Is the way a pianist choses his piano a key to boosting your success?
The late great Russian pianist, Sviatoslav Richter, was undoubtedly one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century.
Whilst well renowned for his incredible virtuosity, he was also a master of communication (you only have to listen to one of his legacy recordings, to feel how his performances could really touch an audience).
Communication skills are of course not only key to music, but also to effective business in any walk of life. They are also crucial to the way in which we teach and interact more generally with one another.
So what helped to make Sviatoslav Richter’s communication skills so special and what can you learn from his approach that could help you too?
Finding that all important right piano
For international pianists moving from one city to another for the next concert, finding the right piano is an important part of any concert preparation (alas there’s not quite enough hand baggage allowance on most airlines to fit your favourite concert grand in a wheelie bag these days).
However, for Richter, his concert preparation not only involved finding the piano that felt most comfortable for him, but also finding a piano that could play incredibly quietly.
But why was that so important? Well, if you listen to any of Richter’s recordings, what makes him stand out from so many other pianists both past & present, is his ability to communicate and really touch his audience through a mere whisper of sound.
Why is this relevant to you?
It’s easy in our busy lives, to get into the habit of thinking that things that people do in other professions don’t really affect how we work. However, so much of what is relevant to the way that we work, teach and interact with others, lies outside the boundaries of our every day life.
So even if you’re not a pianist or musician, there are many things that you can take away from one man’s approach to choosing his instrument, that can then be adapted to improve your own life.
How you communicate matters
The way that you speak and present yourself matters hugely to the overall impression that you give of yourself to others.
It is far nicer to listen to someone who can articulate softly and clearly, rather than to someone who shouts or mumbles. As with choosing a piano by listening to its quality of sound, understanding how we sound to others also requires close attention and a critical ear.
The simple action of speech is something that we take for granted from an early age, but it ultimately defines us all and therefore, practicing, listening to and improving the way that we talk, no matter what our age, can make a huge difference to the quality of our every day interactions.
Quiet matters more than the loud
Open up any computer or phone and it won’t be long before you are bombarded by emails, messages, notifications and all manner of other noise. And walk through any city and you’re never going to be far from traffic and the general hustle and bustle of modern life.
However, what I think Richter was really saying through the way that he chose his pianos, was that to really communicate to people, what matters so much more is our quiet interactions. To effectively find that quiet space within the city.
If you’re not careful, dealing with everyday digital noise and city life can deny you of the space in which to stop, think and be more effective. On the other hand, quiet thought and quieter conversation provides the space in which to really think and listen. And by thinking and listening effectively, it also cultivates the space in which you can make better choices and decisions.
The choices you make determine how well you will perform
In an age where our work can sometimes feel like a conveyer belt, with constant demands on our time, perhaps one of the most important lessons that Richter teaches us is that the choices you make before you perform will ultimately reflect in the quality of your actual performance.
For Richter, the ability to be able to play and articulate his musical messages so incredibly quietly and poetically, allowed him to tell the composer’s story in a magical way. Yes, there were also moments of great loud and powerful virtuosic playing, but amidst all of that, he knew that less was more when it really mattered and he used that skill to really touch his audiences.
Which piano will you choose?
How you approach your own work, study and life each day has similar parallels. If you never stop to consider whether you have sufficient calmness, or whether your messages are getting across to your audience in an effective manner, then everything that you do may just be coming across as one or more shades of loud.
However, by stopping to think how you might be coming across to others, it could give you a whole new way of communicating that not only gets your messages across more effectively, but also makes your audience want to keep coming back for more.
