I've been thinking recently: quite a few people have said that they will perform on other instruments but not on piano. There have also been a few similar comments on guitar too.

So does everyone think it's the case that some instruments are generally more nerve-wracking to play on, or is it just what different people feel? Is it that things are more likely to go wrong (in a disasterous way) in general on some instruments than others? Certainly there will be variation between people, but is it the case that there's an instrument that's generally more frightening for most people to perform on?

I don't like performing very much at all and suffer from extreme nerves but if I have too, I much prefer performing on a piano as you are sitting down and you know that notes will come out of the instrument, even if they are the wrong ones.

I have awful memories of being so nervous and shaking so much when I was playing the violin that the bow would bounce along the strings and I needed my left hand to stop the violin from falling and so couldn't shift positions properly.

With the oboe I find I haven't got enough breath and so either nothing comes out at all or everything is flat.

I'm in danger of being eaten alive here by other instrumentalists, but it has to be a factor that on most instruments other than the piano, organ, guitar and harp, you're only reading a single line of music at a time. Your concentration is therefore focussed, not so much on hitting the RIGHT note, as on making that note sound good. The piano, etc, requires more map-reading type skills. (Terrible analogy - I hope you know what I mean!) If nerves make it hard for you to focus, then this is bound to be compounded on an instrument where there's more than one thing happening at once. Especially the organ, where you not only have two hands'-worth of notes to worry about, but two feet as well.

I suppose this is true but personally I have never found it any harder to read two lines of piano music than one line of oboe/violin music. Also, by the time I get round to performing I know the piece practically from memory (although I like to have the music there just in case).

I'm not convinced about the two hands bit - after all on a violin (or cello) the two hands are doing completely different sorts of actions.

I find violin harder than flute because my bow hand goes all shaky, and i often mis-place notes with my left hand. I'm ok performing on flute in concerts, but in my exam i was so nervous that i kinda got an unintended vibrato effect.

All very true but i think you're underestimating what is needed to create the note in the 1st place on, for instance a flute. If you're nervous, not breathing properly, & your hands are slippy with sweat you're in danger of not getting any note good or bad, let alone surviving to the end of that beautifully long phrase. And what about co-ordinating breath control, tongue & fingers on a fast articulated passage.
Different instruments have different problems... don't assume single-line instruments are any easier than multi line instruments. For me the real difference is when playing a flute piece with an accompanist I don't feel so alone & derive some confidence from that...

That's a point: with instruments like the flute and violin, you have an accompanist so you don't feel quite so exposed. However on the piano, organ etc., you're all by yourself.....

This is true, but bear in mind that if you're playing all alone, then you have nobody to be out of tune with - as a violinist, for example, playing with others, you have to focus on producing a good sound and making sure that you're in tune with the other musician(s) as well, which may mean minutely adjusting where you put your fingers to account for, say, equal temperament in a piano.

To be honest, I don't think technical difficulties have much to do with anything in this question as - as Kerioboe pointed out - by the time we're performing something, we should know it inside out and back to front, so much so that we aren't thinking of it as a sum of parts, but as a whole. What is likely to go wrong is that fear of elements we found difficult in learning the piece will surface again and we go back to that place where we mess those things up. I imagine that the likelihood of this happening depends not on the instrument, but on the instrumentalist.

I'm happy to say that I am likely to mess up equally spectacularly on Viola, Violin, Piano and even when I'm singing.

Allan
Happily hapless

I don't agree with the "knowing it inside out" thing. Sometimes, the more you've practised it, and the better you can play it, the more nervous you are about performing it - because you've more to lose. I find that I can sight-read better in public than I can in private, and quite enjoy the challenge; but the blood is much more likely to leave the technical part of my brain when I've practised something into oblivion. I had to sing to a panel recently as part of an audition for something, having never sung solo in my life before. Nerves did not come into it - I can't sing. Full stop. Did my best, but I knew it wouldn't be good. But I was extremely nervous playing the prelude and fugue for the panel that I almost knew from memory, and which had previously served me very well in my diploma. So I really don't think it's a question of how well you know something.

