderful to enable people to enjoy something so much that you feel it back.

What does everyone else get out of performing?

[oldnotes]

To put it simply - the thing I enjoy most is the challenge of playing a concert of up to 75 minutes, musically, and having the audience express their appreciation. I've only once done a one hour solo recital, which went OK but not perfect. Usually I play the piano solos, plus accompanying singers, wind instruments, etc., and the buzz comes from getting the duets and trios as good as we have in rehearsal, and having a happy audience.