Paging Simon Cowell
I judged a contest yesterday, the same one I did for the first time last year. Given what happened a couple weeks ago, I was a little paranoid about what the weather might be like, but it was fine.
This contest is completely different from the ones I judge for Mr. C and Mr. M. For one thing, it's public school. For another, it's completely voluntary, which explains why there were a total of nine slots last year. For whatever reason, things exploded this year, and I was scheduled to judge from 8 AM to 12:40 PM. Phew! That's a whole lot more than 9-10:30. I'm not sure why so many more kids decided to participate, but cool. That's awesome. And then they started dropping out. I'd gotten a schedule several weeks ago when I talked to the director in charge, and he sent a revised one about a week or so ago with two drops, and then several didn't show up for whatever reason, but they were spaced in such a way that it worked fine. It gave me a bit of breathing room. Also, this is the one-man show--the guy has NO help. There are no volunteers; he has to run around doing everything. I feel bad for him in some ways, especially given that I *know* he's not the only music teacher at the school--there's at least one more and her room is right next to his.
My morning didn't start off that great. I didn't sleep well, after having gone out the night before (you'll hear about that in the next few days), and of course I woke up to skunk smell. I'd already set out my clothes and bag on Thursday, so it was a matter of doing everything bang-bang-bang to get out of the house on time. (I refused to set my alarm before 6 AM.) See, I can do everything in a span of 70 minutes. It's possible. (I'm pretty poky, but I used to do that on occasion. Nowadays, it's more like 2 hours on a typical morning. I like to take my time if I can.) As expected, I got there in 20 minutes. I'd planned to get there at 7:30 so I could have time to set up and fill out the sheets--there are only blanks. Nothing is pre-filled-out. Not even a name. So, yeah, that would help me do the paperwork. Alas, after ringing the doorbell several times, nobody came. Finally around 7:45 (and I wasn't waiting there the entire time, I should say) I pounded on the door and along came the janitor. He's one of those no-nonsense sorts of guys and when I said I'd been ringing the doorbell he said, there's nobody in the office to hear you. Nobody's gonna answer. Do you want to be working on a Saturday? I went, I'm here, aren't I?
It turned out my first solo was a scratch. The second group was a trio, but one girl lived far away and the other went to the wrong school. This is silly, because not only is the school listed on the sheet, but also the address and directions on how to get there. It's on the backside of the times listing. I have it in front of me currently because I wrote notes on mine. Yeah. So, things were special. The next soloist was the vocalist I'd had last year, except he played an instrument this year--and recognized me, too, so I waved hello. Of the next two scheduled kids, one never showed and the next was nearly an hour late but got squeezed in. See, this is the difference between the contest I had and this one--I had to take things seriously. I couldn't blow it off; I had to show up, and at the correct time. But that's the difference between what I did and what's going on here. This is not an affluent district; many families don't have much and came from other countries. It's a whole different ballgame. To wit, I was speaking to one girl after her solo and I don't think she spoke English--and I think her mom had to translate for her, which is a twist from what I've seen. It's interesting, that's for sure.
Most of the soloists were band kids, but I had one pianist and two vocalists. Looking back, I feel like I used a double-standard for the pianist and the first vocalist. They both did pop songs I'm familiar with, and I know I told the pianist to play what was written, not how she remembered the song going. The singer, who performed two slots later, I actually complimented her on that, saying that even though she didn't follow the music exactly, it flowed nicely and she made it musical. So…oops. I know the singer was a little rough but she shows a lot of promise. Also, she did an Adele song that I didn't realize had a swear word in it. Now there's the difference between public and private schools--there's no way that song would have been approved for a solo for any of my classmates. The second vocalist, holy crap. So, first off, the hosting director comes in and starts up a CD. I'm busy writing up the previous solo and not really paying attention. The intro is long, like at least 16 bars, and all of a sudden I hear the girl sing. Wait, wait, I'm not ready! You kinda need to check with me first here. I asked them to restart the CD, and they did since she needed the intro…and then wow. This girl has a fantastic voice. I could tell even just with the few notes she'd sang before I was ready. It's the kind of thing where the hair on the back of your neck stands up because it's just that wonderful. I'm sure she was concerned because I was doing a lot of writing and not really looking at her, but I was commenting on how she had wonderful stage presence and looked like she'd been doing this her whole life, and I hope she sings for many years to come. Easily the best I heard all day. Amazing.
