Small Competition

[abe]

Ok, here is the following program of this small scholarship competion I'll be competing  in on Wednesday. I just got it via email. I found it interesting, maybe you will too:

Dan Stover
Annual Music Scholarship and Competition 2005

1.   Benjamin Frandsen
   Piano, Ballade in G Minor Opus 118 No. 3 by Brahms ( 1833-1897 )

2.   Jonathan Price
   Piano, Fantasie Impromptu, Chopin ( 1810-1849 )

3.   Kayla Chang
   Pedal Harp, Contemplation, Henriette Renie’ (1875-1956)

4.   Abraham Frandsen
   Piano, Etude Opus 10, No 12 “Revolutionary”, Chopin ( 1810-1849 )

5.   Jennifer Lynn Neuner
   Piano, Intermezzo, Op. 119, No.1, Johannes Brahms ( 1833-1897 )

6.   Jonathan Kuo
   Violin, Polonaise Brillante, Op. 4, Henryk Wieniawski ( 1835-1880 )

7.   Laura Gardner
   Piano, “Waterfall”  Jon Schmidt (  Contemporary )

8.   Katherine Lin
   Piano, Grand Etudes de Paganini, 6 Franz Liszt ( 1811-1886 )

9.   Jessica Yu
   Piano, Traumerie,  Schumann  ( 1810-1856 )

10.   Chilan Ngo
   Piano, Prelude in G Minor, Opus 23, No 5 Rachmaninoff ( 1873-1943 )





Although the competition is open to all instruments, its primarily piano as expected. Yes, that is my brother that is going first. As in last year, the ending peice will be Rachmaninoff (last year it was the C-sharp minor prelude). I'm guessing the three that will advance to the next level are: 8, 10, and possibly my brother (1). I don't stand much of a chance because I'm not a senior, and I'm sort of a foriegner (i dont go to the high school or city that this is being held at, unlike most of the other contestants). Assuming all give solid performances, who do you guess the 3 advancees will be?

Also another funny note, # 2 who is playing the Fantasie Impromptu....well he played it last year for the same competition and didn't win. I guess he's determined to keep playing the peice, lol. (He is another one of my teacher's students, i know him kinda).

It'll be a good time, and I'm not nervous....yet

Have a nice day,
-Abe

[jlh]

I once did a competition in another state, and out of over 100 contestants from like 40-50 universities, 7 of the 12 finalists were from the same small university at which it was held... hmmm.... !!!   I guess they felt the need to promote the local students a bit.  I say that because the final round included some pretty underprepared and shotty performances.  I'm sure there were better contestants they could have chosen, but hey, that's competition for ya'.

Very rarely will all contestants at a high-school level competition give solid performances.  Also, it's not all about how difficult a piece is for a competition, as a fair judge will generally look past that and see your performance above all.  They want to know if you really understand the piece and approach it correctly for the period in which it comes. 

[abe]

Hopefully the judges will be good, but I have my doubts. Of the three judges, one is a Jazz guitarist, another is a advetising music composer (i think?), and the third is a piano teacher....Kinda random. Oh well, it'll still be fun. Hopefully I'll be able to play the revolutionary at speed through the whole way--for some reason my stamina isn't very good on the peice I've noticed, probably b/c my left hand tenses up.

[rhapsody7900]

hrm.. couple of these names look familiar.. where is the competition going to be held?

[Pumpkinhead]

Don't worry about it man. I'm participating in a small concerto competition this Sunday in SoCal. The Shostakovich 2 as a matter of fact.

Well, don't worry about the difficulty of the other pieces, what good will that do? also to keep in mind, solid yet musical performances at the local competitions are aren't very common, so don't expect flawless prodigies. and lastly, everyone is just as nervous as you are, even if they do play the poker face.

Best regards

[thepianogirli]

Hopefully the judges will be good, but I have my doubts. Of the three judges, one is a Jazz guitarist, another is a advetising music composer (i think?), and the third is a piano teacher....Kinda random.

I agree with you on the randomness part, especially on the jazz guitarist. No offense to him, but can a jazz musician properly judge a primarily classical competition? As a classical pianist, I know I wouldn't be able to judge squat on another type of music...

I seriously think they gave the sax-playing guy an award because of his unique intrument (unique to the competition, at least). The harpist's playing was pretty nice, though. Perhaps I'm just biased because jazz isn't exactly my favorite genre, and am remorseful that I didn't have enough time to prepare my piece well enough.