Okay, so I found out that sound quality at concerts/recitals is actually (usually) better in the back area. I ALSO found out that performs get urked whenever they walk out on stage and see people in the front row (IF the hall is not full/there are plenty of places in the middle or back for them to sit in).

This never occurred to me, because whenever I perform recitals, I love when the audience is close to me. In fact, if I had it my way, in my recitals, I would have chairs set up on stage for people to sit there, too.

What about you guys? How close do you like your audience members to you while performing?

Personally it doesn't bother me where audience members sit. I usually sit in the middle left so I can see the pianist's hands, and the sound is a little better if you sit back and can hear the acoustics sweeten the sound. But it doesn't irk me if people sit in the front

The last concert I went to I sat in the front row before a full orchestra, and I have to say the sound was phenomenal. Het Amsterdamse Concertgebouw is known for its great acoustics though, this might not be everywhere. But I was pleasantly surprised.

I feel uncomfortable sitting too close to the pianist, like I'm crowding into his space or any slight movement on my part could distract him. Most of the recitals I go to are at the Mannes concert hall which seats around 300, and I usually sit in about the tenth row out of 15. Closer than that and the piano can be too loud.

I attended hundreds of recitals at Carnegie Hall in the past and almost always sat in the tenth row there(after moving from the upper balcony at intermission). Of course, the tenth row at Carnegie Hall is maybe twice as far back as the tenth row at Mannes.

Well, it depends on the theatre, but usually the first row in not so convenient, you are right. Apart from the sound, you can't see properly either, particularly if the stage is high.

This is an interesting topic. While it really does depend on the structure in which the sound is resonating, the general rule of thumb is the back third of the hall is the best place to sit. When people tune rooms, it is usually around the center, or slightly back from center of the stage. That way you can hear the overtones, harmonics, and all of the sonic possibilities.

Sometimes, like victor25 said, when it is a concert with full orchestra or more, I love to sit up front. While the upper harmonics are sacrificed, I really get that amplifier type 'in the sound' feeling. And my opinion is, until I go deaf, the louder the better.

Now, when I give a private concert, I generally encourage people to come as close as possible, circling the piano. It makes it a more communal experience. The same thing with rock'n'roll shows... When Im giving one, I want everyone to crowd in as close as possible to the band (pref. the band is not on a stage). When I go to one, I'm usually up close. Gives it that communal feel, where the whole audience becomes one conciousness bouncing with the rhythm.

I've always felt the audience is hugely responsible for the possibilities of the concert. Obviously not as much as the performer ... If I am giving a piano concert, and everyone is dull and distant, not paying attention, or waiting for the next mistake... it shows. If I give a rocknroll show and people are dispersed around the room, talking (though its hard to talk with the amps we use), drinking, socializing etc, it basically molds the possibilities.

when performing in a big hall, one doesn't even see the audience, but I prefer being close to the ones I'm playing for, as long as they don't sit on my lap during the performance: the closer the better

Just don't bring a Pez dispenser with you...



or you might get in trouble.

Well, it’s about time someone brought up this topic. It’s so obvious that most don’t give it as much attention as they probably should. It is absolutely a key point of pianism to be able to get oneself - in whatever manner that is possible - to feel comfortable performing before others. The question related to the audience; how close it should get, because this would affect a pianist’s nervousness. It was very refreshing to hear of the “communal spirit” (in a manner of speech) of getting people together as close as possible to the music: the nervousness of a performer is an important topic and relates perhaps indirectly to this topic.

In whatever manner that is possible for the pianist to perform without becoming so nervous that he/she is unable to continue, really is implied by the question. I remember one time - a long time ago - I was performing a recital in a church and didn’t expect to feel any particular nervousness. I went out on stage feeling competent that I could play all the music from memory without the score, as I usually can, but very soon after I began, a leaden fear gripped me. All my muscles seemed tensed and heavy, I felt like my heartbeat had elevated and that my head would explode. I made it through the concert, but the agony was killing. It’s good I was still young, if you know what I mean. Certainly the piano wasn’t the greatest and the action was unsteady, and heavier than mine. But that could have all been adjusted for. Instead I was in the grip of an un-named fear since I couldn’t reasonably ascertain what was making me so afraid. I was trying desperately to stop it with my mind as I played, since I couldn’t stop. I don’t think I made any mistakes but I’m very sure, since I didn’t really even remember it, that my interpretations stank. I couldn’t imagine what that sounds like.

