Music Competitions

I found this topic very interesting and I would like to write some ideas from my own experience as a candidate and also as a listener.
Between 1997-2006 I participated in national music competitions and each time I won a prize-first, second or third with the flute. If this was essential for my development as a flutist I`m not able to say, but for sure it was a very good experience. First I was pushed by my teacher and later by myself to be concentrate and to give the best in a certain moment, the competition, and I believe that it was a very good training. Of course, I expected many times to be the best, but I don`t remember to be very disappointed when this doesn`t happen. So in my case, let`s say that beeing a participant in music competitions it was something neutral, maybe with a small positive influence in my future development as a flutist. Also the decision of the jury about the prizes it was not astonishing for me, it was almost the same, with one or two exceptions.
Now I would like to talk about the cases in which a participant is very good and doesn`t take a prize. This is totally unfair! It happens many times, I saw it many times but now I will speak about a recent situation from one week ago. The finalists of an international violin competition played  in the final a concert with our orchestra. The best from all 3 in my opinion and also others opinion received no prize! The question is why? And I have no answer. And the violinist maybe has no answer. This is the difficult part in this field. You can`t prove how good, how musical and how different you are sometimes. It`s a matter of taste, the taste of a jury in this case and the taste of the public other times. In my opinion, the jury is not completely objective from different reasons. First, there are teachers which try to sustain their students or have a clear preference for somebody else and second, they are concentrate on different things like mistakes, technique, the style of playing and less on the musician in itself. Luckily, the audience is more open and receptive to musicians. The public can enjoy an artist`s message through playing and is able to feel without looking for the mistakes or judging. We should be happy to play for the public and to give them our best. At the end, the public matters more than a jury from a competition. They can feel, enjoy and appreciate our performance!

Favourite pieces

As all of you, I have also my favorite pieces of music. Not all of them are from the classical repertoire, but I can listen the favorite piece 100 times or more with the same enthusiasm and without feeling bored. It put me in a very relaxed state of mind and recharges me with the positive feelings. 

The question is: why do we have this preference for some pieces more than for the others? It is a subjective perception, a matter of taste or it`s something more than this? It`s there a "specific technique" to compose this songs? Maybe a composer can illuminate us :-) I`m wondering because I saw on YouTube melodies for relaxation, meditation, for inducing sleep, etc... I was listening some of them but in fact I`m not sure if they really had the desired impact over me. 

Anyway, listening to my favourite pieces it always works and it helps me to change my mood and to relax in a way than no other activity can do it for me.

Classic vs. contemporary music

I`ve heard and read a lot of articles about the effects of classical music on our brain, body or IQ. Most of the information can be real but are also many suppositions on this topic. About the contemporary music it`s not so much written. Maybe not yet...
Although are many styles of music: pop, jazz, blues, rock, metal, my article will refer to classical and modern music. I would like to share with you some opinion from my experience of playing and listening both styles. When I say classical music I refer to the period between 1600-1900. Everybody listened at least once in life works from Bach, Mozart or Beethoven. I mentioned them because they are one of the greatest composers from all this periode of 300 years. After performing or listening their works, we usually have a feeling of pleasure, joy or peace and we can feel a very positive influence on our mood and perception. More about the surprising effects of classical music you can find here:
www.emedexpert.com/tips/music.shtml

On the opposite side, the contemporary music (1975-present) has no tonality, no melody and the accent is on exploring to the maximum the instrumental technique. It`s very interesting and challenging to play or to listen such a music, but in the end you have many contradictory feelings and more negative than positive ones. You can also experiment nervosity, anger, fear and we can see a mirror of our society: haotic and superficial. Of course, there are also some very good contemporary pieces, but very few! After performing or listening a modern piece I heard so many times from the public and performers this fraze: "It was interesting!" I wonder if this is the real purpose of the music. I guess, NO. I strongly believe that the real music touches more the soul and less the intellect. From this point of view the classical music it`s much valuable than the contemporary one and after hundreds of years it is still alive and has a story to tell, a beautiful one!

The conductors

They play a crucial role in the orchestra performance. A good conductor has the power to grow the orchestra level and to inspire the musicians to play at their best potential during the rehearsals and concerts. They are the leaders and most of the times they are also responsible for a successful concert or a poor one. 
The orchestra musicians are open and willing to follow a good leader, but I repeat, a good leader! And the truth is that`s not easy to find very good liders. Many conductors are speaking a lot during the rehearsals, but their words have no essence, no meaning and are not helpful for the musicians performance. With this style of work the musicians become tired, are not concentrate anymore, and their performance is a mediocre one, without energy and soul inside. Arrogance, rudeness or speaking without meaning has nothing to do with a good conductor. This attitude will never inspire the musicians to play at their best potential. I know that`s  not easy to find a complete conductor: charismatic, talented, precise, organized, very good prepared and polite. But when you find one of them, you need to know that he can make a real difference into the orchestra performance. The great conductors know how important is also to give freedom to the musicians to express their own ideas and feelings through music. They know how to ask for the artists involvment and to create a beautiful atmosphere for the musicians and for the public. Their hand gestures are more than 1000 words and express all what they want. And in the end, the orchestra is really playing music! 

