Solo and Ensemble

[the_franzliszt]

I'm 18 and have my own set of advanced piano students. When I was in High School, we had this thing called Solo and Ensemble. Me being a pianist, I did a piano solo. If you passed Districts with an 80 or more, you went to State solo and Ensemble. They required the normal solo, sight reading, and scales. But they also wanted a Bach invention. I thought this was unnecessary on top of the part that they were very very picky and wanted it done their way. I understand Bach is essential but I'm going there for my solo, not an invention or sinfonia. Scales and arpeggios too, those are things to be done at home, not in front of a judge, which is supposed to be like an audience at a performance.

What do you all think?

- NS

[quantum]

If you want to achieve grades in a juried performance you need to give the jury what they want, even at the expense of personal artistic expression.  There are many points of reasoning that a performer can use to design a performance, and it is not always personal expression, even as much as a performer would like it to be.  You likely don't want to hear this, but if you really want to please a jury, you need to give them what they want, no matter your opinion on the piece or how wrong you think the jury's approach is.  Is it fair, is it just, is it optimal - probably not, but it is the way many people in academia operate. 

There are many opportunities for personal artistic expression, so don't try to make every performance about that.  Accepting this will serve you long term, when working on future projects where you are not the artistic director.