What superstar pianists REALLY think about competitions
Рет қаралды 20,777
Күн бұрынTop prizewinners reveal the chaos and community behind piano competitions.
🎹 Try Tonebase Premium: www.tonebase.co/piano?...
👓 Watch this NEXT! • The ULTIMATE guide for...
Facebook - / tonebasepiano
Instagram - / tonebasepiano
Questions? Leave us a comment below or contact us: team@tonebase.co
⭐ Featuring ⭐
Sergey Belyavsky: @belyavskysergey
Rachel Breen: @plvsbpb
Claire Huangci: @ClaireHuangciPianist
Byeol Kim: @ByeolKim
Nicolas Namoradze: @NicolasNamoradze
Written, Edited and Hosted by Robert Fleitz @RobertFleitz / rfleitz
⏰Chapters
00:00 Competitions are for horses.
3:22 Part I: What is it for?
6:50 Part II: The ideal career
11:16 Part III: Play what you love.
14:12 ⚠️ A cautionary tale ⚠️
15:28 Part IV: The jury won't be around forever.
17:42 Chaos and Community
Media from "Finding the Next Horowitz - 60 Minutes" (1976), The Competition (1980), Shine (1996), Your Lie in April (2014) and Nocturne (2020)
This video is about piano competitions. Top prize winning pianists share their experiences in preparing for competitions, as well as their thoughts about the relevance of competitions in the music industry currently. The video features pianists Sergey Belyavsky, Rachel Breen, Claire Huangci, Byeol Kim and Nicolas Namoradze; as well as the host, Robert Fleitz. It also features clips from Yunchan Lim (임윤찬) and Garrick Ohlsson. These pianists have participated in such competitions as the Gina Bachauer Competition, Van Cliburn Competition, Cleveland Competition, Chopin Competition in Warsaw, Orleans Competition, Honens, and others. The pianists speak about the importance of how to choose repertoire for a competition, how to prepare, how to deal with the emotional challenges of a competition, how to win a piano competition, and how to practice. They also discuss the importance of community and making friends at a competition, and how to use competitions for professional development.
Happy Father’s Day!
Specia thanks to Dennis Fleiz for his assistance.
#competition #piano #pianocompetition #임윤찬 #garrickohlsson #tonebase #thecliburn
---
tonebase gives you instant access to knowledge from the world's greatest classical musicians, performers, and educators. Learn more by visiting tonebase.co/piano
Facebook - / tonebasepiano
Instagram - / tonebasepiano
Questions? Contact us: team@tonebase.co
@tonebasePiano 11 күн бұрын
What are your favorite competition performances?
@jacobschiller4486 11 күн бұрын
Dmitry Shiskin's performance of Fantasie-Impromptu in the Chopin Competition. Bold af choice😂
@wesleystan 11 күн бұрын
Masaya Kamei's Semifinal performance in the Cliburn 2022. Amazing Gaspard and Islamey!
@jacobschiller4486 11 күн бұрын
@@wesleystan YES!!!
@Seongjingoat 11 күн бұрын
Seong jin cho Chopin polonaise at the Chopin competition!
@riccardotietto 11 күн бұрын
Alexei Sultanov's Scriabin etude op8 n12, 1998 at the 11th Tchaikovsky competition The hidden voices found in the second page of the piece really inspired me when I learnt the etude... Absolutely brilliant it's a pity that Sultanov isn't as famous/recognised as other great pianists, definitely because he died at just 35 yrso.😢
@dkinney1000 11 күн бұрын
Competition piano technicians have a unique perspective on this topic.
@charliewhiskey8440 7 күн бұрын
So do dads doubling as competition accompanists for the first time in a month from now!
@sacrilegiousboi978 10 күн бұрын
It's sad that once you are mid 20's you are already considered old by piano competitions and that the age limit is capped at 30 for most big ones. This means that only those who advance when very young stand a chance to kickstart an international career and that most competition winners are young prodigies with perfect techniques whilst those who are older, have lived more of life, are more musically and emotionally developed and mature as a person often miss the boat.
@todorstojanov3100 10 күн бұрын
It's definitely more difficult for them, but I think Valentina Lisitsa shows what their best option is: KZfaq
@sacrilegiousboi978 10 күн бұрын
@@todorstojanov3100 you’re right, though Lisitsa was lucky in that she was one of the first pianists to utilise youtube to promote herself back in the late 00s. Now the platform is saturated with exceptionally talented pianists desperately trying to promote themselves so it’s harder to get noticed now.
