If you’ve read any of my recent blog posts, you know that I believe music should exist without the element of competition. The American Idol-ization of music (and fashion design, and dance, and…) holds up an extrinsic prize to motivate musicians. #MusicIsNotACompetitiveSport American Idol auditionee And American Idol-type shows and contests give audience members the idea that one singer is “better” than all the rest. Unlike sport, there is no way to judge a musical performance without involving the listener’s own’s subjective perspective. There is no such thing as a “best singer” or a “winner” in a singing contest. Any singer who gets up in front of an audience with a prepared piece an
There have been two really bad days in my musical life thus far. One was when I got a III rating in a piano festival when I was about 15. (III means “good” but it’s the worst rating there is…so therefore, bad) And the other one was when I was judged the Overall Winner at my university’s competition among all the wind players, string players, pianists, and singers. You might be surprised that this was one of my worst days, but I will explain. In recent posts, I looked at how sports and music are alike and how they are different. In this post I will illustrate how competitions in music, whether you win or lose them, have been detrimental to me as an artist. So when I was a kid, I was NOT use
