Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Giving recital feedback to others....Your thoughts?

I'm not sure exactly how to properly phrase this question because it's not really a question but rather a statement or better put, my opinion concerning giving feedback to others on their recital piece.

The way I look at it, most, if not all of us have put in a GREAT deal of time and effort learning our selections, practicing it for endless hours as well as going through the whole recording process which can be described as a stressful learning process in itself for many to say the least! .

I have to say that it is very nice to receive feedback from others if not only to serve as a form of acknowledgement from others for the amount of time and effort that went into these performances.

An entire write up is not nessessary as a simple short acknowledgement will suffice.

While "nice job", "sounds good", "loved it" etc may sound a bit overused, it certainly does'nt mean that these comments are insincere. I mean how many ways can you tell someone that you really enjoyed their performance and commend them for their efforts anyway?.

The point I'm trying to make is that I really DO appreciate everyones participation in the recitals as well as know how much work and effort goes into the entire process.

While I may be handing out a bunch of "sounds goods", "loved its" etc in my replies, please know that I really DO mean it and am not just firing off standard issue canned responses.

As the participation in these recitals increases over time, it may be difficult to respond and acknowledge everyone due to time constraints but it would be nice if a short reply was given to a few of the pieces that really stood out for you.

I'm not asking anyone to force themselves into giving feedback to everyone as that would sort of defeat the purpose to begin with. That said, a simple group acknowledgement or better yet, a few individual replies really can mean a lot to the performers who have invested so much time in their performances.

For those who would like to respond to everyone but don't have lots of time, a suggestion of possibly giving 5-10 quick replies a day for a few days could achieve this goal.

As to not rush my responses, I think I am going to give a few replies every day for a while until the entire group has been addressed. There is NO time restrictions to do so and it will only take a few minutes per day to do it this way.

Like I said, I'm sure that EVERYONE really appreciates a simple pat on the back once in a while, (some more often! :rolleyes: ) and a simple acknowledgement of a job well done can really go a long way in terms of a reward as well as a continued incentive to forge ahead in this musical journey.

This is one of the 4 times per year that we all really do get together as a group so lets keep the positive vibes flowing and show our support for one another.

Mr. S-H,

I concur. When my friend etorrales was working on her submission for the the recital I was doing the recording. We then discussed her piece and she commented on how nice it was to play for someone who could provide feedback. AS musicians we all want to play for someone else and we want to know how our music was received.

I do want to get feedback (both positive and negative) on my submission. I will also offer feedback to others on their playing. I think that they deserve acknowledgment just for the effort of making a submission.

Ed

Good thoughts, S-H. I for one probably won't even be able to listen until some time in April, much less give feedback, tho I'll be sure to bump the thread when I do

But I *always* assume that if someone says "Great job, everyone!" they're talking directly to me

This one has some really interesting submissions -

Cathy

Just two thoughts: I think it's better to add a new message rather than keep editing the same one when adding comments a few at a time - otherwise it's easy for somebody to miss them - and somehow, we need to make more use of the critical thread; I'm sure most of us want critical commentry but everybody is 'too nice' to do it; or we feel we are not expert enough maybe; I dunno...

S-H:
I didn't write per-submittal reviews on the last two recitals (did it last January though) exactly for the banality of the "great!" responses (even though I would certainly mean every "great!"). I'll probably stick with the same style, but will try to do post a few "critical feedback" posts on the ones that I feel qualified to say anything about. Great points from S-H as usual!

LaValse:

I DO agree with your point of NOT re-editing past comments to include new reviews as they may certainly get lost.

Just another thought, how about having a pre-made template of all the recital participants names in BOLD so we can just quickly cut and paste whomever we want to reply to?.

In past recitals, I have spent more time just trying not to botch everyones names in their headings!.

If we could quickly cut and paste 5-10 performers names and then spend a few minutes each day with a quick (but sincere) response, well now, that would be the cats meow!.

I enjoy the recitals so much and without exception have downloaded the recitals and put them in "repeat mode" for a number of days so that I can really have a good chance to listen to each piece.

I know that I always appreciate it when someone comments on my own meager efforts, even if it's just a "good job". Sure, I like some pieces better than others but I nevertheless enjoy them all and I try hard to give feedback that's proportional to the pleasure I've received from listening to the recital.

Looking forward to this one!

I'm about to fall over from sleep, but I could swear I already added that to the recital software. Lemme check...

