The misshapen Schumann Piano Concerto started its life as a stand-alone Fantasy that morphed into a long first movement, the composer then adding two small closing sections to flesh it out. The work has an unusually quirky performance history. In one of the first concert hall performances of the work, the solo oboist made a glaring mistake in the statement of its opening theme. The pianist, none other than Johannes Brahms, duplicated the error in his repetition of the melody so as not to embarrass the man. (Found here)

Now if I made a glaring mistake and the soloist did the same thing I wouldn’t think the soloist was saving me from embarrassment! How ’bout you? (It might make me laugh, though.)

I’ve been known to do this same thing with students on occasion. Sometimes they get it. Sometimes they don’t. It’s all in good fun … but I wouldn’t do it at a performance!