I really don't like performing solo on the piano in public AT ALL, although I don't mind accompanying others. For me, the thought of people's eyes looking at me while I have my hands down on the keyboard makes me feel really exposed somehow - and I know I'm not good with spatial awareness (partly due to eyesight problems), so I find big jumps around the keyboard quite harrowing!

On recorders and clarinet, the psychological feeling of having my hands up in front of me ('protecting' me?) makes me feel much safer. I tend not to perform solo on recorders, since I prefer - and do much more - consort playing, but with the clarinet I positively enjoy performing.

I think that we actually agree then - my point was that we know something inside out so we're not sight reading it so, for example, the fact that there are two lines to read has little to do with it. However, if we know something well enough to perform it in public, then we are more likely to panic about messing up - which is to do with the musician rather than the instrument.

It's interesting that you sight-read better in public (Oh, if only that were true for me!) - maybe you respond better to stress / challenges than some of us. This kind of shows my point that the instrument doesn't come into it - the instrumentalist does.

...I agree, I don't think nervousness is anything to do with whether you know a piece 'back to front' - I think it's more to do with expectations - those you have of yourself, and those you perceive an audience to have of you. I know I haven't performed anywhere in public yet(!) but in lessons, I'll happily sight read pieces to my teacher, sing any aural tests, and play pieces in the early learning stages with confidence, but when they become near to 'performance ready' I go to pieces!! I do remember having much less trouble at this stage when I was learning clarinet, so I can only think that when performance panic sets in, I find it easier to cope with a single line of music - especially for picking up after stumbling...I don't think you can separate the instrument from the instrumentalist, so the question can't be answered in an objective way...


...I don't like being watched whilst playing piano either! My best experiences of playing to teachers, examiners, family, have been when they've been facing away from me - I've actually managed to pull off a reasonable performance....(Jo, can't you turn the seats round at the next concert?... )

I wouldnt be able to perform on the piano for purley psychological reasons. The thought of having to sit infornt of this HUUUUGE instrument and and play music scares the ##### out of me

rosfrog - I think perhaps jenw has hit the nail on the head by saying that it's something to do with wondering if you'll be able to pick up if you stumble. This is the case whether or not you have almost memorised it, and I DO think that this is MORE the case when they is a greater number of notes being played at the same time! (Oh, how I love a good argument...!) I have to confess, though, that I'm not good at memorising, and am always dependant on at least knowing where I am on the page. I think the reason that I'm less worried about sight-reading under pressure is that I'm focussing so hard on what's in front of me - I have to - so there's no room for starting to wonder about what so-and-so in the audience or congregation is thinking of the performance. Sight-reading is a different sort of concentration - a bit like mental arithmetic, where you just have to think quickly and give it your best shot.

I was ok playing piano in front of people more than on clarinet.Dunno, haven't tried for a while! If I memorise pieces I get less nervous.

It's pretty hard to perform on the voice- if you can say that.

Mainly because it's so much more personal, and if someone tells you that you've given a rubbish performance you can't help but think it's your voice or you. I mean, the same problems might exist with the piano for example, but it's not actually you making the sound- if you see what i mean...

That's interesting. I find voice easier than any of my (other) instruments. I feel like it's much more within my control, somehow (except when I'm having respiratory problems - then it's a bit of a nightmare,but when I'm healthy it's fine).

For me the guitar is really tough to play in front of people. It requires a more complex set of coordinations than my other instruments and if I take a step wrong, it throws my chord structures out and everything can go to pieces really quite quickly.

I also suspect, because I've been playing it for a long time, people will have higher expectations of my abilities, and that gets in the way. Unfortunately, I've been playing the same standard of music (around grade 3) for a long time, without a teacher (until very recently) so those expectations aren't really borne out! I think worrying about people thinking I'm rubbish, and writing me off as a musician is a big part of it. I also had a very bad experience when I first was looking for a teacher last summer. I went to see someone who told me I'd need to start with grade 1 pieces, and that I had a load of work to do, then dumped me at the end of the summer. This really knocked my confidence. Then I saw my current teacher, who is fab, and has me playing grade 8 pieces, and refers to me as 'one of his more advanced students'. That's helped a lot but hasn't really undermined the massive knock to my confidence dealt to me by the first teacher (who, it later turns out, isn't a classical guitarist at all, and only plays bass and electric). So, I guess what I'm saying, in my long winded way, is that bad teaching and performance experience can wedge it's way in there too, and I suspect that those experiences remain quite instrument specific.

