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The Funnies
If doctors used authentic Baroque instruments |
 | | "We are the London Consort of Surgeons. We perform authentic operations using original instruments." |
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Greetings!
I know music isn't math. We love it because it is an art, which means that people's reactions vary, and we wouldn't have it any other way.
However, the fact that music appreciation is so subjective really hit home in a flute contest that my students participated in last month.
The first round was a CD submission rated by two independent judges. They awarded up up five points each in six categories.
Here are a few of their evaluations:
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Judge 1
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Judge 2
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Student 1
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Intonation
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1
| 3 | | |
Musical Effect
| 2 | 4 | |
Student 2
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Intonation
| 2 | 5 | | |
Tone
| 3 | 5 | |
Student 3
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Intonation
| 1 | 5 | | |
Technique
| 1 | 5 |
Really? What does the student whose tone is rated both a 1 (the lowest) and a 5 (the highest) take away from this feedback?
Here are a few more stories that drive the point home:
A student who received only a 2 on tone from both judges went on to win second place in the entire competition, where the judge called her tone gorgeous!
Another student who received very high scores on the CD submission (27 and 28) did not place in the finals.
Finally, a student who was rated only 14 by one CD judge was rated 27 by another CD judge and won honorable mention for the competition.
There were three different judges and three very different opinions. Wow.
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What Can We Learn from this Story?
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The message I gave my students after reading to them the wide-ranging opinions of these three judges is:
If you win, don't think you're all that great. If you lose, don't think you're all that bad! The judging was just someone's opinion at that moment. Students should not allow that judgment to affect their playing or their self-confidence. They should learn what they can from the comments, and then move on. |
| A Note to Teachers about Competition | |
While it's fun, of course, to bask in the glory of our students when they do well in a competition, we need to think about our motivation.
- Do we get too focused on outcome goals?
- Do we teach to the test and spend too much time on contest material?
- Do we teach our students that winning instead of learning is the goal?
- Do we overreact when the judging doesn't go our way?
- Do we act as if learning music is a race?
- Do we push students to be more competitive than they want to be?
We all need to take a deep breath and remember that our goal is to nurture our students as people first, then as musicians... to teach them the love of music and to have fun along the way. Contests can be great motivation but not the end goal. (Note to self!)
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