Festivals - are they worth it?

[Dulciana]

Putting all that effort in for one person's opinion - is it worth it? I sat through a few (long ) sessions today where I had pupils performing. In one, I had two cousins in the Pre-Grade 1 Class. They were all meant to choose any two pieces from the pre-Grade One syllabus of any of the main boards. First bone of contention - the winner played a piece that was obviously about Grade 2, but wasn't on any syllabus - but the adjudicator didn't seem to notice or mind. Secondly, one of mine got a silver medal and the other got nothing, but to my mind there was absolutely nothing to choose between them, but the one that got nothing left in floods of tears. I'd done my best to tell all concerned that it was all just for the fun of it/winning didn't matter/if you take it too seriously we shouldn't be there, bla, bla, bla.

Oh dear.

I spent the afternoon on diplomatic phonecalls. "Sorry I didn't make enough of x when she got her medal but I was concerned about y" "Sorry about what happened; it could have gone either way; is she all right.......?"

In another class I had a pupil criticised for being over-expressive in Walter Carrol's Forest Fantasies. We spent ages working at being expresive. The winner - I felt - played totally woodenly, but he didn't play any wrong notes. (Mine played two and showed a nervous reaction to them.)

I had to console that one as well - despite never having led him to believe he'd win.

And then there's the parents - was it my fault for getting him to go to town on the rubato? Should we have done the pedalling exactly as on the page?

Is it worth it?

[Steve Hopwood]

I have accompanied umpteen classes, entered kiddies for hundreds and played in a fair few myself.

The success or failure of a class depends entirely on the adjudicator. A top quality judge will: make everybody taking part feel they have achieved something; be liberal with praise and encouragement; make a couple of constructive suggestions for improvement to each individual, sometimes of the specific piece, sometimes more generally; send all the kids away happy.

Parents and teachers have to cooperate to make the last bit happen. We all need to stress over and again that the competitive element is not important well before the event. Experienced festival players know that the final result is a lottery; a performance that comes top in front of one judge can come anywhere from top to bottom, and all points in between, in front of another.

We all have to accept the lottery element. It is axiomatic that no two people will be affected in the same way by a musical performance. I have often listened to an adjudicator and wondered whether s\he has even been in the same room as me. ;D

Competing in music festivals suits few children and even fewer adults. Those of us who gained our invaluable early performing experiences in this way often forget this. For every child that plays, there are hundreds and hundreds who will not. I only enter those who are really enthusiastic for the event and able to regard success and failure as equally transient.

I never enter the progeny of pushy parents. ;D

So yes, I think festivals are a good thing. I am just selective in my choice of whom to suggest enters.

[noodle]

Hi Dulciana, I think I know which festival you're referring to - one of my students will be there on Friday! My objection to festivals is the way some committees 'brief' the adjudicator as to who should win and why the adjucator At a local festival last year, the students of a committee member won lots of prizes even though they were not that good and the better performers didn't win anything. As Steve says, sometimes you wonder if the adjudicator was in the same room, listening to the same performance or had his fingers in his ears. It is not fair when the best performance doesn't win - and that is even harder to explain to both parents and students! Last year a girl in a local festival 'won' a grade 6 class. She failed her grade 6 twice - once before the festival and once in the exam session after the festival. Unbelievable!

[petite joueuse]

Mmmmm! Daughter only ever did one festival. She played her piece well, but the "winner" was like something out of a fairy story - blond ringlets, pretty flouncy dress with a large sash tied in a huge bow at the back, and she started with a very posh voice "Ladies and Gentleman, I am now going to play Piece X for you - I do hope you enjoy it!" (in contrast to the mere mortals, who turned up in school uniform and didn't announce their piece).

The whole experience left a rather nasty taste in the mouth.
Fortunately, daughter gets lots of perfomance practice at school with genuinely appreciative audiences (both her peers and adults). I can't see us rushing to do another festival in a hurry.

[Dulciana]

Nice to hear some fellow cynics!

[Car Expert]

I have been part of my local festival for the past 2 years, and I've found it a very good experience and have learnt a lot from the adjudicator. This has also helped me calm my nerves down whenever I play in front of an audience. The next time I'm performing at the festival is in February (the last time as I'll be moving away next summer), and for the first time I'll be performing in two classes - Jazz and Grades 3 & 4. Looking forward to it!

[Dulciana]

That's exactly the sort of attitude you should have! I think Steve's right that the teacher should be very selective about who to enter - if they were all like you, CE, I'd chuck 'em all in!

[chocolatedog]

I've never put kids in for local festivals, although I adjudicated a couple - not sure if I really enjoyed the experience or not.......

[Dulciana]

I wouldn't like to do it at all! It must be really difficult to decide on a winner sometimes - in my pre-Grade Ones' class yesterday it could have been anyone - they were all very good - so I can see why he just plonked for the one who played the most difficult pieces.

[mitch]

This has been really interesting as my daughter has recently changed piano teachers. Previous teacher hated feativals and thought it wasall 'old hat' with stuffy people there ( allusion to petite joueue experience I think ) and new teacher has put daughter straight in for festival next year for a duet and a solo.

She didn't even ask me if I wanted to put my daughter in, but just uses them as part and parcel of learning an instrument and simply said ' Oh by the way, the dates for the festival are likely to be and she'll be playing this and that'. Well, not literally those words. ;D

Anyway, I think the ones she's going in for have a good reputation and the attitude seems to be relaxed and showing off playing a piece to an audience, as opposed to playing and wanting to win and be 'the best'. So, I'll be going along for the first time.

