(As explained in the previous post, the Greater Spokane Allied Arts and Music Festival was held the second week in May when the lilacs were in full bloom. The photos here were taken last week at our farm when the lilacs were at their peak.)
I’ll
bet I participated in the Spokane Music Festival at least six times. Lest you
think I was the only child struggling with adjudicated performance, let me tell
you this anecdote.
It
was my second year at the festival. We arrived early at the hall and were
allowed to enter the room between performances of the class ahead of mine. A
darling little girl in a pretty light blue dress finished playing and remained
on the bench. “Thank you, that’s fine,” said the adjudicator, an old man. The
little girl didn’t budge. After an awkward moment, the adjudicator said again,
“That’s fine. You can get down now.” And with that, the little girl burst into
tears. She had wet her pants.
And
that, of course, was a problem in more ways than one. Someone took the little
girl in hand, while one of the volunteers (probably ladies from some
organization like the “Spokane Service League,” if there was such a thing, all
dressed in lovely suits complete with heels, 1950’s style) tiptoed back and
forth to the bench with a pan of water, trying to clean the bench and floor with
as much dignity as she could muster in a tight skirt. The plastic protector on
the borrowed piano bench was torn, so it was changed out for another. Good idea!
That bench would need nothing short of reupholstering. And of course, there was
a mass exit of little girls from the performance hall to the restroom in the
basement, me among them. It just goes to show how much pressure was brought to
bear on us. We were nervous.
In
college, I took flute lessons, and my instructor assigned a certain piece that
I should prepare for jury at the end of the semester. “Oh, so I’ll memorize
this,” I said. To which he responded with some vehemence: “No! Only piano
students are asked to memorize, which is totally stupid in my opinion.” He went
on to say that in life, you will never be asked to play from memory, but you
will be asked to sight read, accompany groups, play for church, etc. He also
pointed out, which I believe, that memorizing actually detracts from performance.
You
probably sense that my feelings regarding juried performance for young children
runs deep. I think it has value for the prodigy and for the more mature and
serious student looking for a career in music, but not for young children. I
did an online search to see if others feel as I do, but the most I found was
advice for music adjudicators. Comments were made while the goal is encourage the
student, it can work to discourage. The point was also made that not all
students see the festival as fun. (That’s an understatement.)After refusing to participate, I gave no more thought to the Greater Spokane Music and Allied Arts Festival, and I heard no more about it. For me, it had ceased to exist. However, I found their website and discovered that it does indeed continue to this day. In 2001, the name was change to Musicfest Northwest, and it’s one of the largest festivals of its kind in the United States. KW
3 comments:
What an interesting snippet from the life of a young girl. I presume you weren't among the one who relieved herself at the piano. Did you follow her in performing? How did you feel about the pressure. I'm sure your dad was in the audience.
The little girl was in the class ahead of mine, and as I recall she wasn't the last to play. No one did anything to relieve the tension in the room. The adjudicator kept his eyes on his papers, making him seem remote to those who would play before him, while the volunteer assistant undertook to clean the area. Anyway, the damage was done to that class and the next. If you weren't there, someone told you about it.
You know, when a student plays at a recital, he's among friends, but when he plays for the purpose of critique, it's another thing. And if the student doesn't know her piece well and struggles to perform before a group, then she doesn't need an adjudicator to give her the answers about her performance. You have to know your music well before you begin to interpret and individualize.
Well, I panicked before (and during) recitals. A prodigy I wasn't. And I had no idea you underwent such stressful experiences. And it's all the harder when the people we really want to please are our parents.
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