..yes, it's the concentration which keeps that self-consciousness at bay - it's the same when you're still at the early stages of learning a piece...once it's all there under your fingers etc, you can be going along well, when an unconnected thought can cut in and mess things up (that's my experience anyway )...

This is the point I've been thinking about whilst reading the responses. I don't know about anyone else, but immediately before a performance the main concern in my mind is whether I'll manage to get from beginning to end without stopping, and the dread of the thought of stopping in the middle and simply being unable to continue. I should say at this point that, of course, before the performance I care a great deal about musicality, accuracy and so on, and since this is practised in it will in theory come through in performance just by surviving. However, what I'm worried about immediately before the performance is mostly 'oh no, what if I stop what if I can't carry on', not 'what if I don't shape this phrase as nicely as I'd like, or what if I blur these notes with the pedal' (I'm not saying I never think about this but it's certainly nowhere near as much of a major contributor to the nerves).

The main issues with melody instruments are about 'how' the sound is produced, there is less of a problem about merely hitting the right notes (regardless of how they come out) and continuing since it's more about how well one produces those notes. One flat note, or having to stop for a breath etc., I would guess is far less likely to make the whole performance disasterous in terms of stopping than a wrong note on piano throwing where one's hand is. Similarly with a whole piece flat, one would be dissappointed afterwards but at least one survived. I'm not saying disasters can't happen on other instruments, just that a mistake on another instrument may be less likely to cause a complete performance breakdown than one on piano. There does seem to be a general trend in this thread that people pick out piano, if they play it, as the worst instrument to perform on, although as one would expect there are exceptions. I can understand reservations about voice too: it would seem that any criticism on that would feel so much more personal.

This is of course a hypothesis, since I don't play any other instruments, but I'd be interested to hear what people think. Thanks for the replies so far, keep them coming .

Yes - shaking hands may be a real problem when one is playing the piano, but shaking body (lips - fingers - diaphragm!) can be disastrous on the flute. I ALWAYS have to take more breaths when I am playing for someone (even in the most casual way) than I do when I am playing and practising by myself - always. Also consider other aspects of nerves - for instance a dry mouth, which wouldn't affect a pianist at all, (except for being unpleasant and uncomfortable) but are a nightmare for a flautist - I played the third piece in my one and only flute exam feeling like the inside of my mouth was sticking together, and it was a complete nightmare! Yes, pianists may have to worry about hitting a lot of notes correctly, but at least you know that something will come out when you put your hands to the piano - a flautist has no such guarantee!

I tend not to play piano in public but that's because I'm just not very good. I do get nervous playing it, but the nerves affect my performance far less than if I was playing the flute, because there's just so much more potential for those nerves to affect my performance when playing the flute, so many more bits of my body involved that will be affected by my nerves: so though my nerves may be fewer (which is by no means always the case...) the effect of them may be the same or worse.


Definitely - I still haven't totally regained my confidence from a barrage of negativity from my music teachers at school - and that was a decade ago. Those kind of "wounds" can take a long time to deal with.

A factor not to be overlooked is that musicians tend to be a competitive, judgemental breed, and when we feel all those eyes on us it can feel like being thrown to the lions!

If only. Got any idea how hard it is to hit the right note with your left hand on a string instrument? You can't just put your finger down within a 3cm margin, like on piano, you know! And we do have to play more than one note at once (which is scary) - we also have a bow to worry about.

I think it depends with what instrument you feel most comfortable playing. I usually feel most comfortable playing flute, even though I usually prefer playing piano.

Yeah, I totally know what you mean here. When I did my last exam, I got really nervous - had a bouncing bow I seem to get worse every exam I take... not good news I get more nervous as an adult now, then when I was taking my piano exams as a child, I think.