@todorstojanov3100 10 күн бұрын
@@sacrilegiousboi978 On the other hand, the sheer amount of Lisitsa's output far exceeds that of any other pianist on KZfaq, which is definitely something the algorithm likes. Or what Traum Piano did. He took a rather common concept of visualization videos but consistently played such difficult pieces that he very rapidly surpassed every other channel
@todorstojanov3100 10 күн бұрын
@@sacrilegiousboi978 It all boils down to the fact that if you want to become well known, pure skill isn't enough. Even among competition winners, you will find a lot of them who don't manage to take off. You need to know how to make yourself known, you need to make the right moves Again taking Lisitsa for an example, she was on the verge of making a move that would exponentially slow her down. When she created an album of herself playing all Chopin etudes, someone illegally uploaded it. Lisitsa was on the verge of issuing a copyright strike, but she recognized that the amount of views those videos got shouldn't be wasted. So instead of taking them down, she put them in her own playlist on her channel. It takes things like that on top of excellent playing
@DomFileoreum 15 сағат бұрын
Exactly, and that prevents a lot of people who are born poor and without acess to classical training from entering competitions since it not everyone is born with a Steinway D in the livingroom and a private teacher, or even acess to a conservatory. Some only get it at an adult age, which is considered too late. And that on the best alternative, because let's be real, some people(like me) don't pursue their dreams of becoming musicians because they are from the 3rd world and they have other priorities, such as eating.
@Ken5244 7 күн бұрын
I think there's too much emphasis on winning. I went to a piano scholarship competition at a local university in California a couple years ago, and even the 'least' advanced players were very good and playing very difficult pieces. And playing them beautifully. But smiles weren't frequent. Instead of being fun, it was a pressure cooker. One Asian girl played beautifully but didn't win first, second or third place, and she was literally in tears afterwards. There's something messed up about that. And the differences between the winners and 'losers' was so small and so nebulous that I wondered if the jurors maybe just flipped coins. I had the honor of meeting Claire Huangci briefly after a concert she gave in Costa Mesa, California, a couple years ago, and she was very nice. She even gave me a couple pointers (I'm a piano major in college). And she played beautifully, of course. There needs to be some sort of paradigm shift away from the pressure cooker environment and elitist snobbery that has plagued the classical music field for sooooooo long. These gifted and dedicated people are playing the most sophisticated, advanced piano works in human history, and to even be doing it at all, at such a high level, should be celebrated rather than subject to ranking and awards that essentially dismiss all but the most fortunate few.
@alberloss 8 күн бұрын
These are my two cents on piano competitions. Specially for hardworking but bitter pianists that are discouraged by the insane amount of level displayed these days. This will be blunt but necessary: You are trapped in your own ego and it needs to die (Totally agree with Sergey). The worst thing you could do if you are overwhelmed with negative emotions is runing away from them. I'd say: go to competitions, even if you are doing them for the "wrong" reasons. Let 17 year old youngsters play immensely better than you and watch how they are praised above you. Watch how they have a 10x bigger repertoire and they learn 3x faster. This is the only way to destroy your ego and accept the emotions. Keep exposing yourself to these situations WITHOUT running away and reassuring yourself until your brain is tired of feeling "defeated". THEN, you will be in a good place to decide what to do with your life, and hopefully have a healthier relationship with piano playing and music :)
@cihant5438 11 күн бұрын
Is there a video that explains how these competitions work? How many pieces are played, over how many days? Does everyone here everyone else's performance? Does the jury provide any official justification as to the scores? Is there a score system? Do the jury deliberate together, or do they decide individually? Who chooses the music? Also, how many bananas are consumed?
@tonebasePiano 11 күн бұрын
These are excellent questions that we definitely should explore in a future video! Thanks for the ideas!
@DrdaantjeGaming 8 күн бұрын
@@tonebasePiano id love to see a vid about that!
