"Beethoven's fleur-de-lis" is a very funny malapropism. I've never heard that before!

Steven

You are sssssssooooooo lucky you can play the piano.

(As if luck has anything to do with it ).

Kathleen

"Classical music? I hate that stuff."

"Can you play the Beatles?"

"Are you going to be a music major?"

"Why do you bother practicing that long?"

I edited it because I realized that it wasn't piano-specific.
For clarity's sake, I am very often asked "how old are you?"

The follow-up question of "how" is one that I have ceased to answer because it is long, complicated, and just too much work for such a frequently asked question.

Piano? What for? Why do you bother?
ok, if you like it.... and when do you finish your studies? Can you play concertos yet? NO??? You've been studing for a WHOLE YEAR and you can't play a concert yet? You're loosing your time and your money!


*sighs* Sometimes I don't bother to answer....

:rolleyes:

When I bring my scores to school:

"Do you play piano?" (Captain Obvious to the rescue)
"Did you have any teachers?"
"Do you play at a church?" (In the Philippines, owning a piano often means that one of the family members play an organ synthesizer at a church)
"What kind of music do you play?" (Quite a dumb question)

and other q's not worthy to post.

Well then at least I wasn't hallucinating after all. :rolleyes:

I have a great knowledge (okay, IMHO) of Anglican Church music, and I do get the "age" question on a fairly regular basis.

Otherwise, Daniel, you seem wise beyond your years, and your analytical approach to music is a marvel. Good on ya...

Can you play the "Minute" Waltz in a minute?

Steven

How long have you been playing?
2 years.

Wow, thats impossible.
Yeah, but I practice a lot.

Wow, you're really talented.
3-4 hrs a day and you can be talented too.

Okay.. *shakes head in disbelief*

[off-topic]

Christian Scientists are the ones with pocket protectors.

"How do you remember all those tunes???"

(I have 60,000 lead lines copied on the cuff of my blouse...)

I hate it when I get asked to play piano man or great balls of fire, not classical but it gets asked a lot.

After I play for someone, they usually say:

"Wow, I wish I hadn't given up my piano lessons when I was kid."


best wishes,
Valerie

"Can you teach me to play something?"

OK. That's funny!!

- them: can you play piano man (or ben folds)?
- me: i don't take requests
them: oh

or

- them: how much do you practice?
- me: not enough

or

- them: Hey! Piano man!
- me: *sigh*

or

- them: how long have you been playing?

or

- them: why didn't you major in law?

me (dumbfounded): uhhhhhhhhhhhhh.........sure?

I frequently get "Why didn't you go into music?" How I answer depends on who asks.

I study musicology. Very few are aware of its existence and even fewer know what it is, hence I always get the same three questions:

1. Oh, you're studying musicology? So, which instrument?

Considering that the German term for musicology is "Musikwissenschaft" (literally: musical science), I think this is a quite silly question, as if you'd ask a linguist whether he prefers to write poems or prose...

Once I've explained that musicology is mainly about studying musical theory and history and doesn't involve learning an instrument, the second question follows:

2. So you'll be a music teacher then?

... No, music teachers attend the conservatory where they study musical pedagogy.

Question No. 3 then actually makes sense:

3. What do you do then when you've finished your studies?

Oh, if only I had a dollar for every time...

That's obvious, isn't it? You do research, write learned articles and books, teach other musicolologists (with apologies to Peter Schickele).

Scottish pipers may have it worse than pianists.

A friend of mine has lost count of the number of times he's been asked "so, what do you wear under your kilt?"

His answer: "shoes and socks".

I've been asked:

"Can you play THE FIFTH?"

"The fifth what?" I ask.

"Ya know the fifth by Beethoven"

His fifth what? I ask.

"Ya know THE FIFTH"

"Sorry I don't know which fifth. He wrote 32 sonatas for piano, 5 sonatas for cello, 9 symphonies, 5 piano concertos, so which fifth do you want?" I answer.

"The one that goes ... YA, YA YA, Dummm"

"Oh that one sorry I can't play that one because it's written for orchestra and I play the piano", I tell him.

"Oh" and he walks away.

John

You only play classical? Why don't you play REAL music?

Variation: Don't you play any music with words?

Serious observation here:

The vast majority of people generally can't comprehend the combination of talent,practice, and training that goes into becoming an accomplished musician. So we really need to be sensitive to this when we engage in these conversations.

For instance, I've had many people say to me that they wish that they had kept taking piano lessons so that they could play like I can. Well, at least in my opinion, the vast majority of them could have taken 30 years of lessons and not been true musicians. I'm not being an elitist here. I'm just telling the truth.

I always just say that there are things I wish I had stuck with, such as golf. But, the truth is, I played a ton of golf, and I never could have been as good a golfer as I am a pianist. While I used to be able to break 85, that's like being able to play an easy Beethoven Sonata. A "scratch" pianist can play the Waldstein. Which I can, leaving aside the damned octave glissandi.

The bottom line is that we need to recognize that most folks don't really understand. So don't be rude. Just smile, evaluate their level of understanding, respond appropriately, and move on.