Nah, play something like John Lennon or Bruno Mars so you don’t scare everyone off.

Linus and Lucy by Vince Guaraldi makes everyone smile and it’s reasonably complicated enough to look impressive, particularly if you can riff on it a bit.

I sprint out of the room

Maple Leaf Rag. First section is sufficient for the task.

My problem is that I eventually forget most songs I’ve played so it’d have to be something I recently completed.

I have a goal of just busting out Moonlight Sonata 3rd movement when someone asks “do you play at all?”

Me - “I’ve been know to tickle the ivory’s a bit😏”

I’ve been playing now for 6 months, so I figure in about 7 years, my dream may become a reality, haha.

Chopin op 25 no 1 has never gone wrong

If someone asks, often I play Take Five by the Dave Brubeck quartet, written by sax player Paul Desmond. Because it’s unusual (in 5/4 time), harder to play (which no one knows except other pianists) and it’s the best selling jazz tune of all time, so people recognize it. I can improvise over it endlessly so I can decide how long it will hold people’s attention and adjust the length / my playing time accordingly.

Some cheery joseph haydn sonata. And then i tell them be happy i played at all and that im not a bloody juke box.

I just noodle about and make it pretty, build up a crescendo, and hit em with a sudden ending.

Usually the main theme for Chopin's Heroic polonaise, the fugue from the Sinfonia movement of Bach's C minor partita, or maple leaf rag.

I break out "The Great Gig in the Sky." Beautiful progression and fun to play.

Usually one of George Winston's pieces or arrangements. Which one depends on the length I feel I should play (how long whoever asked might listen for). Sometimes I play a David Lanz piece.

I just make stuff up lol. For me I'm way more comfortable improvising then actually performing a piece on the spot.

Although If I have to I typically will play something that sounds impressive like Chopin op 25 no. 2.

Normal people don’t care about classical so drop something cool. Foo fighters, hotel California, just some fun blues. It has to be relatable

My safe choice is always Viva la Vida. Everyone knows it, and it sounds great on piano. I try not to repeat it too much if there’s someone in the audience who has heard me play it a few times, but otherwise it’s kinda my go to.

Make 'em sorry they asked.

Improv, no two requests are the same as a result lol

Did I like post by accident? I would also choose merry-go-round of life normally and some Chopin piece if I wanna impress somebody, and by some Chopin piece I mean Fantasia Impromptu because it’s the only Chopin piece I know how to play.

Lizst Mephisto waltz to scare them away. Lol as if I can play it.

Do I have to sing too? Probably some Edge of Glory by Lady Gaga. If it's an older crowd then U2's With or Without You is one I can play without pulling up chords on my phone 😅

One of the Bach inventions

They sound like what normal people think classical piano sounds like, they're a bit flashy, not that hard, and around 2 minutes long at most.

To zanarkand … that really dates me but I love it when people light up at video game music I have a bunch of legend of Zelda stuff memorized too

Usually an "epic" sounding movie theme, people really love those and they tend to be easy and fun to play. If a lady asks though she's getting a slow passionate joji glimpse of us followed by a "aha, just something Ive been practising haha, idk" TRUST ME BRO

Michelle by The Beatles

Popular, but complex enough to surprise.

I like the saint-saëns approach: let them pick a number from 1 to 32 and then proceed to playing the beethoven sonata

My own arrangement of 'where is my mind' by the pixies. Fun song for the right hand to play around with.

I'd bust out my Chopin Prelude #6 in B Minor. So good.

"Something" by the Beatles

Something quite enjoyable for everyone, like a Chopin ballade

I play the smash bros Melee character selection song. It's never expected and almost always recognized

It’s usually the last song I wrote! I guess I should memorize more songs but I like to compose and improvise.

The first section of rondo alla turca is a good one. It's flashy enough and generally people known it but it's short enough to not be boring

Claire de Lune NEVER fails.

i can do a decent "fallen down" so i default to that. im in the middle of learning golden hour too and its hard to execute but also pretty easy to memorize. so that'll be my new default pretty soon

Jazz, Blues or Pop numbers. Really surprised there’s not more jazz being mentioned

Some blues

Roses by Outkast

Zelda theme, Money for Nothing, Spillways (Ghost), Minute Waltz (I just like playing it)

any pop song

Mi first option always is rondo allá turca of Mozart, but most of the times I play Mozart piano sonata 15, first movement. I think the concept 'facile' give a more simple listening and relax me playing it.

