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George Waddell: On the Hidden Consequences of Music Competitions
I have a couple things today - a new podcast episode on the "dark side" of competitions, plus an announcement.
Announcement
The announcement is that registration for the summer “bootcamp” edition of the live Performance Psych Essentials class opens today. Instead of the typical 5-week schedule, I've designed an accelerated 2-week version to minimize conflicts with your summer plans. You can get all the details and sign up here:
Performance Psych Essentials - Cohort 13
Are competitions good or bad for young musicians?
So…music competitions. We’ve all probably (at least secretly) enjoyed watching shows like American Idol or The Voice at one point or another.
But what has your experience (or that of your students) been as a participant in competitions? Whether it's a small local competition, or a national or international competition, have your experiences been positive? Or not so positive?
You might have some strong feelings about competitions, and whether your students should enter them or not. So in this month’s conversation, you'll hear a research-based perspective on this question, that will enable you to better prepare yourself, your students - and their parents - for the music competition experience.
Get all the nerdy details in the full episode below (there’s also a transcript with timestamps if you’d like to jump to key points of interest):
George Waddell: On the Hidden Consequences of Music Competitions
-Noa
A couple things from the archives
- We know that most audience members aren't there to keep a running tally of the number of mistakes we make, but if they were, how many of our mistakes would they actually catch? It's hard to say, but a 1996 study takes a look at this and suggests that listeners probably miss a lot more than we think. Read that here
- And here's a related article which gets at the question of how much it matters how we present ourselves visually in competitions. Read that here
Deep thought o' the week
"Winning doesn't always mean being first. Winning means you're doing better than you've ever done before."
-Bonnie Blair
The Bulletproof Musician
If you struggle with nerves and inconsistent performances, know that you’re not alone! Join 45,000+ musicians and get weekly research-based performance psychology tips that will help you become more effective in the practice room and on stage.
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