@stanbimi 10 күн бұрын
There is a parallel story to the ones told here in piano competition. In the 2024 Alibaba Global Mathematics Competition, a 17-year-old Chinese girl from a vocational high school ranked 12th on the finalist list of 801, sparking heated discussion on Chinese social media. The competition is open to everyone, including many AI programs from universities. Jiang Ping is a 17 year fashion design student, heading to the finals for the Alibaba math contest soon. What is shocking is that she has been self-studying math for just 2 years, with some guidance from her math teacher. She beats out hundreds of others from around the world, like MIT, Cambridge, CalTech. She studies math for the FUN of solving math problems. The open competition unearthed this rare math talent. Would competition destroy her fun in math?
@nandovancreij 10 күн бұрын
1:23 "tbh i would love to dodge the question of competitions" is crazy
@greatmusicchannel8549 10 күн бұрын
Competition is one of the greatest way to introduce yourself public/impresarios and other greatest pianist, which helps you to reach the goals, what every single musician would like to do.
@dothisorelse 9 күн бұрын
I’m an architect. So professionally I’m also involved in competitions all the time. The best analogy I’ve ever heard was that you don’t do competitions to win. You do them to keep fit. It’s like going to a gym to work out, so you’re in shape for the time a real job comes around.
@kp6215 8 күн бұрын
Exactly as that is how a person becomes "wise".
@vartonise 10 күн бұрын
Thank you so much for this episode. As a pianist who has been participating in competition, I have the utmost empathy for all my colleagues, as competitions are so gruelling, even the small ones. I like what Nicolas said, to find the right competition for you. I find myself playing the repertoire that the audience and I enjoyed, yet the results didn’t turn out to be the way we wanted. I agree with the panel that we should play the repertoire we enjoy playing, and also to strive for how we want to play our pieces, that I will not feel bad afterwards even if I didn’t win.
@tonebasePiano 8 күн бұрын
Thanks for your kind comment, I'm really glad you enjoyed. Best of luck with your competition endeavors!
@kp6215 11 күн бұрын
In 7th grade in 1963 was required to take class called “Music Appreciation” for 4.5 months. The final was the teacher placing the needle on a record of a classical piece for only 10 seconds of over 50 pieces my grade was 100% of which I cannot live without classical music as I also learned from my parents the love of the “Big Bands” and jazz. I couldn’t live without hearing and the genius of Beethoven composing when deftness brings immense sobbing then Mozart dies far too early was a great crime for humanity. The Schiller Institute is trying to bring peace to the world through revival of classical music and poetry.
@jacobschiller4486 11 күн бұрын
You are welcome! /s
@BrianAnu 11 күн бұрын
This reminds me so much of the sport of body building. It’s so intangible and often relying on minor incremental improvements (with some obvious exceptions like the guy in thumbnail pic).
@samueltaylor9935 10 күн бұрын
Idk bodybuilding kind of cut and dry on who wins imo for the most part. Typically the guy who wins the Mr. O is going to continue to win until he starts declining
@riccardotietto 11 күн бұрын
Hi Nicolas, I just wanted to say that your speech made me breathe a sigh of relief, like the fact that before the Honens you participated very few competitions. (4:25) You also said that during your Juilliard years you decided to stop competing and develop new repertoire/improve your technique. My question is, have you set yourself a list of pieces to practice and learn before being confident to comeback competing? For example learn all Chopin etudes... or more than just 2 Beethoven sonatas😅, well tempered klavier... I hope this makes sense Ps. I would really appreciate a response from anyone reading, not just the great pianists interviewed in this video. Loved the video btw, hoping for a part2 🙏👍
@rsztrewfbn 2 сағат бұрын
I was put in piano competitions ever since I was a child and it messed me up so bad. Now I feel like I am being judged on every move and I developed massive stage fright. I only enjoy playing if I play for myself.
@James_Bowie 10 күн бұрын
Yes, by all means let's hear from some jury members, although I don't believe that they will confess readily to their biases.
@thomasdequincey5811 10 күн бұрын
I'm up for a part 2.
@bubbly_piano 10 сағат бұрын
yes you should totally do a pt 2 :)))
@Bigandrewm 11 күн бұрын
Performance competitions are pretty common in most musical traditions, not just classical. Think cutting sessions in jazz, rap battles, drum battles, etc. - but classical competitions do have a distinction of how extensive the "battles" can get. In a jazz cutting session, if you didn't make your point in about 30 seconds or so, you've lost.