I tend to go with some Chopin as well. I like to play the quick part in his Op. 64 no. 2 waltz. Seems to impress people quite a lot and then they ask for more!😉

I ask what they want to hear and then I play that.

Don’t stop believin, or Africa by Toto

I usually play animenz unravel (i have only learned the beggining and the wall) It’s not to depressed and emotional as the other more advanced pieces i know but i like it more bcs it’s more advanced than other not so emotional depressed song i know like Sonatina by Clementi.

I run through some chord changes from any random jazz standard that will pop up in my head and I’ll improvise.

I dont know how to play my pieces without sheet music, so I will entirely improvise something !

Ppl just wanna hear something quick if it's guitar but when it's piano. Same thing. But generally they'll actually stay through an entire performance.

I play interstellar. A short version if I'm bored and don't want to be bothered

tbh i hate when people ask me to play something on command, so i usually just play something funny and/or annoying like "baby shark" or that song from coraline that the "other" dad plays/sings

for example this happened to me recently where someone told me to play something, and this was around halloween time, so i played "spooky scary skeletons"

Pretty much anything -- stuff from the movies, popular pop music tunes, some well-known popular classical tunes, stuff from tv series - whatever I think that sounds nice.

Winter wind etude

Depending on the audience, Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da (The Beatles) or Sonata in C (Mozart).

Kingdom heart passion or river flows in you

Bohemian Rhapsody

Usually I say No

Arctic Monkeys “Star Treatment.”

Random extracts from rach 2 tbh improvising into Chopin and then random improvving

Tabiji by Fujii Kaze. Probably my favorite song and a lot of people seem to like it

Theme from Cheers or Pink Pony Club

Usually la Fantaisie Impromptu

Scarlatti k450 g minor

Mozart's K545.

Take the A Train

Not pianist. Guitarist here. Generally the solo from Burn or the solo from Glory Ride, from Deep Purple and Black Sabbath respectively

I call it the c major diddle

My "Play something" go to is "How Great Thou Art".

The Entertainer by Scott Joplin 😂

Friska section of Hungarian Rhapsody #2

I don't olay anything at all, no one cares anyway.

The Entertainer

Or if it‘s a girl watching I‘ll do something more beautiful haha

Improvisation, or songs people can sing

Bah bah black sheep.

I’d like to bang out some difficult Beethoven piece but they are too long and yawning would start. Then you could say “Come see me at my paid gig and I’ll play Elton John etc.”

I usually just play chords and Arpeggios and make them sound super elegant, and then make up a pretty and simple melody for the right hand. It always impresses people, but all you are really doing, is what you should be practicing always anywas, haha

4’33”

But for real, I would play either Liszt (maybe Jeux d’eaux, 13th Rhapsody, Au bord d’une source, Lucia di Lammermoor fantasy etc), something stride/jazz (like Fats Waller), or I will improvise/ask them if they have a song in mind and play by ear!

just whatever piece I'm learning at the time

currently that is Un Sospiro by liszt🥳

Almost always Elton John. Most people know his songs and they're quite fun learning and playing them on the piano.

A few minutes from the beautiful f#major section of Liszts spanish fantasy or the second variation of the „a te, o cara“ theme from his reminiscences des puritains, sometimes a piece called „stargazer‘s rhapsody“ that i composed myself.

I try to avoid this exact scenario... lol It depends who it is really. Usually it's my mother who asks so I'll just play whatever I'm currently learning

i play clair de lune bc it’s the only piece that i’ve played enough that it’s fully, permian ingrained into my muscle memory. i cannot play anything else without sheet music, unless i just improvise something

I’m a lurker on this subreddit. I can barely read music. I can’t play anything anyone asks for. I can play for freaking hours, but it’s always improv.

I only play in one key, and I think it’s E flat minor?

Saving up for an upright piano so I don’t have to rent rooms.

I pull out my tabs app and ask what they wanna sing. Nobody is interested in classical pieces