My mum managed bow vibrato in her G2 violin exam through sheer nerves. Now that's something a pianist never has to worry about!

I think a player of any instrument which requires a lot of physical coordination to get notes in tune and to sound well (such as strings or wind, and I suspect brass instruments) stands a fair chance of being badly affected when one is very nervous. Piano requires the coordination of gets the hands in the right place with the right touch, and of pedalling - but at least whether the note is in tune is dependent on the tuner, not the player, and at least if one's fingers are in the right place, that note will sound (even if it wasn't at exactly the dynamic one had hoped for. With some instruments just getting the note is bad enough (esp in certain registers) and then one has to worry whether it's exactly in tune....

Not to mention making one or more of aforementioned notes being played together sound louder than the others!

Anyone feel like a food-fight?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think bowing is really comparable with pedals - I mean, I don't know any pianists who spend half their practice time working on their "pedal technique". Now organists, that's a different story! I feel sorry for them, all 4 limbs going at once.

In my experience, the more there is to go wrong, the more nerve-wracking it is. I get far more nervous on the Horn than Steel Pans, because with the latter I find there's less to go wrong for me. After all, I can't really split notes, I tend not to need to count any unfamiliar bars rest and I don't ever run out of breath! Admittedly, the Steel environment is also much more relaxed, but I still get nervous when I have very laid-back conductors.

I also get far more nervous on the Horn with exposed parts. Parts that I know well but stretch my range or endurance are also nerve-wracking, no matter what - it's all very close up there and I know I'm always balancing precariously!

I agree with this but I don't agree with what you say next.



The problem with extreme nerves on a wind instrument is that no sound comes out at all! On the piano you may play completely the wrong notes, be forced to break off and start again but at least you know if you hit the key some sound will come out. With a wind instrument you can stop, take a breath and still not make a sound.



As I said in an earlier post, I am the exception to this and prefer the piano. (Although I would insist that I am still extremely nervous, hands shaking etc.).

Yes, exactly.

And when it happens at the very beginning when you're trying to play an A for tuning you know you're in trouble

I get worried about playing in a small ensemble, like a trio or quartet. I really am glad that there are so many violinists in orchestras - so many of us bluff occasionally in school/youth orchestras, but wind, brass and percussion players can't get away with it, and their parts are often less continuous so it must be really hard to come in at the right time!

Bartok "Concerto for Orchestra" bars rest on Sunday. It was a 4th Horn nightmare and too many tacets with trumpet cues (which thankfully did turn up on the night!)

Yeah, the advantage most string players have is that they can often bluff or not get something 100% (until our conductor makes them do it all in turn!) True, this isn't always and many of you do get it right (thought I'd mention that to avoid being lynched by the violinists!), but it's still more of an option than it is for brass and woodwind parts, especially as ours are often harmonised or different within sections. Exposed is also more precarious - on strings you can sometimes end up being a bit flat and hope nobody notices, but on brass or woodwind instruments a tiny waver can be a pretty interesting split.

I'm OK in small ensembles. I had to play the bass pans for a GCSE Ensemble, which was fine, and as for Horn our Symphony Orchestra Brass Sectionals were just playing Horn quartets (usually with a trumpet in the mix) when nobody except our section turned up, so you got over it all fairly quickly. I'm not sure how it would be in performance, but in rehearsal it was all OK.

I think that pedalling is about as fair a comparison to bowing as playing the odd double stop is to constantly having to play several notes with one hand most of the time, and several notes with the other as well....

This is not really the issue anyway, since we already have a debate going on about which instrument is the hardest, in another thread. The question I was really trying to ask (and which many people have answered ) is given that one can already play a given piece on a given instrument, ignoring the difficutly of getting to be able to do so in the first place, is the performance affected more by nerves on one instrument that another?



I'm not convinced that the fact that one could continue to hit random wrong notes on the piano to continue to make a noise if one went wrong would be particularly reassuring to a nervous performer . It's interesting the point about being completely unable to make a sound though, I've never actually seen that happen, (then again thinking about it I've never actually seen a pianist completely stop playing and be unable to continue at all....) is it a common problem? I've always assumed that once one has been able to make a sound for a few years that becomes second nature (having said that I won't comment on my attempts to get a noise out of an oboe, although I had never done it before ); then again I guess that one only tends to think of the potential pitfalls for one's own instrument.

