Dueling pianos have been a part of the entertainment landscape since at least the late nineteenth century. In the Victorian era, patrons would watch to see which of two piano players could play not only better, but also more quickly, than the other.
Nowadays, the field has changed. Instead of battling, the two musicians are more likely to work with each other in a collaborative spirit as they try to engage and amuse the audience, sometimes even inviting the crowd to sing with them in order to create a lively feeling for the performance. There are now clubs and bars that specialize in this kind of entertainment.
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 bars that offer this kind of entertainment allow patrons to request songs from the popular musical canon. In addition to old favorites, the musicians must be ready to play a wide range of hits from the contemporary rock and pop charts. This means a repertoire that is too varied and wide for the musicians to have memorized every single song, but they must still be ready to try and please an audience by fulfilling a request.
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.
A dueling piano performance lets pianists from a variety of backgrounds, whether classical or rock and roll, use their skills to entertain patrons in a lively setting, and provide a fun night for the crowd. With more than a hundred years of history, it's not likely that this kind of performance will vanish in the near future.
dueling pianos
Nowadays, the field has changed. Instead of battling, the two musicians are more likely to work with each other in a collaborative spirit as they try to engage and amuse the audience, sometimes even inviting the crowd to sing with them in order to create a lively feeling for the performance. There are now clubs and bars that specialize in this kind of entertainment.
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 bars that offer this kind of entertainment allow patrons to request songs from the popular musical canon. In addition to old favorites, the musicians must be ready to play a wide range of hits from the contemporary rock and pop charts. This means a repertoire that is too varied and wide for the musicians to have memorized every single song, but they must still be ready to try and please an audience by fulfilling a request.
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.
A dueling piano performance lets pianists from a variety of backgrounds, whether classical or rock and roll, use their skills to entertain patrons in a lively setting, and provide a fun night for the crowd. With more than a hundred years of history, it's not likely that this kind of performance will vanish in the near future.
dueling pianos
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