...ah, indeed. A "response template" is generated automatically after the deadline. Monica will have to link to it from the recital thread (the software provides instructions for this, so I'm sure she'll do that.)

Here's what it looks like from the previous recital:

http://abf.make247.co.uk/recital_files/Test_Recital/response-template.txt

You can copy&paste that into your reply and then replace the "(to do)" items with your comments.

> I'm about to fall over from sleep

Never a good idea to sleep while standing up...

Hunk,

Nice comments that are important to remember now that recital time is so near.

Ed's (epf), comment is so true about musicians needing feedback. I didn't know how important feedback would be until I received it after my first ABF recital (5).

Cathy's (jotur), comment that she assumes, "Great job, everyone!" is directed to her, is super! We all should assume the same for ourselves.

Other than feeling good about participating, there is nothing more gratifying and self-esteem raising than to receive a comment from another. To know that they have taken the time to listen is, in itself, a compliment.

I'm really eager to hear the beautiful music that awaits me. Like Greg (BB Player), I have unzipped and placed every piece from all previous recitals in my computer and my mp3 player.

Lisztener

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Lisztener:


To know that they ("others")have taken the time to listen is, in itself, a compliment.

Another PW hall of fame quote contender!

Some people like medals too!

With increasing number of participants it does get more difficult to comment on everyones. What I've done the last few recitals is start a template with everyone's name and piece in a simple txt file. I'll listen at work (shhh) a few at a time and add comments as I go, saving my posting till my text file is complete. It takes a few days or a week usually.

Cool. Now you can simply download that .txt file and type in your comments.

Yes, I actually type the comments right in the text file as I go along and then when I'm finished, copy/paste the whole thing in my reply.

I didn't know about that template Matthijs

Thats going to be very useful, I do try my best to listen to everyones pieces and to let them know my thoughts especially if I enjoyed listening to them play...but, have to admit the typing it all out takes a lot of effort (especially as I can't touch type)

That should save me some time

Thanks for the heads up


Lee

In every recital, I listened to everyone's piece 2-3 times and sometimes more if I couldn't get enough of it. Being a participant myself, I can imagine the effort everyone put into his/her performance. Honestly, I think everyone was outstanding and some were super excellent. I would feel kinda awkward if I wrote "great job", "good work", "love it", "you have emotion in your piece" on just about everyone's performance. So I only wrote constructive comments (on pieces that I know well) when I felt the performer could easily do better if he/she knows what it is to do; I know most in this ABF are self-taught.

Mr S-H, if you really want to know, you are on the super excellent list. And I don't say that just to make you happy. I like classical music and only play from sheet music, and I know you like to improvise just about any tune you can pick up. But the love for music doesn't have to restrict to any particular style. We do whatever that moves our heart and soul, and I think you are doing very well with what you do.

What could possibly be so bad about this thread that it gets a 2 rating? It's all about positive stuff...

Lisztaddict:

Thank you for the nice words as I do very much appreciate them. I do want to point out however that this is one of those very rare occassions in which this thread is NOT about me but rather how important it is for everyone to get some type of feedback

It is more a gesture or acknowledgement that someones piece has been heard and appreciated. As Lisztener had said, "to know someone had taken the time to listen to your piece is in itself a compliment". I could'nt agree more.

I guess the bottom line of my post is to say it would be really nice if everyone who took the time and effort to participate in these recitals were simply given some quick feedback on their piece just as a way of saying thank you for providing us with this performance.

While "nice job", "sounds great" etc may sound a bit cliche, everyone knows that there are only so many ways to say good job and thus those simple words still DO carry a lot of meaning.

Jazzwee:

Your comment on the ratings once again truly saddens me. Not because this thread is so poorly rated, but because it just goes to show you (once again) that there ARE forum snipers AMONGST US!.

This thread is only about supporting one another but yet some (of course nameless) members feel the need to take time just to "rate" a positive thread poorly. The fact that this continues to happen is disappointing to say the least.

Just think, *possibly* some of the people you will be spending time giving recital feedback/reviews too will be the same members who find enjoyment out of rating/ranking you poorly!.

I guess the whole ranking system would'nt bother me so much if it was'nt knowing that people actually went out of their way to rate/rank you poorly. Of course, anonymously!

The most difficult thing for me in giving feedback is that I am pretty...uhh...crappy with words sometimes!

It is oft-times very difficult for me to put my feelings into words as I'd like. It also seems that the more intense the emotion I feel, the more of a challenge it is for me to describe it, which is frustrating because it is so important that you all know the impact your music has.

Tina