Klarinet Archive - Posting 000288.txt from 2004/04

From: Tony Pay <tony.p@-----.org>
Subj: Re: [kl] RE: Competitions and Juries
Date: Mon, 19 Apr 2004 05:44:13 -0400

In message <BAY13-F50ZVrDs9aAOP0006c4a9@-----.com>
"Bryan Crumpler" <crumpletox@-----.com> wrote:

> Thanks for the response Tony. What you're talking about is a completely
> different topic, in terms of what's "better", what's not, and whether
> someone is openly accepting to criticism. I am quite receptive to
> criticisms, and adjust accordingly if I think it will help in my
> performance... but I've even had ridiculous comments like "you need better
> clothes"... which honestly, don't do anything to improve my performance.

Well, of course I accept that members of juries are sometimes stupid, and
perhaps you've had a bad run of luck with them. But I still think that the
nub of what I said is relevant, and not a *completely* different topic.

My own experience as a juror is that what distinguishes the successful from
the unsuccessful competitor cannot be communicated very well in a
post-competition interaction. If you have to try to do it in any
competition that's at a reasonably high level, you're forced to fall back on
a collection of statements any one of which in isolation sounds a bit silly.
The competitor notices that silliness, and even if receptive to criticism, is
more likely to attach the silliness to you rather than to see that the
situation itself is rather silly.

Sometimes, of course, unlike you the competitor *isn't* open to criticism. I
remember suggesting to someone that his playing of some of the orchestral
excerpts lacked the power and conviction required for the job he was
auditioning for. (Notice that this sounds silly because the immediate
thought is, well, if it needed more power, then the conductor could ask for
it, couldn't they?)

However, he, a Spaniard, immediately came up with a different answer.

"Well, I studied in America, and there they understand that often what sounds
powerful close up isn't what gets across to the public in a bigger hall."

So obviously I didn't know what I was talking about.

> I'm sorry I can't afford an Armani suit or a Perry Ellis tux to perform
> in... but anyway.... the point in question is whether it's appropriate at
> an "international" competition to penalize someone for his/her playing
> style as being too connected to that of a different country or geographical
> area (i.e. "too European" or "too American" or "too Asian" whatever the
> case may be). I think any fair judge should be connected enough with styles
> around the world to appreciate the differences as opposed to being
> geographically biased.

Yes, I think that it's an unfortunate choice of words. My point would then
take the form of saying that a better choice of words doesn't necessarily
solve the problem.

One thing it might be useful to consider is that a wonderful player in any
style manages to be convincing, even to adherents of another style. But a
mediocre player tends to fail differently in different styles.

For example, a mediocre French player in the past might have been thought to
sound 'too unremittingly thin and nasal', a mediocre German player 'too
unvaried, thick and boring', a mediocre English player 'too unfocussed,
wobbly and mannered'....and so on. (Notice I left out the Americans, like
'Master and Commander';-)

So, 'too X', where X is one of these national groups, comes to mean,
'having the sort of defect that mediocre X players often suffer from' --
which is at least a bit more understandable, and might give you a clue as to
what the juror was on about -- if you're at all interested, that is.

Tony
--
_________ Tony Pay
|ony:-) 79 Southmoor Rd tony.p@-----.org
| |ay Oxford OX2 6RE http://classicalplus.gmn.com/artists
tel/fax 01865 553339

... Old age is better than the alternative.

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