Where Is The Music Spirit?
This evening, my sis told me the results of the Trinity competition held at NAFA, and how a not-deserving pianist managed to get a prize, while 2 very deserving pianist didn't win anything. I wasn't surprised. After attending and playing for so many competitions here and abroad, I've come to understand one thing:-
If you want to take part in a competition, you don't have to play well. You just need a very influential teacher and you'll be safe and bound to go through all the way to the finals. Not surprisingly, you may also win a prize, whether you deserve it or not.
After taking part as accompanist at a recent international competition, I found that the biography of competitors and who their teachers are, are very important. 1 competitor has 2 of the most famous names in the international music scene as teachers, so even though he acted like a clown on stage and his playing was so-so during the quarter-finals, he somehow managed to get to the semifinals. Another competitor has a Naxos recording contract under her belt, so even though she played like s*** during the quarter-finals, she got through all the way to the finals and eventually won 3rd prize. Not forgetting that during the quarter-finals, she played on the instrument belonging to the head of jury, as her own instrument got "lost". She was given a few to choose from and not suprisingly, only the one belonging to the "high-and-mighty" suited her. Her own instrument miraculously appeared after the quarter-finals. It is no wonder that most of the other competitors hated her. Sadly, a very deserving and talented competitor with no impressive background was shown the door at the quarter-finals.
In another competition, the judges consisted of teachers, and the competitors? Their very own students. So it was a fight between the teachers as to which of their students should get through to the next round. They gave their own students very high marks and other students, as low as possible. 1 judge even gave a competitor (obviously not his student) 0 mark even though everybody expected this competitor to win the top prize. It was later speculated that the judge knew of how strong the competitor was, so he booted him out first, so that his own student would be safe. Not surprisingly, his own student won the grand prize, even though he missed 2 lines of the concerto during the finals!
Very unfortunately, the above are real-life examples of what is happening in today's competitions (hopefully, not all!) around the world.
To the above judges:-
Aren't you suppose to judge a competitor by how well he played during the competition, and not who his teacher is, or how impressive his bio is?
Aren't you the least concerned that your judging has confused many people, such that they don't know anymore what is good playing?
Aren't you ashamed that you have lowered the general music standard doing what you did?
Aren't you ashamed that you have shown utter disrespect to the composers doing what you did?
In short, aren't you ashamed of yourselves?