This lunchtime my son and his friend (both 10) played a duet in a competition in the Cheltenham Music Festival.

They were first on, and played reasonably well - they made a very nice sound, and their timing was very good, but my son's friend missed a bar or two out.

There were supposed to be 14 duets competing, but four did not turn up. So, at the end of 10 recitals, the judge came to the front to deliver his remarks and announce the winners.

My son and his friend weren't mentioned in the first group, and so when he announced "In third place were Emily and Annabel...." we knew that he'd got either first or second. When he wasn't announced in second place his face lit up, as did mine and my wife's, puffed up as we were with parental pride.

Pride cometh before a fall. The judge had allowed two sets of remarks to become entangled, and so he announced in first place another duet altogether. You could have measured our collective disappointment on the Richter Scale.

As a pianist, I had a shrewd idea that they were not destined to win - the pair who did win played a pretty simple, but nicely effective arrangement of Dvorak's "Largo" from the "New World" symphony. However, on my (admittedly biased) marking scheme my boys should have gained at least second or third place - in the event, the duet that got third place were completely wrong, and I suspect only won that prize because the girl was so young and small and cute that she could hardly reach the keyboard - they had to start their piece three times.

At first, the judge refused to acknowledge that he'd made a mistake at all, and then, when it was pointed out to him, just laughed it off and did not apologise. I realise it's not the Leeds International or anything, but to have one's hopes so cruelly built up and then dashed deserved some sort of understanding. My son is quite a competitive boy, and he was very down afterwards.

It all just reinforces my view that music as a competitive sport is just wrong, wrong, wrong (if I'd had my way, he would not have entered - his teacher refuses to put any of her pupils forward - but he agreed to play with his friend, whose teacher always puts his pupils in for the competition.)

Yes, it's an art, not a sport. On the other hand, festivals do give people an opportunity to perform in public, and I think it's best if they're looked at that way. I've had close experience of some very odd adjudications which have caused at best irritation and at worst tears.

Non-competitive classes within festivals are usually great fun, and I think more in the spirit of the whole idea. I like the idea of a completely non-competitive amateur festival, though I don't know if there would be as many entries.

Cheltenham changed their name from "Competetive Festival" to "Festival of Performing Arts" this year, but of course the ethos is exactly the same. My daughter was due to play a duet tomorrow, but the other girl has injured her finger, so can't play.
What a horrid experience for your son, I hope it hasn't put him off too badly. I was at an earlier class with the same adjudicator, 'nuff said.
I think it sometimes helps to enter for several classes, just so that you can get the bad performance nerves out of the way at the first one. Kids often perform much better at their 2nd or 3rd class, but then it's a lot of preparation.
It's great to come home with some silverware, but otherwise, try and put it down to experience. In any case, coping with festival classes is a great training for presentations /public speaking etc in later life.

I understand why many people don't like using music as a competitve 'sport' and in many ways i agree with this, especially as it can get loads of people down. Then again, i do quite enjoy competitions, even when i don't win! I am incredibly competitive, though. Also, a bit of competitiveness makes some people work harder and make them more determined, other just use it as a fab chance to show off!

Hmm, but choir seems to be about having a go in competitions some of the time and so perhaps only individual competition is a bad idea. Our local competition (Harrogate Festival) is what most of my friends do and for some reason I've never done it...I don't really know why. This year, so many people asked me why not that I thought it may be fun to give it a go next year. I think I'm old enough now not to be too upset if I don't do so well. After all, it's only a bit of fun for me.

Certainly sounds like a rotten Judge to me.

Anyone can make a mistake and a quick apology would have been no problem and "turned away anger" - as it is, the judge sounds like an idiot.

John

I've had fallout from the Festival too - my pupil beat my daughter in a class by 2 marks, thus winning herself a silver medal. There were tears afterwards. I tried to console her by pointing out that said pupil's parents would be very pleased, spread the word about what a good teacher I am (gah!) and I'd get more pupils, we'd have more money and be able to buy more shoes!!

I try to remind my lot that a festival performance (like an exam) is after all only a snapshot of their capabilities on a particular day and doesn't reflect their overall ability as a musician. Some just do perform better under a bit of pressure.

