Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Do you think that Clair DeLune is too popular to play...

....at a piano competition?
My teacher said that it's been played so much that the judges are probably tired of it. What does everyone here think?

no. If you love it then just play play play who cares what the judges think they're personal tastes in what pieces you choose is irrelevant.

I just didn't want them to judge my playing based on my choice of pieces. They shouldn't but i've never been in a piano competition before so I didn't know.

They can't do that.

Ah who could get tired of Claire de Lune! Especially if you play it well.

As long as you can play it properly, there's no reason why you shouldn't program it. I take it you're young and early in your career, so don't be worried about programming hackneyed music. If we all were that reticent then eventually we'd just be back to writing our own music again like in the 1800s.

If you play it well, it will go over great for competitions (just like almost any other piece). And after the competition, learn the other three movements and play the entire set in a recital. You'll LOVE it.

Judges can do what they like, and frequently do. Whether you're less likely to win playing overplayed repertoire depends on the particular judges you have though. Some would mind and some wouldn't.

I was thinking that as long as I didn't butcher it, it would be okay. I figure that probably if the judges get sick of it it's because of it being butchered. I personally love the peice ( even if it was in Twilight) (:

You'll need to do better than "not butcher it" for the judges to take you seriously.

I think playing repertoire like this in competition is a bit of a gamble. Sometimes it can pay off - a great performance of an overplayed work can be very refreshing. But a bad performance can get you quickly dismissed as someone who's jumped in over their heads, and because of the popularity of the piece, the judges will be very familiar with the score.

When I see Clair de Lune on a program, three things instantly go through my head:

1) Do I hear 9/8 or are they approximating the rhythm of the opening?

2) Can they convincingly handle the subtle difference between duplets and triplets?

3) Can they voice thirds? (Voicing thirds is quite difficult - much more so than octaves or chords.)

Because every judge has heard it so many times, they all have their idea of a perfect performance of the piece burned into their minds, and they are absolutely certain to spot every detail of your performance.

It's a bit like inviting an Italian over to your house for Italian food. If you're going to do it at all, you better do it right.

No they can't. They have guidelines and criteria to go by just like everyone else and can't make decisions based on they're own personal taste. That's not fair. Sure, they are there for their opinions, but usually the judges are educated experts in whatever field the competition may be in, and their opinions are based on what they've learned.

It's such a relief to find out I'm not the last remaining idealist!

Haha idealist indeed!

More like realist.

I'm sorry to say that the more accurate way of putting it is "they shouldn't do that", and the reality is that it does sometimes happen. I've seen it in competitions I've been to more than once.

Well they're not supposed to. It's like cheating. Judges should be completely objective and should base their decisions on performance/execution only.

Would you be able to be "completely objective" about a performance of a piece that you find - how shall we describe it? - "annoying"? a piece that you dislike intensely?

I've heard very competent professional musicians judge a performance based on their very personal feeling about how a work should be played. How can one - judge or otherwsie - remove from their judgment their emotional attachment to - or alienation from - a work that they feel strongly about, one way or another?

Regards,

Re: Clair de Lune in Competition

“My teacher said that it's been played so much
that the judges are probably tired of it.”

Presumably the teacher will have judged the lie of the land ... and the prospect of the student making the distance.

Freaky could well get shot in the foot for not listening to the qualified advice of the Piano Teacher.

However, if the un poco mosso and animato passages,
can be played with rare aplomb and speed ...
then the OP might prove the teacher wrong.

If you play a well-known piece in a contest, you must play it in a way that doesn't make the judges regret they have to listen to it for the xth time, but that keeps them captivated until the end...