@MariiaKurtynina 4 күн бұрын
Thank you for this video! I am looking forward to seeing the 2nd video! I have also question - why the competitions are only for people under 30-32 years old (approximately)? And could we have another possibilities to build our career instead of a competition? Or maybe do we have already?
@kp6215 11 күн бұрын
Love the movie , The Competition.
@tonebasePiano 8 күн бұрын
One of my favorites!
@Apex_Piano 11 күн бұрын
About 2 months ago, I finished the first ballade by Chopin. It took me over 3 months, and it was a joy to learn. I played it at my school competition, having the confidence to play such a piece in public. However, I was very upset to find that I was beat by someone who played Chopins op 9 no 2, the famous nocturne. It was very upsetting for me as I am an incredibly competitive person with the goal to do one thing. Win. However, it was such a marvellous experience to play this piece of music, and I was 15 years old.
@katttttt 10 күн бұрын
Lol Chopin's op. 9 no. 2 is so much easier than his Ballades (well, haven't played any of them, but yea I think so). So either the one playing it was incredible good and you were the exact opposite (what I doubt) or this school competition thing is not something one should take too serious. E.g. I played Interstellar a year ago and many were like "that sounds so good" and another time, where I play something more unknown it doesn't get this reaction 🤣💀
@williamtaittinger4529 10 күн бұрын
lol u either played VERY badly or the jurors were UTTERLY reetawrded.
@katttttt 9 күн бұрын
@@williamtaittinger4529yup thought the same
@guotesuoze 11 күн бұрын
I'm more advanced in the composition game than in the piano game, but never really got it why I should participate in a composition competition. My symphonic work is saved in cubase projects, and I'm not gonna take even more time to make a good score than the time I needed to create the original composition, so I can pay money, that I don't really have, to lose a competition haha.
@maxgregorycompositions6216 10 күн бұрын
Fair play.
@donstoner4725 5 күн бұрын
Another thought....I enjoy hearing who won the Audience Prize especially if it is not the winner of the Gold! To me, this outcome speaks volumes!
@Sanders-vd3tp 10 күн бұрын
Yes, that sounds exciting :) (The idea for part II)
@jeff__w 4 күн бұрын
1:24 “And, even our favorite competition superstar, Yunchan Lim, seemed a bit indifferent about the topic.” Perhaps a bit more than indifferent. According to the _NYT,_ Lim was reticent to participate in the Cliburn but his teacher, Minsoo Sohn, prevailed upon him to do so-“‘I thought the world needed to listen to what Yunchan could play in his teenage years,’ Sohn said,” quoting directly from the _NYT_ article-saying “Think of it as a performance, not a competition.” (On the other hand, Lim _had_ participated in three competitions prior to the Cliburn so it’s a fair question as to just how opposed to them, generally, he really is.)
@tonebasePiano 4 күн бұрын
This illustration is a great example of the complex relationship many pianists have to competitions!
@dagmarintreble 10 күн бұрын
Musik und Wettbewerb schließt sich für mich inhaltlich aus. Weil Musik subjektiv, individuell, Kunst ist. Kunst kann man nicht nach neutralen Kriterien bewerten, auf höchstem Level gibt es kein besser oder schlechter, nur andere Interpretationsvorschläge. Ich finde das so absurd.
@katttttt 9 күн бұрын
Yes! Was ich mir auch denke bei diesen großen Wettbewerbe, ist, wie soll man da bitte "aussuchen", wenn die alle total crazy spielen (bzw. höre ich auch selten große Unterschiede.. höchstens wenn ich das Stück sehr gut kenne oder es ist mehr ein Gefühl, als dass ich sagen kann xy war besser)
@iangreer4585 11 күн бұрын
Piano competitions are a whole lot like auditioning for symphonies. Only one can remain. That person is then welcomed into the musical world with open arms.
@yume-e 10 күн бұрын
If piano competitions prove anything, it's only that the Guiness Book of World Records is a history of art. Which it is not.
@gracelove886 10 күн бұрын
My 1st piano teacher used to enter me- i hated it. Its horrible
@carolasandrakaty 11 күн бұрын
They have an age limit most of them.
@kpunkt.klaviermusik 2 күн бұрын
The general audience wants to expierence a firework. But most of the music is not about virtuosity. Competitions do not help in this situation.
