On Saturday 6th September 2014 I hosted the first ever Edinburgh Piano Meetup Group and am delighted to report it was a huge success!
I am an Edinburgh-based piano teacher with a large number of adult students. Having realised fairly recently that there was little or no opportunities for adults to perform, except in exams or in the annual competition festival, I decided to set up the EPMG to give adult amateur pianists, of ALL abilities and ages, the chance to gain valuable performance experience in front of a friendly and supportive crowd of fellow musicians.
On Saturday afternoon 23 piano enthusiasts turned up, all very nervous and a bit apprehensive. However, everyone was soon chatting while enjoying a drink and a few nibbles (most people avoided the wine until they had played!) I made a very brief introductory speech to explain the purpose of the Meetup then invited the first pianist up to perform. Salvatore entertained us with three short pieces and, with his good humour and chatty persona, soon put everyone at ease. After four performers had taken their turn, we stopped for a short break as the tension was beginning to build amongst the less experienced players. Neil, 
someone who had only been playing for a few months, was then brave enough to get up and play one of the pieces from his tutor book – the group went wild!
After a further break and everyone had their chance to play, the group felt much more relaxed and expressed how inspired they felt by the whole event. We carried on eating and drinking while opening up the floor to anyone who wished to have another go. This allowed more nervous players to get up without the worry of playing to a sit-down crowd.
When I set the group up a month ago I had no idea so many people would appear or would be willing to play to a group of strangers. This proves there is a demand for such events. I have already scheduled the next Meetup for 4th October people are signing up for it every day. I am confident this event is going to be very popular and I hope it inspires other teachers around the country to think about starting up their own groups. The rewards for everyone involved are huge and the benefits of attending such a positive event can only make people better players while giving their hard work a chance to shine!
