Performance as theater: Expert pianists’ awareness of sight and sound in the concert

Sight and sound are critical to the reception of music performance. Audiences respond to myriad nonverbal cues to appraise the performance, but little is known about Western classical performers’ approach to commanding attention and achieving performance mastery. This study aims to understand how expert performers conceptualize the audio and visual spectacle in the concert hall, and how they harness nonverbal communication and extramusical cues into performance. Nine expert pianists participated in semi-structured interviews about their approach to performance and their preparation for a hypothetical concert in an international venue. Their responses were coded, categorized, and eventually clustered into three themes. Experts were acutely aware of the audience’s gaze and viewed classical performances as theater. Sight was integral for expert performers who shared Liszt’s uncanny appreciation of showmanship. Experts choreographed performances for their audiences with dramatic stage entrance and elegant concert attire, and crafted performance through impressive memorization and amplified visual gestures. Future studies will explore how experts practice performance as theater and discover their strategies to prepare for the stage.