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I was watching several youtube videos of Nicolai Lugansky. I thought he was an absolutely incredible pianist but felt he had an annoying habit that a fairly high % of performers share with him. He often raises his head and looks at the ceiling.

I know some will feel that the only thing that matters is what comes out of the piano as the pianist plays it, but for me the visual aspect is a part of a live performance.

I've seen Victor Rosenbaum(a teacher I highly respect) in master classes humorously point out to students what he feels is the negative aspect of ceiling staring by asking if there was something unusual on the ceiling that caught their attention.

So... what's your opinion of this staring at the ceiling?

actually i don't mind if a pianist does that once a while, since it's far better than making strange faces (Uchida comes to mind), sort of like pretending to be hugely emotionally involved.

strangely, now that you mentioned it, i remember that i was consciously aware of myself doing it at lesson the other day, playing 2 vs. 3 and trying to just listen to myself...

Funny you should mention Mr. Rosenbaum. I also saw him holding a master class. The pianist was playing and staring up and off into the distance. I found it to be a little annoying, it seemed like an affectation. After he played, the first remark Mr. Rosenbaum had was:
"When you play you should not look up at the ceiling. We as an audience want to have our experience of the music, not see you having your experience of the music." It was quite funny but very succinct and accurate. He was not mean or snide, but made his remark in a gentle yet effective way. I saw a few of his classes and he was always very soft spoken, but really interested in the true spirit of the music.

"we...want to have our experience of the music, not see you having your experience of the music."

That's going to stick with me.

So then, are visual expressions of "getting lost in the music", (like ceiling-staring) really a form of self-centeredness on the part of the performer?

I recall reading that when one is asked a certain type of question, they look upwards as they think out the answer. I have seen this many times when someone is asked to recall something..they put their hand on their chin, and look upwards. Perhaps this is related to pianists looking upwards...I know I do that from time to time.

Who cares what the pianist looks like when he performs? As a professional pianist, I don't care how I look when I perform--I'm going to experience the music I play. People are paying to listen to me--when I'm performing, I'm sharing something that is very personal. If the audience doesn't like it, too bad, the door's wide open.

So rock and pop stars can rock out and enjoy the music but not classical pianists?

Performing is a very-centered thing to do.

off hand, i'll share what i do and that is look at the ceiling while 'memorizing' something.. it's very habitual... it's also very good for my neck, shoulder and upper back muscles. i don't think i have EVER done it in public. it seems kind of holy when people actually do it... as if they are communing with the great god of music or something.

as i have evolved, playing in public, i've realized that the less inhibited i am, the better i play. In the past i've been incredibly self conscious, immobile and stony faced. As i've gotten used to the public in the pews, my inhibitions are not so prominent and that is definitely a good thing.

it would certainly bother me if i thought a ceiling staring episode were contrived.

Would it be better if all the lights were to go off in the concert hall, so nobody could be distracted by anything the pianist was doing?

There are some things that pianists sometimes do when performing that distract or annoy me. Looking upwards is not one of them. It's something that seems to occur quite naturally, and I think I would just as soon that the pianist not be self-consciously monitoring that kind of thing while performing, if it's just a spontaneous movement.

My explanation (I'm not saying it's right, by any means! )

I would assume that the ceiling-staring business - assuming it's a habit, not an act - subconsciously occurs from a desire to eliminate the VISUAL aspects of playing piano, so one can focus more on the MUSICAL aspects... just like when somebody is deep in thought - they often look up so that they can focus their attention on the current problem rather than other visual distractions.

If this is the case, i'm sure that you could get into the habit of staring at something a little closer to the ground, maybe just over the music stand into the darkness, or at a wall, etc.

I have been to at least 6 Uchida concerts and never noticed what for me were distracting facial expressions. I can virtually guarantee that if she does make faces that distract you it is not because she is "pretending".

I am curious about how forum members respond to this video of Yundi Li playing the second movement of Chopin's e minor concerto:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Mg24YsN0iuU

I think it is an incredibly beautiful performance and that his facial expressions add a great deal to the performance. I think he is anyting but pretending but instead is reacting to thie music which he seems to find sublime.

I have listened to a few of your recordings at your website and thought they were terrific but I have to disagree with you on several points here.

If appearnace doesn't matter would it be OK to wear dirty jeans and a ripped t-shirt when you perform? I realize this is not exactly like looking at the ceiling or making faces but I think appearnance is a part of alive performance although a relatively small part.

As far as your saying the audience can leave if they don't like it, IMHO that is somewhat arrogant.

... and if your audience takes your advice, where are you? I find it difficult to believe that a professional performer would be this dismissive of his audience. You imply that performance is about communication, yet you contradict yourself by first saying that the audience is "paying to listen to [you]..."while you are "sharing something that is very personal," but then you add that the audience can leave if they don't like your demeanor. This doesn't sound like communication and sharing to me.

Regards,

I've wondered about that. Some years back I saw Schiff in the Brahms D minor, and he spent quite a bit of time looking upwards. Hard to say whether he was looking upward for inspiration, or just contemptuous of the audience.

But I've haven't attended a concert of his since.

how can you hate this pianist?

minute 5 for ceiling staring

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNthyu6W0mw

Ceiling staring is just another way to take a peak at the score when your memory slips a measure or two.

No, they are not, if by self-centered you mean something intended to draw attention away from the sound and toward the performer.

"Getting lost in the music" may be a vague and silly-sounding phrase, but we all know what it means, and I can't think of a better way to describe it. It's a noble goal. Some pianists are able to achieve this while staring at the keys and making zero movements, except those necessary for the physical production of sound. And good for them. But not everyone is built this way. If staring at the ceiling (or some other mannerism) helps a pianist get where he needs to be, he'll generally do it, and won't be discouraged by a few offended souls in the audience. It usually has nothing to do with "ego" in the pejorative sense.