There were three schools total participating. The other two were grouped together, likely so the directors didn't have to be there all day. I know I saw the one director last year, and his son had performed then; he did a trio this year. They did pretty well but it would have been nice to have heard them play a volume other than forte. The group came back to listen to another trio from the school, which was nice to see…except this was a bunch of younger boys who were giggling the whole time before and after they played, causing the older trio to go, "Sixth-graders!" They were standing behind me and I turned to say, you can say it; I can't. The younger boys actually did a nice job, but I did ding them for how they acted, saying the judge is watching you the whole time and your performance starts as soon as you enter the room. After them came another trio, which somehow got a first despite one of their members. They're all different horns so I don't want to call them out, just in case, but suffice it to say two of them were fine and one of them…was not. Like, in a whole other solar system. Part of it was that the not-good player had long notes while the others had moving notes, and NGP didn't bother to hold them out long enough and ended up jumping way ahead of the others. Not. Good. But the other two kept it together at least and it was clear they knew what they were doing. It was times like that where I wished I had a different scoring system to be able to go, okay, you get the highest II possible, not a I, but they don't have that here. (Mr. C's contest has a numeric score that corresponds with your level, so like 27-30 is a first, 22-26 is a second, that sort of thing. Here, I have to write in if it's a I or a II. Also, how the heck can I tell tone on a piano, especially one that plugs in? The forms were not appropriate for that. But I digress.)
The third school didn't participate last year, and I think they have a new director. She's on the young side, maybe mid- to late 20s, and very excited for her kids. I liked seeing that. She also must have instructed most of them to give an introduction. Her first group was a duet, which introduced themselves to their audience (people are allowed to watch, and some groups had an entourage…like the girl with the swear-y Adele song) with no regard as to whether or not I was ready. Guys…seriously. I'm writing as fast as I can, but give me a minute. The one girl wasn't very good, and when she came for her solo…she still wasn't very good. She also tried to give her introduction before I was ready, but her band director had caught on and said, let's wait for the judge. Phew. Now, I wasn't given a copy of her solo, only the piano part where the line for the solo part is meant for multiple instruments, but I'm pretty sure she was jumping octaves left and right, which means her supposedly linear solo was very disjointed. Not good. But many of the kids were a lot better. I have to say, overall, this school did the worst. The other two schools, the teachers have been there for at least a few years, so they not only know the kids, but they have their teaching technique down. Given that this was a newer teacher and who knows what she has to work with, it's not surprising. But the one girl with the octave issues, given her grade, she's likely been playing for at least two years. She should not be having problems like this. She also probably shouldn't be doing a solo contest. But that's me. Just for funsies, around that time there were at least two guys standing directly outside the windows talking loudly. It just so happened that I had a slight break so at least I didn't have to worry about them competing with players, but I asked a couple of the kids to go out and find a director to ask the guys to move. The room is below grade and the guys must have been on the sidewalk right outside. Luckily they moved before the next soloist came along.
Oh, gosh, one of the earlier soloists had her score decided before she even played a note. I'm used to solos that are unaccompanied, even if there's a piano part. A fair amount of these kids played along to the accompaniment CD that came with the solo book. For the most part this was fine, though at least one child didn't tune to the CD and it was *not* good. But one girl just had no clue what to do. She must never have practiced with the CD (I'm not sure any of them did, but they faked it pretty well…because they knew how to count rests), had to ask what tempo the song was (uh…you should know that…because you should have been practicing this for weeks now), and when the CD started and the two measure intro finished, she just stood there. Frankly, any intelligent child could have figured this out. The beat was clear and counting correctly would have brought her in. No other child had this issue. And, well, when she *did* play her solo, it wasn't that great. I wasn't surprised. Just, yeah, you did not make a good impression on me at all.
The last kid was another one who'd performed last year, and his solo then was one that belied his years. It wasn't perfect, but enough to score a I (I'd only given out one II last year, and she REALLY deserved it). I gave him some tips and went on my way. So now this year he's chosen another hard solo, and according to the director he'd worked on it himself, and had worked on building up his embouchure to be able to play the higher notes, and overall he did okay and got another I. Is there room for improvement? Of course. I dinged him on skipping a measure of rest, because yeah, you need to count that even if you're not being accompanied. He was able to sustain a few high held notes, so that was good. I know I mentioned at least one other thing that was truly musical that he could work on, but I don't recall it now. But as soon as he was done, and I finished with his book, that was it--I could pack up and go. No hanging around afterward, no going out for a nibble, this is a totally different kind of contest. But the hosting director really appreciated it, so that's nice.
