Rodrigues, dressed in an elegant gown, starts to play her beautiful recital of “Polonaise Fantaisie Op.61” by Fryderyck Chopin. As she begins, she notices that one of her pedals isn’t quite working the way she was expecting it to.
Rodrigues, ever the professional tries to continue playing but finds that the pedal is taxing her music too much.
Piano Breaks On Stage
As a musician, performing on stage can be a humbling experience, the crowd can bring about feelings of anxiety and create nerves which would cause performers to behave in a way which they normally wouldn’t. This is not often helped when equipment malfunctions either at the beginning or during a performance, which is exactly what happened to Brazilian Pianist Eliane Rodrigues when she came to perform a recital at De Deolen in Rotterdam.
Rodrigues stops and explains to the crowd that she is having pedal issues and that she needs to ask for some help. After a short departure from the stage she returns, and in true professional style begins to joyfully improvise with the broken pedal to entertain the crowd.
Throughout this, the staff from the venue come out and proceed to fix the piano, all whilst Rodrigues follows them, around, playing various pieces on the piano to keep the crowd entertained, much to their joy.
This is a perfect example of how a professional musician handles a high-pressure situation with decorum and grace, which is exactly what we have come to expect of musicians of caliber like Rodrigues. In the video below you can watch Eline playing a piece without the interruption of any technical faults.