The Thing About Piano Competitions Is . . .

Piano competitions can be a real pain in the ass. Not just for the competitors, which is obvious, but for teachers as well.

Placing well often this means playing a piece somewhat conservatively at, say, 80% of a student's technical capacity. But improving can often mean practicing something at 90%, or even 110% capacity. (Within reason of course.)

Don't get me wrong I'm not against competitions. My more competitive students still enter them. But this "competition is everything" mindset some people have can wear thin; especially when it comes at the expense of real musical growth.

Developing musicians around the age of 13-18 need space to grow. They need to experiment, try out things, find their voice, and push up against pieces that might be a bit above their head both musically and technically. The fact is, this doesn't always lend itself well to polish and precision.

I'm not one of those people who is against competition per se, or anti-sports or anything else. But sports is sport and music is art. Art is a deeply personal thing, and the budding artist is finding himself through his practice. What are we teaching children when they work like hell on music they love, and then made to feel like failures because this or that judge was in a bad mood? 

Long story short. Go and compete, but keep the big picture in mind. End of rant.

Comments

[Erik]

Do you think this deliberate underperforming in order to assure success is a byproduct of a general trend in education to make sure everyone "succeeds" even at the cost of lowering the standard of success? We don't want anyone to be discouraged, so we end up rewarding mediocrity, and failing to challenge those with talent. By the same token, because everybody knows (even if they do not admit) the bar has been lowered, failure when it does happen is not just a setback or a stimulus to try harder next time, it is devastating.

[Sue]

Competition is a delicate thing.

On one hand, it is the perfect motivator to push one's limits further-- technically, musically, emotionally.
On the other, ofcourse is the inevitable let down, if the individual does not place, for whatever reason.

i have seen both outcomes. for some pianists, they rise to heroic levels, while others, lose their love for music. but well said. it is important to keep the bigger picture in mind.

but in the end, this is so much easier said then done...

[Matt]

Hi Sue -

I completely agree. I'm not against them per se, but when you see time and time again wonderful pianists being rejected, you have to wonder what is the whole point. It isn't uncommon these days for pianists who already have performing careers to be turned away from even the initial rounds of major competitions...something is wrong with the system.

[James Harding]

I think I just jumped out of my chair! It's so nice to hear another piano teacher say what you just did. My teacher was very wary of competitions for those very reasons. One or two students feel rewarded at the end of the day - the rest are often crushed. Is this really the best possible format?

I agree that competiton is important for some students and piano competitions have an honored place in our musical tradition, but can't we create additional events that speak to the other group of students out there (like me) who don't enjoy competing?

To me, performance is a sharing experience. I'd rather do it for fun than for a trophy.

Thank you for a fantastic post!