Well, actually, the first time I ever did a festival was the first and last. Although I did really well (beatingmy cousin who had been playing 2 yrs longer than me..see, no matter how hard you try that naughty competitive thingy is there) . Anyway, I was petrified through the whole thing and vowed never to do one again as I hated the whole experience.

When I moved 'up North', my new teacher (very good) did festivals and tried to get me to go, but too scared. On hindsight, I think playing in festivals from a young age must be a good thing for confidence building. I think you just have to pick and choose a bit.

[celloma]

This is a really interesting thread for me. My daughter (now 17) has been playing in Festivals since she was 7 yrs old and because we have found them to be generally beneficial, I have been involved in running one for the past five years.

I would agree that a Festival is only as good as the adjudicators it employs. I have seen some very professional adjudicators who have made every performer leave feeling positive and supported and offered some very constructive help. I have also seen some very poor adjudicators, but unfortunately unless there is a whisper on the grapevine you do not know what you are getting until they turn up. If an adjudicator belongs to the Federation of British Festivals, then a report is sent by the committee to the Federation at the end of the Festival and those adjudicators who receive several negative reports are moderated and removed if necessary. If they do not belong to the Federation, then the only option is not to employ them again.

I am aware that some questionable behaviour with regard to briefing of adjudicators does go on behind the scenes at some Festivals. However, at many Festivals (including the one I run) teachers/parents with vested interests are not allowed anywhere near the adjudicators and no briefing goes on. It becomes obvious pretty quickly if there is anything odd going on - the best remedy for this is to boycott the Festival concerned - Festivals can only survive if they receive sufficient entries and word does get round pretty quickly.

There will always be differences of opinion over the results at a Festival as we all hear different things in a performance, but if the adjudicators, teachers and parents (who have a huge responsibility to keep things in perspective) handle things correctly then there are a lot of benefits to be obtained from performing at Festivals.

I think that my daughters view of Festivals says much. She is convinced that without the experience of playing in Festivals over the years, she would not have passed her ATCL diploma with distinction at the age of 16. Her conviction is such that she now gives a considerable amount of her time to helping our local Festival survive - not because I have asked her to, but because she wants other youngsters to have the same opportunities that she has had.

[kflute]

I used to play in local festivals all the time before I went to uni. Last year, I discovered a festival up here so entered just three pupils................didn't want to go mad on the first time!!!

The syllabus has just been released again now. It's in March sometime, so I'm thinking that maybe it'd be a good thing for my eater exam studetns to do? What do you think>

[possom]

We have a local music festival every March and I usually enter my pupils. Our festival only has 1 cup for every pianist from preliminary to grade 5 and 1 for grade 5 + so there are no expectations of winning anything as such (there are usually 50 + candidates in each of those categories), my pupils say they enjoy it because they get to play on a new yamaha grand and it's more like a performance than a competition. Most pupils turn up in their school uniforms and i've never sensed any animosity between my pupils and anyone elses so it's always been a good experience.

[digby]

Our local festival is quite a large, stuffy affair. There is a huge glut of private schools in the vicinity so loads of people enter as much as possible. I do enter students who are keen to do it but usually completely ignore the fact that it is competitive and put them in on the basis that they get to play on a Steinway D that is worth more than my first house!

What really bugs me though is when you put someone into a 9 years and under open class, playing a quite respectable prep test, G1 or G2 piece and they are treated like second class students amongst grade 5 - 8 people. We have had wonderful adjudicators who mark everyone on their performance, regardless of the standard of piece and others that if you give them a book with Grade 1 on the cover don't stand a chance.

[Steve Hopwood]

Hehe. I have just remembered, the last time I competed in a festival was by accident, some 20 years ago.

To set the scene: Sunday night - Brahms second piano concerto in Blackpool; the following Tuesday night - a full evening recital somewhere close to Liverpool: Weds lunchtime - a recital with a violinist in Rochdale. High-octane playing and the notes were just dripping from my fingers.

Just after all this, on the Monday of the following week, I went to the Macclesfield festival to accompany a young contralto in several classes. She had not realised when sending the entries that both players were marked in the Lieder class; I neither knew nor cared. Strictly speaking, I should have been barred because the festival was not open to professional musicians, but I did not know I was to be marked and the festival did not know I was a pro.

The first class of the day was the Lieder class; we were first up performing the first of Schumann's A Woman's Life and Loves. This song has a gentle, chordal accompaniment that requires considerable skill to handle if the voicing of the chords is to sound good.

The piano was a festering heap of rubbish that was as close to being unplayable as any I have ever met at such an event. Half the time, the notes did not sound; the other half, they exploded into life as though intent on world domination. The song is only a couple of pages long and it took me that long to learn to control the beast I was playing.

Other competitors were locals and clearly in the know. All their songs had thunderous piano parts allowing the pianist licence to crash around, thus taming the beast more effectively.

Despite this, the singer was brilliant. Come the adjudication, a less-than-totally-impressed judge gave me an absolute slating for poor chord voicing. He awarded us second place and made it starkly clear that the singer would have won first prize by a ludicrous amount of marks if only she had brought a half-way competent pianist with her. ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

How are the mighty fallen, or what? ;D