How about it? Competition. It exists in everything we do in life, from promotions at your place of employment to bidding for items on eBay, rushing for that coveted parking spot in a crowded lot to fantasy football leagues with your college friends. In regards to music, there's the audition, the concerto competition, festival appearances, marching/WGI/DCI competitions, talent shows, scholarships, job interviews, or simply trying to get ahead of your competitors in the music business world.
Is competition such a nasty thing for artists, or is it a fact of life? Should it be nurtured, taken with a grain of salt, or denounced?
As the fall semester is upon us, I cannot help but think of the arguments for and against. In my studio, I tend to foster some friendly competition on a number of levels. The most recent was to ensure the 40 rudiments are firmly in the hands of all students, from memory, at reasonable tempi, dependent on their individual development. The final round took place in front of my music appreciation class with the 70+ general ed students as the panel. After a split verdict, the student athletes in the class demanded a head to head "drum off" of improvised solos that was incredibly entertaining (and very impressive)! In the case of the two students in the "drum off," one marched snare with the Cavaliers this past season and the other is a frequent competitor in drum set solo competitions around the region. Their musical lives are surrounded by competition.
As a youth, I competed in team sports where 50% of the participants were winners and 50% were losers. As an adult, I raced bikes on the Northern California road and mountain bike circuits. Bike racing has one winner and 100 losers. It was here that my opinions on competition developed. I lost my share of bike races, but grew immensely as an athlete, physically, technically, and mentally. The key was keeping perspective. There were races I was in peak condition and didn't finish top 10 and races I won on days I was there simply for the training.
The same can be said in music, and for that reason, carefully creating competition amongst my studio allows an opportunity to address the realities of our mutual career choice, foster an outlet for those motivated extrinsically, and ensure proper perspective is kept.
Two questions for you:
1. How do you feel about competition?
2. What types of competitions do you foster?
Thanks for reading!
Visit my website at www.jameswdoyle.com
James
1 comment:
This is a very interesting question. As you say, competition is ubiquitous in nearly every walk of life. As far as music goes I am of two minds.
Mind one (on the individual level): It is important to instill as early as possible the notion that music is inherently competitive from the standpoint of finding, keeping and advancing in a job. We must continually strive to be better musicians because a) there is always someone out there looking to take our job, but more importantly, b) artistry demands personal improvement and growth. So I guess what I'm saying is that the most important competition should be within ourselves to be better artists than we were yesterday.
Mind 2 (on the ensemble level): I dislike ensemble competitions. I do not see the point in it. Who cares which choir, band, orchestra, etc. is 'better' than the other? It is often a mostly subjective evaluation which, in my humble opinion, invalidates the result. I feel that taking music out of the concert hall and into the arena demeans the art. One might argue that ensemble competitions provide exposure to better ensembles and thus provide an opportunity for growth. But I believe there are other ways to achieve that same goal.
Ultimately I believe that competition makes us better musicians. But we must never forget that we serve the art, not ourselves.
Post a Comment