@donstoner4725 5 күн бұрын
Recorded, I believe on a music series called "Living the Classical Life" an interview with Gary Graffman (Curtis Piano Faculty) mentioned that he would not let two of his students, Yuja Wang and Lang Lang, participate in piano competitions ; after a brief silence he added "..because they didn't have too". Draw your own conclusions!!
@militaryandemergencyservic3286 10 күн бұрын
Another great video from Tone base. However, as a student of a teacher from the Beethoven and Tchaikovsky line, I'd take issue re. the great Lim - I prefer Kempf. And I prefer Poon over Wang. Here's my video about which contemporary pianists are good and which - maybe not so good in my opinion: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/fNunmstqmMW1YJ8.html
@PeterFamiko-lw8ue 5 күн бұрын
imagine Marta would go to competition -)
@bartwatts1921 10 күн бұрын
Piano competitions are all politics. It really does not matter what you do if the finalists are already essentially pre-selected. If your teacher knows the judges. The networking and the school and country from which you come. They are unrealistic and quite absurd, and there is very little musicality on display: all technique, volume and speed.
@williamtaittinger4529 10 күн бұрын
cope
@PassionPno 10 күн бұрын
From my experience, this is far from the truth.
@pjbpiano 8 күн бұрын
Maybe try following some piano competition well before commenting.
@williamtaittinger4529 8 күн бұрын
@@pjbpiano he also believes he outplays Yunchan and Blechacz. Lol
@zvelekva 10 күн бұрын
I wonder if he's murdered him...?! I mean, the other guy....Other guy, if you're reading this please post on here so we know you're OK...some of us are considering contacting the authorities...I really, really miss the other guy!
@curoador 3 күн бұрын
he has his own channel :) www.youtube.com/@benlawdy
@zvelekva 3 күн бұрын
@@curoador You're new here, I can tell:D
@TeaTimewithDave 10 күн бұрын
I always love Tonebase’s content but I want to suggest that you all pay more attention to your production values. The host - does he have a beard or not? And the split screen with the aggressive nodding is just kind of annoying. Attention to camera angles and appearance of those being interviewed should be scrutinized a bit more because it’s looking pretty amateur to have somebody unshaved with bed head in a sweatshirt or someone looking down at their computer on the floor.
@rt42eirw496 8 күн бұрын
I don't get annoyed by these things at all, but I find it difficult to listen to speech while there's music in the background. My mind tries to concentrate on both. Anyway 👍🏻 for Tonebase! 🧡
@animalsarebeautifulpeople3094 10 күн бұрын
I love music and art which is why im subscribed to this channel but hmm competitions are for horses?Horses are forced to compete literally to their death! Nobody should be forced to compete, least of all these non human animals who can't consent. Please DONT make assumptions that non human animals are here for human entertainment. What is the point of attaining great art and creating beautiful music if we act worse than cavemen when it comes to ethics against the most defenseless beings?
@peterkrauss6962 3 күн бұрын
But classical music is dead...what the win
@animalsarebeautifulpeople3094 10 күн бұрын
Bela Bartok was born when women werent even allowed to vote in most places around the world and the concept of human rights remained alien for most people let alone animal rights. Quoting these people from another era as if opporessing animals merely fir entertainment is totally okay today is misguided. Not only are horses often ridden to death (every major horse races have their casualties who are then shot to death if not already dead) but those who grow old and slow are most often simply sold to be horse meat. PLEASE DO NOT TAKE THEUR SUFFERING LIGHTLY just because it's still a part of our "culture". If there are unwatchable suffering of victims are involved this damn culture MUST change.
@thomasdequincey5811 10 күн бұрын
Why are you talking about animals? Edit: Let me rephrase that. Why are you talking about animals on a channel geared towards teaching people the piano?
@Pianodoc97 7 күн бұрын
I think u on the wrong chat
@NoName-zn1sb 4 күн бұрын
There's something terribly wrong with your audio! Frequently there is a crashing noise or whooshing that is frighteningly startling. Please see what you can to to make it stop. Because if you can't, I'll not watch your videos any more. Thank you.
tonebase Piano
Рет қаралды 42 М.
Denis Zhdanov
Рет қаралды 67 М.
Carnegie Hall
Рет қаралды 429 М.
Piergiorgio Wilson
Рет қаралды 140 М.
Denis Zhdanov
Рет қаралды 11 М.