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I don't think there's any reason for a lot of people. Recording a video of yourself playing and you might be surprised what you look like when you play the piano.
Working on: Chopin - Nocturne op. 48 no.1 Debussy - Images Book II
There are quite a few pianists who look like they are being tortured when they are really in ecstasy - like Mitsuko Uchida, playing Schubert, or indeed anything.
So, there's a bit of a disconnection between what they feel and what their facial expressions are. I realized this on myself too when I watched videos of myself playing.
In general, it's best to be seated just behind the pianist on the keyboard side - there, you have the best views of the pianist's hands and feet. And not of their face.
People play the piano for different reasons. I think most people play to entertain. If you look at the entertainment section of a newspaper, the bands dress and look a special way, stand in a specail way.
Musicians play an instrument for a million reasons but mostly for money. To make money, you have to travel to earn a living - or for most - To some extent, you have to provide an element of interest. Only a small element of society know enough about music that it is all about the music note by note.
There are a few jobs like being a musician where you can go into automation which means that one can think about just about anything while playing an instrument. It is only when the music is extremely fast or difficult that you have to concentrate.
A better example is when you drive a car, you can talk and drive, eat and drive, listen to music when you drive, etc, but if there is fast traffic in a crowded freeway with on and off ramps, new drivers can be stressed and must concentrate.
So what happens is that a person while playing can drift to the music and drift way from the music because the brain/mind/memory enables one to drift in and out of the moment when it is difficult and drift way and relax. Connected to that, of course, is to create image with hand gestures and facial gestures that enhance the experience - entertainment. Remember that billions of people who can play - and how few on the planet can make enough money to support themselves.
Think of the people who play an instrument and how many people watch a tv. I know only a few people - including myself - who don't watch tv or don't have a tv. for the last 50 years.
When we do anything there could be moments that can cause you to make a bit of a facial gesture but probably little or none most of the time.
As a beginner and just learning 16 notes, it is all pretty slow playing in the bigger picture. But if I could play awesome fast Klezmer music, gypsy music, fast tangos, I would probably be flying off the piano bench with excitement and expression smiling all the way - but for now - it is far off in the distance. I would love to be able to play Chopin's funeral march - not about death - but the beautiful music that is so moving and would cause one to feel and express every note you had to play.
There are quite a few pianists who look like they are being tortured when they are really in ecstasy - like Mitsuko Uchida, playing Schubert, or indeed anything.
So, there's a bit of a disconnection between what they feel and what their facial expressions are. I realized this on myself too when I watched videos of myself playing.
In general, it's best to be seated just behind the pianist on the keyboard side - there, you have the best views of the pianist's hands and feet. And not of their face.
For me, Uchida's faces look like ecstasy and not torture.
I think in general, this topic is over discussed because in a concert setting almost no one has a view equivalent to the front view close ups one can see on YouTube. One would have to be sitting just at the tail of the piano for an equivalent view. I have heard Uchida many time in live recital and never gave her expressions any thought. Of course, some would say this topic is still important because YouTube is so pervasive and I would agree with them.
I like to see a pianist's face(but not necessarily in the ultra closeup close up views on sees on YouTube. (I sometimes almost feel I'm invading their privacy in those ultra close up views.) When I started a thread about watching a pianist's face, most of the responders felt the same way.
There are quite a few pianists who look like they are being tortured when they are really in ecstasy - like Mitsuko Uchida, playing Schubert, or indeed anything.
In general, it's best to be seated just behind the pianist on the keyboard side - there, you have the best views of the pianist's hands and feet. And not of their face.
I have seen Uchida twice in concert -both times in London- and she lived up to her reputation as one of the greats. Those were memorable recitals.
But I almost ALWAYS sit exactly where you do. I am not concerned about the best seat in the house for acoustics, I go for the visual experience and want to see the hands. Even at Seattle Symphony's performance last January of Messiaen's Turangalîla (what a great concert that was!) I sat where I could see the action from Thibaudet. He played splendidly.
Back to Uchida, the facial expressions on her YouTube videos strike me more as 'ecstasy', but perhaps I am slightly more mischievous than you.
My kid is learning the first mvt of this concerto (Mozart 23) currently. This is one of our favorite recordings but we absolutely cannot stand to watch it.
Back to Uchida, the facial expressions on her YouTube videos strike me more as 'ecstasy', but perhaps I am slightly more mischievous than you.
I might have to study her facial expressions again (or maybe not)....
Artur Rubinstein famously castigated those who emote too obviously when playing ('Why are they looking at the ceiling in wonder? Is there a fly there, perhaps?'). But most of us do it unconsciously, and if we try to force ourselves to put on a blank expression, it would affect our playing.
