Importance of competitions

musicprnt
Tue, 02 Dec 2014 23:25:11 +0000

This has been discussed many times on here…competitions can serve as ways to get used to the pressure of auditioning, getting repertoire together and performing under pressure, there is no doubt…as far as getting a pre screen, I don’t think having competitions on your resume will do anything towards getting an audition, the pre screen recording is what is going to do it. I have heard some people over the years, the proponents of competitions who for whatever reason have this invested themselves in the notion they mean something, arguing that if you win a big competition like the Queen Elizabeth or whatever it will help you…which if you think of that, is kind of putting the cart before the horse, because if you are good enough to win one of those competitions, or even get in them, you likely are playing well enough to ace a pre screen…I could also say that competitions gives you an idea of how you are playing, but given that there are so many competitions out there, which range from local “isn’t that nice” kind of things to serious ones, it may not measure much how you do in them…so I would say take it as a performance opportunity and a chance to prepare and work under pressure, and leave it at that, and worry about the pre screen recording:)