There is also the issue of the spread of marks - 'it's not fair, so-and-so only got 1 mark less than me and she made loads of mistakes' etc - well, a Festival is a commercial venture and they want to keep the punters happy and coming back for more..harsh but fair?

I do get very annoyed with some of the other teachers and parents who sit round slagging off the adjudicators and their decisions (above example excepted - that was truly awful). They pick on one small comment and go on and on about it, take remarks out of context etc. I could get quite cross here......fume.....splutter......

I know exactly what you mean as far as dissapointment goes... music is so subjective at times and I've had many competitions where I thought my placing should have been higher than it was.
But playing in competition is just so good... for me, anyways. It is a good way to learn how to overcome nerves and a fun way to meet new people...
Just remember, that for every win someone has had, there have been many more losses.
Good luck in the future!

*Sarice*

I've had my share of competition disappointments. Having high expectations is also a large part of it. However, after being down about my results, they motivate me to work harder. This year, one of my favorite and most well-played pieces lost miserably in a competition, and I wasn't able to play it for a long time. I've realized, however, that I don't hate the piece, and I couldn't possibly hate music. I just want to do well the next time around. I'm still practicing.

And, honestly, when it comes to a competition, if the adjudicators aren't looking for your style of music, there's nothing you can do. If I try to play to the style of the adjudicator, I often lose my own sense of the music, so I don't do that anymore.

I also agree with Sarice: it's a great way to get past nervousness and meet new people! After playing in a lot of recitals and competitions, my nerves are much more accustomed to performance. (I don't have any kind of stage fright, but playing in competitions is still a bit nerve-wracking for me.) Also, through competitions, I've met many talented young pianists; it's so great discussing one of my passions with other people who feel the same. I think that competitors should try to enjoy themselves at competitions too!

I've never ever seen a fair competition...! no matter the level, from amateur to top-international...

Any competition involving the execution of an art is intrinsically flawed by the inevitability of being affected by the personal taste of the judges, although most judges will deny this. The fact is that, whilst it is possible to differentiate a good artist from a bad (I may not be able to define it but we all know it when we hear or see it), there may be no way of diferrentiating between 2 equally good artists except on the basis of inerpretation i.e. taste.

For this reason piano music competitions are no more (or less) valid than synchronized swimming or ballroom dancing competitions; or, come to that, the selection process for the Royal Academy summer exhibition, or the Miss World contest - or any competition where the winner is decided by judges.

They may (or may not) be a bit of fun, especially for the winners. However, the pressure on the losers is such that, in my view, anyone young enough to be impressionable should not be subjected to such a thing. A music festival, where everyone celebrates all the artists without any prizes: Now that's more like it!

Oh, and before you accuse me of being anti-competitive or wishing to cosset kiddies and protect them from the "terrible" consequences of possibly losing, I am nothing of the sort: I think children (and adults) are naturally as competitive as . . . well, as "whatever this board will let me say without subsituting hash marks"! I think this should be encouraged. I think children should take part in every competitive game and sport they possibly can until they find one they like. Without the chance to fail no-one can have the chance to win. However, when they could run, jump, kick a ball, hit a target, swim, throw etc. in so many entirely legitimate competitive ways, I just don't think an art form should be a sport. After all, I used to row competitively and still play and coach chess. In both of those you don't (usually) need a judge to tell you who's won.

Now, is there a step down from this soap-box or do I have to jump?

Bournemouth Music Competitions Festival used to (perhaps still does) include a quotation on either its syllabus or its programme, perhaps both, from the composer Walford Davies, something about "pacing one another on the road to excellence". I competed in that festival from the age of seven until I was grown up, and later as a teacher used our two local festivals (by then Beckenham and Bromley, in autumn and spring respectively) as performance opportunities for nearly all my pupils. Every festival performance was prepared as if it were a concert performance, including a well prepared and audible announcement of what they were going to play and a bow at the end. My attitude to the adjudication was that if we were very lucky the adjudicator would make some useful comments! Sometimes I came home thinking I could have done a better job myself, but occasionally the adjudication was a real bonus.