Funny faces Options

[corenfa]

There are also some concert pianists who pull faces while playing......

A classmate of mine in university did this to such an extent that you felt you ought to leave him alone in the room with the piano.

I know a violinist who was taught by her teacher to choreograph the movements for the audience. How do I know this? Saw her in the practice rooms, rock solid still, and later heard that that teacher was known for telling her students to ham it up a bit.

[DerekH]

I know a violinist who was taught by her teacher to choreograph the movements for the audience.

I think, actually, the audience know best in such cases - wobbling about like a slow-motion version of the death-throes of a bluebottle after a dose of fly-spray is rarely conducive to letting the music speak its message.

Neither is watching an oboist who is playing charades and either miming a kid with a sparkler, or someone piping icing with a leaking icing bag....

"For the audience" indeed.... Who wants to see a violinist dance when they can watch a dancer dance?

Or is it just me who finds that the musical message is lost when someone layers a pretentious and rather second-rate gyration on top of it. I'm reminded of that woman in silhouette, apparently treading grapes, at the start of TV's "Tales of the Unexpected".

[linda.ff]

"For the audience" indeed.... Who wants to see a violinist dance when they can watch a dancer dance?

Fans of Mairead Nesbitt?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3eDG1u-K9M

[DerekH]

"For the audience" indeed.... Who wants to see a violinist dance when they can watch a dancer dance?

Fans of Mairead Nesbitt?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3eDG1u-K9M

The act of playing the violin while trying to seduce a low-D whistle player was extant long before that.
Like this one
Secret Garden

which is a "beat-time-to-this" challenge too :-)

[JamesK]

I know a violinist who was taught by her teacher to choreograph the movements for the audience.

"For the audience" indeed.... Who wants to see a violinist dance when they can watch a dancer dance?

reminds me of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNc278W45ck (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ph34r.gif)

[Matt Molloy]

No-one seems to have answered your question "How do you stop it?"

It's tension, manifesting itself, of course, as much as concentration.

As a guitarist I'm well aware of the old joke
"What does it mean when a guitarist dribbles out of both sides of his mouth at the same time?"
"The stage is level"

I stopped the gurning when I moved from "only teaching" to "performing with my ensemble", and one of the things we sometimes do is make eye contact with each other - it stops anyone getting too serious about it.

Suggestions for curing yourself at home...
Well, in total privacy, video yourself playing - a digital stills camera is good enough. That will give you the scope of the problem.

Then video yourself again, but regard yourself as being on TV - that camera is a TV camera - flash a Richard Clayderman smile at it when the music allows, and the echoes of that smile will be with you for about 30 seconds.

Try it and see :-)

I don't see any problem with pulling faces....

Especially for guitarists

Indeed as guitarists we have a wonderful precedent.

One from the Maestro.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awHlAHsA_8M

Cheers,

Matt.