Interesting too that I've never noticed I have a dry mouth when I'm nervous for playing the piano (it could be that I just don't notice) but it's typical that the body reacts in the way nerves will cause problems for the activity one is about to do , if I were about to play the flute (not that I can), I probably would get a dry mouth!

Well, I always found piano easier, because when I used to get nervous, the problems were shaky arms, sweaty hands and generally feeling all pathetci physically - I found that this was less on a problem with piano because you are sitting down which really helps - automatically shaky legs aren't a problem because you can secure them on the floor, sweaty hands was a bit gross but not really a problem, so it was just shaky arms, which I found could sometimes make me have problems hitting keys hard enough! I remember playing a scale in a piano exam and only half the notes came out But with violin, sweaty hands make shifting veeery interesting, and shaky arms was a serious problem for my right arm (not left though) - resulting in a bouncy bow and rubbish sounds at the frog. And then you have to stand up, which is bad because if you feel self-conscious, you can end up freezing your lower body, or if you get wobbly legs, everything feels a bit weird.
Maybe it was partly that I thought piano was a bit of a joke, and since I knew I was rubbish I didn't care if I went wrong though - whereas with violin I always wanted to do well, which often resulted in greater nerves, and a rubbish performance.

I've done it......

Reassuring is not the best term but as we are talking relatively about different instruments, it is better than silence, especially in a non-exam situation.



It has unfortunately happened to me. I warmed up on the oboe in a separate room no problem, but as soon as I stepped in front of the audience I just went to pieces. I played the first few lines rather flat, stopped for a bar's rest and couldn't start again. The piano played the same bar several more times, added a few more variations and eventually after several attempts I managed to get a sound (I would hesitate to call it a note) out again. I was so put off by this that I just gave up at the first cadence having played approximately a third of the piece.

As a child taking a violin exam I also once managed to drop the violin the first time I shifted position because I was shaking so much. Hence my (relative) preference for piano.



That I think is very true. It is in the end a subjective judgement and one instrument is only more nerve-wracking than another when you play several.

It's definitely, at least in amateur orchestras, a lot less intimidating for strings, because you can hide much more effectively. So don't feel bad about thinking that way - it's true reasonably often!


However on the piano, if one knows the music and hits the right notes, they will sound - even if maybe a couple of them aren't exactly in the right order, or right rhythm, or exactly at the dynamic you want. A wind player could be totally well prepared, and know all the notes, and still not actually be able to play the piece. A pianist would end up playing random notes only if they totally lost the plot - a flautist or oboist could still know exactly what they're doing, put their fingers in the right places, etc etc - and still only get silence!

I think I get a dry mouth whenever I am really nervous, it's just that I notice far more in situations when I am doing something which, ideally, one doesn't want a dry mouth for! (I can think of at least one non-woodwind-related situation where I had a mouth like the sahara due to nerves...)

Unfortunately the more physically involved one is with the instrument, the more potential for nerves to get in the way, I think. A pianist has to get brain, hands, and possibly feet (usually just one at a time though...) working together. A violinist or guitarist "only"(! ) has to worry about two hands but they're doing extremely different things. A flautist has to add lungs, support muscles, lips, mouth cavity into the mix. A singer has their whole body involved! So whilst I think it varies from person to person what makes you nervous, the potential for your body letting you down does get bigger as you move toward instruments which require a lot of very different things to be going on, and a lot of different parts of the body being involved. What actually makes a person nervous will vary enormously, but I think the potential for those nerves to be disruptive is more to do with which instrument is being played. I can't think of anything where severe nerves wouldn't or would be unlikely have any affect - anyone?? I suspect it also has to do with the kind of piece being played - I'm sure the piano would move up the "nerves can mess it up" scale considerably if one was playing a piece with insane jumps in it...

