I've participated in many recitals now at ABF, from when I first started in 2016 up until the present. It's always been a mix of beginner, intermediate and advanced pianists. I think more often than not it's the beginner that is hesitant to participate, and not a more experienced pianist. Anyway, everyone is welcome to participate. Nobody is checking credentials!

Josephine I agree with you. But some here will probably say that we already have advanced pianists in those recitals and we don't need to do anything to encourage more of them to participate...
I guess we'll go with what the majority decides!

    We can't say for sure who is more hesitant to participate, between the very beginners and the very advanced. I just I think that the MOST advanced pianists from PW in my opinion (I won't name them here for obvious reasons) have not participated in the recitals so far. And yes I have checked the recitals archives from way before 2016.

    @Rubens I also think that the written commentary about the submission can go a long way to addressing your concerns about coming across as a show-off. Write about what drew you to work on the piece, about challenges you had with it, etc. I’m sure advanced pianists have things they continue to find difficult, or things that for one reason or another, they haven’t completely mastered, and how working on the piece fits into your piano journey/growth. I think that in sharing something about the process of approaching/working through a piece, there’s a communication to everyone that we are all growing, and that’s part of the joy of playing the instrument!

      Sgisela Agreed. And that's what I did when I participated.

        Should we open a topic on pw about it? In the pianist recordings section? With an explanation about the recitals, and that it's also for professional and advanced pianists? Because I think they don't know that because it's in the ABF.

        Because the recitals are now still there, not here.

        I have no opinion on PW recitals because they belong on PW 🙂

        However for future P|T recitals, I would consider it an honour to listen to advanced players and novices alike 😃

          If we want to keep it simple maybe we can start by simply not hosting the recitals in the Learners forum (nor the Pianist Zone). I think a separate forum would make a major difference already. It could even be on top of the forums list because it would arguably the most exciting part.

            Sophia

            Me too. So we have to think about how to encourage them to participate.

              Rubens

              I agree. It doesn't have to be in any forum, maybe it can have its own forum. Piano Tell recitals.

                @Rubens I understand how you feel, but hopefully if members of all levels start to participate then you would feel ok?

                I recently joined an in-person playing group (after being added to the mailing list by someone I know like 5-6 years back) and the friend I brought and I are much more advanced than most. But everyone is nice and appreciative of everyone else and there's a little social time afterward, and no one feels bad at all. We were so warmly welcomed that I wondered why I was scared to show up for so long.

                I probably won't join the recitals here because of two reasons: I'm eternally working on chamber music now, and I don't have the time/energy to listen to everyone's playing and respond. I'm aware that I'm online all day and active on the forum, but I'm trying not to be! But I think you should participate in the recitals and people will really appreciate getting to listen to your playing and to have your feedback.

                Also want to comment that Sam made it pretty clear that the upcoming recital is happening on PW and I'm not sure if that's the long term plan? I wouldn't blame him if he doesn't want to run parallel recitals in two places.

                  twocats Sure. And please invite your friend to join here, for the recitals and more😁.

                      Rubens I'll check in with him when the group meets on Thursday for the final gathering of the year (with potluck); he might be interested! I'll be playing some Quartet Minus Three, haha.

                        I have sent a few private invitations to advanced pianists on PW to join here (simply because they are the minority, not just here but in every piano forum).

                          And just to make it clear, there are already a few very advanced pianists here (including Joseph Fleetwood who is a galaxy ahead of me in terms of piano accomplishments). But we don't want to bother anyone to join the recitals. It has to come from them, of course. We just have make sure they know the recitals exist (well, when they exist), that's all!

                          Rubens
                          Update: I have received replies from advanced pianists who are quality members of PW who said they are joining PT. Won't name names, but that is encouraging.

                            I really don't mind what system gets chosen (if any), but speaking strictly for myself what I enjoyed most about the PW recital system is the complete randomness of it all.

                            If someone right before or after me plays a long and complicated concert level piece it doesn't make me feel inferior (though very jealous of course 😁) But they have played for 50 years and I am one year in, no problem.

                            Whereas if I get lumped in with the toddler section where I belong, I might start to feel terrible because someone who started later than I did made it to the intermediate level.

                            Again I don't have a very strong opinion either way, but I have a slight preference for completely random 😊

                              Sophia I agree, I think the PW recitals are just fine the way they are. All levels are welcome to participate. I can understand when a teacher hosts their own recitals and decides the order, but they know their students so they can decide to order the recital as they see fit. Order by submission date/time works fine for PW.

                                Great ideas!

                                Shall we run the next Quarterly recital in parallel with ABF on PW? We might start with duplicate submissions on PW and PT and see how it all works out.

                                Based on all the suggestions, this is doable:

                                • On the day the recital submission period starts, a volunteer or leader with special permissions creates a Recital thread.
                                • Every performer submits their performance. Nobody can see it but them and the leader/mods. They can edit it at any time.
                                • P|T doesn't host the performance. The performance can be on YouTube, Vimeo, SoundCloud. Other embeds may work as well but those are the ones I tested. Let me know your favorite ones.
                                • On the day the recital goes live, the leader approves all the submissions.
                                • I think we can have a Recital banner at the top of homepage to announce it.
                                • Optional: The leader has the ability to crosspost the recital across forums and super sticky the recital as well.
                                • Optional: The leader can delete posts that don't include the performance in them yet, so that the submission order can be enforced like PW.

                                Now that PianoTell works locally on my laptop, I was able to pilot this. I crammed everything in one screenshot so that you get the idea. Only the submitter/leader can see the post that is marked as Awaiting approval.

                                --
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