Personally, I like the regal, aristocratic elegance of Michelangeli (totally impassive, because he's communing with the composer, not the audience, who are just an annoyance) and the understated wit of Pletnev (a merest twitch or a slight raising of the eyebrows when he's playing something naughty ).
If I'm not mistaken (I read the review but didn't attend), the last time Lang Lang played in Chicago there was also a giant screen so that no one in the audience would miss his clowning.
So many pianists, including amateurs, are almost unwatchable for me because of not just their facial expressions, but their self-conducting, or whatever that is. Do teachers encourage the self-conducting? The hand that is not playing rises up and makes motions, sometimes circular, or merely palm-out, or palm-up. It makes me want to gag. I'm with Rubinstein on the ceiling fly...I love watching the videos of him playing. So elegant. Argerich is another non-emoter, although her hair is so often hiding her face that I want to pull it back with a barrette so I can see a little more of her non-expressions.
On emoting, physical gesture, or lack thereof, I give the thumbs-up to Kissin. Kissin also does the unconscious mouth movements, like an infant sleeping. Zimmerman has some hand and arm flourishes that are a little annoying, but sometimes his eyebrows will shoot up, which is a nice effect.
I just watched the performance of one of the Cleveland finalists, and her constant smiling was a distraction. I'm glad she's happy and feeling the music, but I like more of a poker face with the occasional helpless mini-grimace of ecstasy. Just not too many. Then there was another contestant, with an admirable poker face interrupted by segments of such vigorous mouth movement he seemed to be chewing gum.
The calmer the body the better pianist the person is... these are my thoughts... Because or you have emotions on your face or under the fingers. Look at the Zimerman, Hamelin, Rubinstein, Gilels, and many many others...
The other thing is that, long long time ago, young people were told how to seat in a piano and not to make stupid faces. Today we have dozens of Quasimodos on the bench...
The calmer the body the better pianist the person is... these are my thoughts... Because or you have emotions on your face or under the fingers. Look at the Zimerman, Hamelin, Rubinstein, Gilels, and many many others...
The other thing is that, long long time ago, young people were told how to seat in a piano and not to make stupid faces. Today we have dozens of Quasimodos on the bench...
Of course, there are many great pianists who do make at least some(or even extreme)facial expressions.
Just because in the past some pianists may have been taught to not make faces doesn't in itself make it any objectively better than playing with facial expressions.
Artur Rubinstein famously castigated those who emote too obviously when playing ('Why are they looking at the ceiling in wonder? Is there a fly there, perhaps?'). But most of us do it unconsciously, and if we try to force ourselves to put on a blank expression, it would affect our playing.
Although Rubinstein was generally very minimal in his facial expressions and body movements, even he was not beyond doing huge exaggerated hand movements in his performance of Ritual Fire Dance. And those were purely for effect as compared to examples where pianists are not intentionally making expression.
Have you tried it? Starts with the eyes, then face, then whole body?
Interesting vid, prenex. Seems to me that what this guy is talking about is helping people develop their "emotional intelligence," that is, helping people who have a tendency to react impulsively in situations to become aware of what specific emotions come into play in any given situation. That way, they can behave more thoughtfully, and less impulsively. Hence, the "exercises" that he refers to.
That said, as far as using this idea as a tool to generate emotions, I suspect that actors do this more than most. And, as to your question in the title of this thread... Do pianists? Well, who knows? I doubt it. I think 1) in some pianists, their facial expressions are pure affectation; 2) in some pianists, their facial expressions are a result of genuine feeling and "oneness" with the sound that surrounds them as they plumb the depths to convey meaning; 3) in some pianists, facial expressions are a result of actual physical or mental exertion, and 4) in some pianists, it is a combination of all three, but most often 2 and 3.
Here's a personal illustration of number 3: For the longest time (from childhood until about now), I would occasionally stick my tongue out while playing, usually when I was totally concentrating on what I was doing. It was completely unconscious behavior. If you have ever seen the lead violinist of the Bretano String Quartet, you will get the idea. (Or, if you have ever seen a kid doing a tough math problem, that, too.) The tongue just barely passes the lips, and the mouth is taut. My wife would walk by the piano and say, "You're sticking your tongue out." I'd say, "So?" And she'd say, "It looks funny. You've got to stop doing that." Over time (with the reminders), I was able to come out of my concentration reverie enough to realize, "Hey! You're sticking your tongue out!," and then stick it back in. As I began to (sometimes) be able to monitor what my facial muscles were doing while I was playing (not the most important thing to pay attention to in the moment, if you know what I mean) I began to realize that I was sticking out my tongue less and less. But then, I noticed I was grimmacing. And, one day, after a performance at a place where I play regularly, an audience member came up to me afterward and said, "I like watching your facial expressions when you play." I thought to myself, "What?!? What facial expressions? I don't make facial expressions when I play! ...do I?"
- like Mitsuko Uchida, playing Schubert, or indeed anything.