This contest is completely different from the ones I judge for Mr. C and Mr. M. For one thing, it's public school. For another, it's completely voluntary, which explains why there were a total of nine slots last year. For whatever reason, things exploded this year, and I was scheduled to judge from 8 AM to 12:40 PM. Phew! That's a whole lot more than 9-10:30. I'm not sure why so many more kids decided to participate, but cool. That's awesome. And then they started dropping out. I'd gotten a schedule several weeks ago when I talked to the director in charge, and he sent a revised one about a week or so ago with two drops, and then several didn't show up for whatever reason, but they were spaced in such a way that it worked fine. It gave me a bit of breathing room. Also, this is the one-man show--the guy has NO help. There are no volunteers; he has to run around doing everything. I feel bad for him in some ways, especially given that I *know* he's not the only music teacher at the school--there's at least one more and her room is right next to his.
My morning didn't start off that great. I didn't sleep well, after having gone out the night before (you'll hear about that in the next few days), and of course I woke up to skunk smell. I'd already set out my clothes and bag on Thursday, so it was a matter of doing everything bang-bang-bang to get out of the house on time. (I refused to set my alarm before 6 AM.) See, I can do everything in a span of 70 minutes. It's possible. (I'm pretty poky, but I used to do that on occasion. Nowadays, it's more like 2 hours on a typical morning. I like to take my time if I can.) As expected, I got there in 20 minutes. I'd planned to get there at 7:30 so I could have time to set up and fill out the sheets--there are only blanks. Nothing is pre-filled-out. Not even a name. So, yeah, that would help me do the paperwork. Alas, after ringing the doorbell several times, nobody came. Finally around 7:45 (and I wasn't waiting there the entire time, I should say) I pounded on the door and along came the janitor. He's one of those no-nonsense sorts of guys and when I said I'd been ringing the doorbell he said, there's nobody in the office to hear you. Nobody's gonna answer. Do you want to be working on a Saturday? I went, I'm here, aren't I?
It turned out my first solo was a scratch. The second group was a trio, but one girl lived far away and the other went to the wrong school. This is silly, because not only is the school listed on the sheet, but also the address and directions on how to get there. It's on the backside of the times listing. I have it in front of me currently because I wrote notes on mine. Yeah. So, things were special. The next soloist was the vocalist I'd had last year, except he played an instrument this year--and recognized me, too, so I waved hello. Of the next two scheduled kids, one never showed and the next was nearly an hour late but got squeezed in. See, this is the difference between the contest I had and this one--I had to take things seriously. I couldn't blow it off; I had to show up, and at the correct time. But that's the difference between what I did and what's going on here. This is not an affluent district; many families don't have much and came from other countries. It's a whole different ballgame. To wit, I was speaking to one girl after her solo and I don't think she spoke English--and I think her mom had to translate for her, which is a twist from what I've seen. It's interesting, that's for sure.
Most of the soloists were band kids, but I had one pianist and two vocalists. Looking back, I feel like I used a double-standard for the pianist and the first vocalist. They both did pop songs I'm familiar with, and I know I told the pianist to play what was written, not how she remembered the song going. The singer, who performed two slots later, I actually complimented her on that, saying that even though she didn't follow the music exactly, it flowed nicely and she made it musical. So…oops. I know the singer was a little rough but she shows a lot of promise. Also, she did an Adele song that I didn't realize had a swear word in it. Now there's the difference between public and private schools--there's no way that song would have been approved for a solo for any of my classmates. The second vocalist, holy crap. So, first off, the hosting director comes in and starts up a CD. I'm busy writing up the previous solo and not really paying attention. The intro is long, like at least 16 bars, and all of a sudden I hear the girl sing. Wait, wait, I'm not ready! You kinda need to check with me first here. I asked them to restart the CD, and they did since she needed the intro…and then wow. This girl has a fantastic voice. I could tell even just with the few notes she'd sang before I was ready. It's the kind of thing where the hair on the back of your neck stands up because it's just that wonderful. I'm sure she was concerned because I was doing a lot of writing and not really looking at her, but I was commenting on how she had wonderful stage presence and looked like she'd been doing this her whole life, and I hope she sings for many years to come. Easily the best I heard all day. Amazing.
