Klarinet Archive - Posting 000312.txt from 2004/04

From: "Buckman, Nancy" <nebuckman@-----.edu>
Subj: RE: [kl] RE: Competitions and Juries
Date: Mon, 19 Apr 2004 16:34:30 -0400

Tony P.,

My problem with your comment deals with that word "perception", which to =
me indicates an opinion about something. When dealing with kids, if you =
want them to change something they need to "see what that change is and =
what factual evidence you have for them to base their change on. For =
instance, I had a student who was playing a piece (I don't remember =
exactly which piece), and did a fine job. When she got a poor rating, I =
couldn't understand why. Two of her three adjudicators marked her down =
for using a fingering that wasn't on a fingering chart. She played =
beautifully. In fact, she played the same piece at her entrance =
audition to one of the nation's better conservatories and got very good =
comments about her technique and her musicianship. What good was the =
remark about the fingering (she used 1 on 1 for Eb instead of the side =
trill key)? It was a subjective comment that did nothing to improve her =
confidence or execution. Anything below college level should not be =
judged on perception. Kids should be judged on technique and =
musicianship in a very general way. There is plenty of time for the =
nastiness of competition after they begin their undergraduate study. up =
to this point, my personal opinion is that any encouragement that can be =
given, no matter how miniscule, will make any kid feel good about his =
performance. Who knows, that small amount of praise may be the =
difference between continuing study and quitting.

Nancy

Nancy E. Buckman, CPO, AFO, Technical Assistant
School of Health Professions, Wellness and Physical Education
Anne Arundel Community College
Arnold, MD 21012-1895 USA
Phone 410-777-2316 Fax 410-777-2233
E-mail nebuckman@-----.edu

Date: Sun, 18 Apr 2004 12:41:25 +0100
To: klarinet@-----.org
From: Tony Pay <tony.p@-----.org>
Subject: Competitions and Juries
Message-ID: <90958aa14c.tony.p@-----.org>

Just to say something about this topic from the point of view of the =
jury
member, which I have quite often been:

It's very, very difficult for an unsuccessful competitor to hear =
usefully
anything you say to them afterwards about their performance. I'd say =
that's
because in that particular situation, they hold your criticism not as
*something they might improve in their playing* -- as they would in a =
lesson
-- but as *the reason why they weren't successful*.

And then it's so tempting for them to say: the only reason that that =
jury
member could come up with for why they didn't like me was X (where X is
something fairly trivial).

As an aside, it's worth noticing that even in a lesson, it can be very =
hard
to get someone to perceive for themselves one of their faults, *as a =
fault*.
Indeed, sometimes this difficult change of perception is all that's=20
necessary
to correct the fault. How much harder then must it be for a =
disappointed
competitor to make the shift?

But actually, particularly in the final stages of a competition, the =
reason
why someone wasn't successful often can't be captured by identifying a
particular fault, or even a collection of faults.

It was just that, on the day, someone else's performance came over as,
simply, *better*; even including their faults!

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

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