The Adjudicator Can Be Right and the Festival Can Still Get It Wrong

One of the best things a competition can give a musician is a credible disagreement. The performer leaves knowing somebody heard the way the second phrase leaned against the beat. A thoughtful adjudicator can name a feature of the playing that the teacher, who has lived with the piece for months, has ceased to notice. I would defend that encounter.

Now imagine the walk out of the hall. A teacher has three more children to look after. A parent wants to send good news to a family chat. The school wants one result it can put in an announcement. The number travels. The phrase that made the adjudicator lean forward might disappear before the family gets to the escalator. The festival can have executed its published rules exactly and still have taught the youngest person at the event which information deserves an audience. Hong Kong Schools Music Festival rules.

The competition outside the room

The second competition takes place earlier, when teachers decide where to put rehearsal hours. An ambitious interpretation deserves attention but takes time to stabilise. A student who could develop beautifully in six months may prove a risk on a fixed date. An ensemble has only so much time to spend on musicians who have trouble reading their part. The prospect of ranking can put pressure on decisions that feel mostly unrelated to the judging itself.

There are good counterexamples. Some children need a deadline to discover what steady work can do. A performance can be the first time a shy musician realises there are people outside the family who care how they play. Rankings can help organisers recognise excellent work fairly across a large number of entries. These things belong in the reckoning. Then put a cost beside them. Ask how much of the school year a musician may spend preparing for a public conversation that will last a few minutes.

I would give a student more than one way to acquire a reputation in their school. A patient accompanist, a composer who makes interesting mistakes and a player who can coax shy children into a group all contribute something real. A competition has every right to choose which accomplishment it will recognise. A school that cares about music can remember the other accomplishments on Monday morning.

The person worth protecting is the child who hears a good criticism, goes home and tries a different ending for the pleasure of finding out whether it works.