That`s why we are looking for Great Leaders!

Fun, pleasure and appreciation

Well, this is a very delicate subject especially for artists. The desire of recognition and appreciation is coming so naturaly and we believe that this will define us as musicians. I`m not so sure if we are teached in this way, or this desire it`s coming more from inside. 
First, let`s try to explain the terms of hobby and profession. It`s a big difference between a child which takes private lessons and is learning to play an instrument just for fun and pleasure and a child which takes lessons in order to pursue a career in this field. Until now, I didn`t hear teachers from the schools telling the students to play WHAT they want and WHEN they want, just for fun and for their pleasure. This can happen just into the private classes. 
Later, those students who are doing music for profession will become teachers or maybe orchestra players. This are stable jobs and are good for a regular income. But remember, this are jobs! In the orchestra is almost the same. Somebody is organizing a schedule with the pieces for the entire season. So the musicians can`t choose the program. We play what we SHOULD play. Maybe the most happy musicians are those who are amateur or freelance. They have not a stable job and an irregular income, but in the end they are more free to choose their program for performances. 
I don`t know if I was very precise, but the idea is that the professional musicians are not  FREE to play WHAT they want and WHEN they want. It`s more about DISCIPLINE instead of pleasure.
About the appreciation I can say that this is a strong desire for all artists. Being the best, the most talented and famous can be a goal for many musicians. I don`t know if the most famous or talented musicians are more happy. It seems that NO, they are so busy with concerts, so obsessed to work hard and maybe sometimes they are more UNHAPPY than the amateurs who are playing what they WANT just for FUN! 
My message will be: Let`s keep the music also for fun and pleasure and don`t transform it completely into a job!

Expectations vs Reality


I will start this interesting topic from the point of view as a performer. We all have expectations before a concert, audition or exam. We know the program, we practiced enough (or not) to be good prepared and this gives us the feeling of predictability. Most of the times, the result is more or less right with small variations. Sometimes it can happen a big surprise like for example to be very good prepared and suddenly your performance is very bad or the contrary, to play much better than you expected. Why? Our feelings are very exposed in the moment of performance in front of a public. It is not so comfortable for everybody to be so open. Some of us will experience nervosity, fear, anxiety. For some of us little from this feelings will be perfect to push us to perform at our best level but for others will be an inconvenient. So, it is absolutely clear that we are different and here is the beauty! Still, I believe that the results are quite predictable in our case, as a performers.  

Now I would like to speak also from the point of view as a teacher. It`s almost the same. Our students are facing also anxiety before playing and they have also some expectations, but I saw one difference. Their results are not so predictable as our results! Simply, we can see a lot of variations between our expectations and the reality. I can give you an example with one of my students which was good prepared. Before the exam she was so happy, so full of energy and so excited to play! I was expecting a good performance, but the truth is that during the performance she played really bad. A weak tone, lack of concentration, many mistakes and some memory lapses. I was astonished! It was  a change of 180 degree in her attitude. Well, I couldn`t guess what will happen so I was not able to help her. I felt frustrated, but then I understood that she was also surprised about what happened. Now I`m more prepared and from this experience I`ve learned something.  The next time I`ll be more reserved with the predictions and more open to a real result vs an expected one!

Simple melodies


I`m glad to share this with you. Sometime I desire to play simple melodies. It gives me a feeling of joy. When we play things which seems to be easy for us, we don`t need to concentrate too much about technique, rhythm, intonation or interpretation. We feel relaxed and this allows us also to enjoy what we are doing.

Our comfort zone is a natural state, where stress and anxiety are almost nonexistent. Being in the comfort zone from time to time will give us a good feeling.  I know, it`s not challenging or demanding and will not help us grow, but look also on the good side of playing simple studies or pieces: you can do it very easy, without to much effort and without mistakes. And above all, you can feel pleasure and joy!
As a professional musicians we need to arrive at a certain level in technique and interpretation. For this reason we should learn also difficult studies or pieces. This it`s not so enjoyable because they are more demanding  and often we are facing stress and anxiety. It requires a high level of concentration, patience to resolve the technical issues, patience for finding the right interpretation and to assimilate the entire piece. This process of learning a difficult piece  it can take one or two weeks, or maybe one month, it depends on each individual level. Sometimes you work on a difficult piece or study for some days and after this you see nothing, absolut no progress! For sure you asked yourself: "What`s wrong?" Well, it`s nothing wrong. Just take a short break for one or two days and then come back to the piece. You`ll realize that some technical problems are resolved and it sounds better. I can give you this example with the flute passages from the Firebird Suite-Stravinsky. There are some bars, technically difficult and in a very fast tempo. I played this passage every day, also in a slow tempo, but still, 3 or 4 days I saw no progress. It took me more than one week to play all the right notes in the right tempo! Simply, some difficult passages or pieces need time and patience. 

Taking risks and going out from our comfort zone will help us grow. It`s the only way to progress if we want to become better musicians and to reach a higher level. Still, let`s not underestimate the easy studies and pieces. I think it`s good to play from time to time simple melodies. In the end, the essence of music, that feeling of pleasure, relaxation and joy, it should be not only for those who are listening, but also for those who perform it!