There was no way I was ever going to endure that again. From the time I got home, I tore the whole thing apart within myself to get at my fear. There was fear of not making mistakes, being so particular as to not be able to stand being human; one must not make mistakes, but everyone makes mistakes. One must accept this, I have had to accept it. After that there’s the music itself. I was aware that my fear had separated me from the music I was playing, from the audience that was supposedly to be there to hear it, from the music as a concept before it is even played, and that to kill my fear would require excluding everything else but the music to be played, everything else. It has been a long steady process. Playing before others more often certainly helped.

I once heard Piers Lane play a 24 minute long piece by Rachmaninoff. Before he began, he described the piece he was about to play, and I’m sure it contributed to relieving his nervousness, and then said, “ok then, I’ll be back with you in about 24 minutes” and then he began to play. I understood that he was going away and that while he was playing the music would be there through him. Whether that’s what he meant I never knew because I didn’t get a chance to ask him after the concert, but I think it was really self explanatory.

Every time I’ve played in recital since that long ago time, though sometimes the pressure is off because we are just fooling around and other people are there and sometimes we have our best performances, it’s been the music not me while I am playing. Think of that, gaining a certain kind of super awareness by NOT being there but instead becoming a conduit for something else. THAT is the “religious experience” for the pianist, a role similar to that of a priest.

I honestly think and hope that all those who spoke of having people sit up close, practically in your face as you play, are aware of this phenomenon. It’s really one of the pillars of pianism.

PS: Yes it very often is better to sit farther back in a recital as the sound is often better than up really close, better in a different sort of way, in the ear of the audience sort of way.

what you are talking about is worth not only a new thread, but maybe e thesis, this is getting near to what it's all about as to playing in public, as meaningful to a performer as to the involved listener.

First, I think the sound is fine in the first row. Where I'd rather be is in your living room, though. If I have to sit in the back, where I don't see anything, I'd rather just buy a CD: the point of going to a concert is to be able to see what's going on.

As a member of the audience, I'm usually in the back, or on the balconies. In a few week I'll be in the front row for a Berezovsky concert, so I'll tell you how that goes (my friend chose the seats for me...)

As a performer, I dislike it when the audience is too close. Because of stress and anxiety, I seem to always notice the front row and my mind inadvertantly focuses on some of them, and that made for a painful performance where I kept hearing that one lady opening the zipper of her bag, again, and again, and again. I was about to burst near the end, hopefully I didn't play much that day...
I also feel embarassed by the "close stares" of the front rows. I like the clapping, but not the stares... They have a very strange way of looking at you when you're done. Anyways, I usually just bow and scuttle away, back to my dark corner...

For piano concerts, I prefer to sit fairly close (row 10?) to the artists so I can watch their hands, feet and facial expressions. I've got CD's to listen to if I want perfect sounds. For orchestra concerts, I prefer first tier middle because the sound is richer and more balanced.

Catenaires, you might want to look up the origin of the expression you used: It can refer to abusing women and I think you may not want to use it anymore.

WHAT? I didn't know this!

I've heard both men and women say this, and I never thought of its origins. Interesting!

heh, thanks for the heads up. Isn't it funny the expressions we use, oblivious to their origin?

This origin of the phrase is disputed here. (I realise gooddog said "can" refer to...)

It is often claimed that the term originally referred to a law that limited the maximum thickness of a stick with which it was permissible for a man to beat his wife, but this has been discredited.[1][3] British common law before the reign of Charles II permitted a man to give his wife "moderate correction", but no "rule of thumb" (whether called by this name or not) has ever been the law in England.[7][8] Such "moderate correction" specifically excluded beatings, only allowing the husband to confine a wife to the household.[9]

[1] ^ a b c 28env - J.Straton - North Carolina.Violence women
[3] ^ Safire, William, Uncertain Terms, p. 189

Back, OT (I think the law about the thumb is still in effect in some states laws), I personally prefer to sit somewhere in the middle to the left so I can see the pianist's hands and get the full effect of the acoustics. I think too far back it can get too echoey.

As far as playing, I don't do a lot of solo performances, but when I do, people are always right there, and they will move and make noises. I've learned to tune these out and focus on what I'm doing, so it doens't bother me. As a previous poster said, it's all about the music.

*1 Bravo, good reasearch.
I just finished reading a book on expressions and their orgins and this is one of the ones discussed. I too had previously thought it was a law on wife-beating!!!