There were three schools total participating. The other two were grouped together, likely so the directors didn't have to be there all day. I know I saw the one director last year, and his son had performed then; he did a trio this year. They did pretty well but it would have been nice to have heard them play a volume other than forte. The group came back to listen to another trio from the school, which was nice to see…except this was a bunch of younger boys who were giggling the whole time before and after they played, causing the older trio to go, "Sixth-graders!" They were standing behind me and I turned to say, you can say it; I can't. The younger boys actually did a nice job, but I did ding them for how they acted, saying the judge is watching you the whole time and your performance starts as soon as you enter the room. After them came another trio, which somehow got a first despite one of their members. They're all different horns so I don't want to call them out, just in case, but suffice it to say two of them were fine and one of them…was not. Like, in a whole other solar system. Part of it was that the not-good player had long notes while the others had moving notes, and NGP didn't bother to hold them out long enough and ended up jumping way ahead of the others. Not. Good. But the other two kept it together at least and it was clear they knew what they were doing. It was times like that where I wished I had a different scoring system to be able to go, okay, you get the highest II possible, not a I, but they don't have that here. (Mr. C's contest has a numeric score that corresponds with your level, so like 27-30 is a first, 22-26 is a second, that sort of thing. Here, I have to write in if it's a I or a II. Also, how the heck can I tell tone on a piano, especially one that plugs in? The forms were not appropriate for that. But I digress.)
The third school didn't participate last year, and I think they have a new director. She's on the young side, maybe mid- to late 20s, and very excited for her kids. I liked seeing that. She also must have instructed most of them to give an introduction. Her first group was a duet, which introduced themselves to their audience (people are allowed to watch, and some groups had an entourage…like the girl with the swear-y Adele song) with no regard as to whether or not I was ready. Guys…seriously. I'm writing as fast as I can, but give me a minute. The one girl wasn't very good, and when she came for her solo…she still wasn't very good. She also tried to give her introduction before I was ready, but her band director had caught on and said, let's wait for the judge. Phew. Now, I wasn't given a copy of her solo, only the piano part where the line for the solo part is meant for multiple instruments, but I'm pretty sure she was jumping octaves left and right, which means her supposedly linear solo was very disjointed. Not good. But many of the kids were a lot better. I have to say, overall, this school did the worst. The other two schools, the teachers have been there for at least a few years, so they not only know the kids, but they have their teaching technique down. Given that this was a newer teacher and who knows what she has to work with, it's not surprising. But the one girl with the octave issues, given her grade, she's likely been playing for at least two years. She should not be having problems like this. She also probably shouldn't be doing a solo contest. But that's me. Just for funsies, around that time there were at least two guys standing directly outside the windows talking loudly. It just so happened that I had a slight break so at least I didn't have to worry about them competing with players, but I asked a couple of the kids to go out and find a director to ask the guys to move. The room is below grade and the guys must have been on the sidewalk right outside. Luckily they moved before the next soloist came along.
Oh, gosh, one of the earlier soloists had her score decided before she even played a note. I'm used to solos that are unaccompanied, even if there's a piano part. A fair amount of these kids played along to the accompaniment CD that came with the solo book. For the most part this was fine, though at least one child didn't tune to the CD and it was *not* good. But one girl just had no clue what to do. She must never have practiced with the CD (I'm not sure any of them did, but they faked it pretty well…because they knew how to count rests), had to ask what tempo the song was (uh…you should know that…because you should have been practicing this for weeks now), and when the CD started and the two measure intro finished, she just stood there. Frankly, any intelligent child could have figured this out. The beat was clear and counting correctly would have brought her in. No other child had this issue. And, well, when she *did* play her solo, it wasn't that great. I wasn't surprised. Just, yeah, you did not make a good impression on me at all.
The last kid was another one who'd performed last year, and his solo then was one that belied his years. It wasn't perfect, but enough to score a I (I'd only given out one II last year, and she REALLY deserved it). I gave him some tips and went on my way. So now this year he's chosen another hard solo, and according to the director he'd worked on it himself, and had worked on building up his embouchure to be able to play the higher notes, and overall he did okay and got another I. Is there room for improvement? Of course. I dinged him on skipping a measure of rest, because yeah, you need to count that even if you're not being accompanied. He was able to sustain a few high held notes, so that was good. I know I mentioned at least one other thing that was truly musical that he could work on, but I don't recall it now. But as soon as he was done, and I finished with his book, that was it--I could pack up and go. No hanging around afterward, no going out for a nibble, this is a totally different kind of contest. But the hosting director really appreciated it, so that's nice.