Since the late 1890s, dueling pianos have been a source of entertainment. When this trend first started, it was essentially a race for the two performing artists, who would try to play faster than each other to win the duel.
Today's performances are substantially different than their ancestral concerts from the 1890s. The modern version of this form of entertainment is much more collaborative, as the two players help each other boost the crowd's spirits, and create a lively and upbeat mood. They not only work together, they even sometimes invite the audience to join them by singing along.
Unlike a regular recital or concert, a dueling show has a distinctive style of playing that includes a lot of comedy and lively musical flourishes. The musicians will tell pre-written jokes, add humorous parody lyrics to songs, or banter improvised comic bits. Sometimes pairs will work as a duo on a recurring basis, but other times two independent pianists will simply be thrown together in the show, and discover their comedic and musical chemistry as they play for the crowd.
Most of the songs are familiar popular numbers, and in the majority of dueling piano bars the audience can request their favorite hits. The players must be ready to perform a wide variety of contemporary pop and rock music songs, depending on what the patrons request. The repertoire of songs that people may want to hear is too large for most pianists to have learned completely by heart.
Many players will carry a book of sheet music which includes a lot of the songs they may be expected to be able to play. The performers will have practiced these songs in order to be able to play them, but they will not have necessarily memorized them all before a show, which is why the sheet music is helpful.
If you ask for a particular song, it is considered standard etiquette to tip the performers. There is usually an obvious tip jar in which to leave money for the artists. Request procedures vary from place to place, and can include anything from a formal system that has a list where you sign up to have a song played, to a casual situation where you write the song title on a napkin, or even just shout it out directly at the performer. Different kinds of piano bars will have different rules about how to make your song suggestion, but you can assume that tipping is universally expected.
Some piano players who work in this line have classical training, whereas others come from a rock background, but regardless of where they learned their trade, playing a dueling pianos show lets the artist share his or her abilities with a lively crowd, and help the patrons have a fun evening out. After more than a hundred years of delighting audiences, this kind of show seems like it is here to stay.
dueling pianos
Today's performances are substantially different than their ancestral concerts from the 1890s. The modern version of this form of entertainment is much more collaborative, as the two players help each other boost the crowd's spirits, and create a lively and upbeat mood. They not only work together, they even sometimes invite the audience to join them by singing along.
Unlike a regular recital or concert, a dueling show has a distinctive style of playing that includes a lot of comedy and lively musical flourishes. The musicians will tell pre-written jokes, add humorous parody lyrics to songs, or banter improvised comic bits. Sometimes pairs will work as a duo on a recurring basis, but other times two independent pianists will simply be thrown together in the show, and discover their comedic and musical chemistry as they play for the crowd.
Most of the songs are familiar popular numbers, and in the majority of dueling piano bars the audience can request their favorite hits. The players must be ready to perform a wide variety of contemporary pop and rock music songs, depending on what the patrons request. The repertoire of songs that people may want to hear is too large for most pianists to have learned completely by heart.
Many players will carry a book of sheet music which includes a lot of the songs they may be expected to be able to play. The performers will have practiced these songs in order to be able to play them, but they will not have necessarily memorized them all before a show, which is why the sheet music is helpful.
If you ask for a particular song, it is considered standard etiquette to tip the performers. There is usually an obvious tip jar in which to leave money for the artists. Request procedures vary from place to place, and can include anything from a formal system that has a list where you sign up to have a song played, to a casual situation where you write the song title on a napkin, or even just shout it out directly at the performer. Different kinds of piano bars will have different rules about how to make your song suggestion, but you can assume that tipping is universally expected.
Some piano players who work in this line have classical training, whereas others come from a rock background, but regardless of where they learned their trade, playing a dueling pianos show lets the artist share his or her abilities with a lively crowd, and help the patrons have a fun evening out. After more than a hundred years of delighting audiences, this kind of show seems like it is here to stay.
dueling pianos
No comments:
Post a Comment