I may well get more nervous playing the piano than I do the flute, but those nerves have only my hands and head (I don't do pedal yet if I can help it ) to disrupt. Nerves when I'm playing the flute can cause all sorts of fun! That's just my opinion and my experience, obviously, but it seems to make sense. Whether something is actually nerve-wracking for a particular person will be intensely personal, but what those nerves can do I'd guess would show similarities among instruments and families of instruments.

The only time I can play the piano for people to hear is when they're sitting down some other place doing something else and NOT watching me. Even when my mum stands behind me and watches me play, I start getting sweaty. When I had 2 friends over, one of them sat right beside me and the other stood behind me, a piece that I normally played perfectly went into pieces. Horrible stage fright. Strangely enough, when I play the violin for my friends to hear, I'm not too nervous. Maybe it's because the pieces are simpler than what I'm playing on piano for now.

...presumably violin is your second instrument then...because I was also wondering whether that is a fact in itself, ie when you've already proved you've reached a certain grade on one instrument (on which you feel you mustn't let yourself down), you don't mind being a bit shaky on a second or third instrument (and care less what people think)...

I can't decide whether reading this thread has reassured me that everyone has problems with nerves or has made me feel more nervous! I have a recital in about...3 hours
I'm an oboist (which incidently is my second instrument) and that doesn't make it any better, if anything I'm more nervous playing my oboe than my flute.
To respond to the initial question, I think the oboe is soooooooooooo nerve wracking to play! When you get up in front of an audience, you have absolutely no idea whats going to happen! My main problem is a tendancy not to breathe and to forget to breathe out until it's too late and I either have to stop or explode
In general, performing is scary! I'm going to go panic for a while now

*shiver* I definately feel more confident performing on piano than on my violin, maybe partly because I'm better on the piano. But then again, nerves seem to have more effect on my violin playing such as going completely out of tune, having my bow bounce or shake, or making horrid screechy sounds. But on piano, the worse than could happen is hitting a wrong note, or stumbing. You hands could shake terribly but it wouldn't be very obvious at all.

If a non-musician was reading this thread, his response would be, "Why, in the name of ???? do these people do this to themselves???!!!"

Anyone got an answer? I don't - but I still want to do it!

I enjoy the psychological challenge of performing in front of others, for instance the weekend before last I performed at my uncle's wedding. There I was tinkling away with nobody paying attention, then about 4 people came and stood around the piano (an od Bluthner grand) at different angles watching me, and instantly I knew I was having to concentrate harder. However I managed to get through most of the pieces without incident. I make myself think that I want to show these people what I am really like at my best not my worst - it seems to work!

Because it's so exhilarating to play music with and for others!

I wish I knew how to spell that....

I love to play music anyway, even on my own, to myself, for my own pleasure - but although I get very nervous, the buzz when things go right, or when I'm performing in a really good group, is just amazing - I played in the county Youth orchestra in 6th form and it was the most incredible feeling to play all this fantastic music in places like the Pump Rooms in Cheltenham to a packed audience - to be part of that incredible sound!

In a different way, though still that buzz, to play and do well despite nerves for a forum-concert audience... or to play chamber music with a friend or friends simply for pleasure.

All these things are immeasurably worth it

Playing any brass instrument is quite nerve wracking... especially trumpet if you've got to come in high and loud... you've got to play confidently but if you hit the wrong note (split it), EVERYONE knows!

At the end of a long concert, your stamina is really being tested and the muscles in your embouchure are starting to give way... and for some reason, conductors love to end with a rousing encore of Crown Imperial! Aghhhhh!



However, personally, I find it WAY more nerve wracking to play the piano in public. I can kind of enter a zone of confidence on the trumpet but on the piano, everything falls apart when I play in front of other people!

It's quite ironic for me, I LOVE concert performing, but I'm terrible at it!

With woodwinds, I very very easily (and nearly always) lose my place somewhere along the line, miscount notes/rests etc and sometimes get a pretty dismal tone.

Piano I seem to just go pear shaped half the time Even when I know a piece very well too! I still go wrong with pieces I learnt about 2/3 years ago!

Although I think I am getting more confident with performing, especially as a recorder player