How to Win Any Violin Competition
I've been watching the classical music world long enough to know that the real "winners" and "losers" in any competition are often completely unrelated to which person has walked away with the gold.
It's true for high-level international competitions, and for more entry-level ones as well. Perhaps surprisingly, it's often the musician who came in second, or fifth, or not at all, who gets into that famous college, or becomes a beloved soloist, or makes a revelatory recording, or starts an amazing chamber series or becomes a well-respected professor at a top music school. Or just has a happy life.
My point: a gold medal or first prize at a competition will not build you a successful career or meaningful life. It can help, but only if you emerge from the competition having retained your imagination, musical curiosity, good relationships, and motivation to keep working on yourself.
And if "losing" a competition puts you into a rage, makes you lash out at your fellow participants, turn on your teachers and accuse the judges and organizers of the competition of "unfairness" - then you've lost a lot more than the competition. You've lost sight entirely.
What does a competition "win" look like? Here are some victories you can take from a competition:
Progress in your playing. Preparing for the competition motivated you to put your best foot forward. It compelled you to practice more, to learn and/or polish repertoire, to progress in your technique. That progress is yours to keep, medal or not.
Progress in your performing. You gained valuable experience performing under stressful circumstances. You gained perspective on what to do, and perhaps on what not to do, to help you perform. The performance experience is something you can continue to draw on, going forward, medal or not.
A mind opened by the excellence around you. You noticed that other people besides you are also very talented and skilled - perhaps more so than you realized. You gained admiration for one person's poise, another person's amazing technique, another person's moving musicality, and you have recalibrated your own goals as a result. You see places where you can grow, and you are excited to get going on that. That growth mindset is yours to keep.
New friends and colleagues. Thanks to this opportunity to be among other dedicated and talented musicians your age and stage, you have connected with some new people and made new friends. Yes, it's a competition, but not among enemies. Hardly! At its best, music is a collaborative and cooperative art, and those friends you make now can turn into your colleagues and collaborators in the future, medal or no. You won't all win a medal!
Parents and teachers can be a model for responding to the pressure and outcome of a competition - for better or for worse. The best will help you set high expectations, with a competition being just one goal in the context of the higher goals of becoming a well-rounded musician and human, skilled in your art and able to create and inspire excellence through music.
Unfortunately a young person might have to deal with toxic viewpoints or behaviors from teachers and/or parents, or even from self. Here are a few ideas worthy of rejection:
- Your fellow competitors are "enemies"
- You are a failure if you didn't win
- "Losing" the competition will ruin your future
- You let me down, my reputation is tied to your winning
- You lost? Fire your teacher
- If you can't win this competition, you should quit
If you do win a medal or prize, it will feel good and may look good on your resume or college application. But keep in mind: the recognition will be fleeting. Someone else will win it next year.
Here is some wisdom from an old poem - "If" by Rudyard Kipling: "If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat those two imposters just the same....Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it..."
Winning, losing - they are both imposters. Don't identify too closely with either one.
Progress, encouragement, recognition, excellence, connection - these are the true prizes in any competition.
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Replies
What memories this brings. When I was a kid, I tried my chances in a violin competition with the Accolay concerto. By a fluke, I was the only partecipant in my category. I needed 85 points to take first place, and the judges awarded me 84. So I took second place to no one.
An encouragement or a warning? I will never know, but will always remember.
Pianist Jon Nakamatsu did a very good video on this subject entitled "Jon Nakamatsu's Losers Club." I highly recommend it.
I'll never be at a skill level nor mentality to enter a music contest, but I'm still pretty nervous and excited about going next week to my first Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute, where I won't be surprised if I'm the worst player. But finally this year I've summoned the courage to go anyway, to not be competitive in any way nor judge myself badly, but rather to enjoy all the benefits of "winning" as Laurie Niles beautifully outlined above.
I'm still at the jobsite, sweaty from a hot day on the roof, where I work every good weather weekday. Considering my life as a father and laborer, I've decided I'm satisfied with my adult-learner progress so far (started violin 10 yearsago at age 49), and will continue to strive for improvement as seriously as I can.
Thanks Laurie, for exactly the advice I needed to read as I pack for Oberlin!
Laurie wrote;
"My point: a gold medal or first prize at a competition will not build you a successful career or meaningful life. It can help, but only if you emerge from the competition having retained your imagination, musical curiosity, good relationships, and motivation to keep working on yourself.
And if "losing" a competition puts you into a rage, makes you lash out at your fellow participants, turn on your teachers and accuse the judges and organizers of the competition of "unfairness" - then you've lost a lot more than the competition. You've lost sight entirely.
What does a competition "win" look like? Here are some victories you can take from a competition:
Progress in your playing. Preparing for the competition motivated you to put your best foot forward. It compelled you to practice more, to learn and/or polish repertoire, to progress in your technique. That progress is yours to keep, medal or not.
Progress in your performing. You gained valuable experience performing under stressful circumstances. You gained perspective on what to do, and perhaps on what not to do, to help you perform. The performance experience is something you can continue to draw on, going forward, medal or not.
A mind opened by the excellence around you. You noticed that other people besides you are also very talented and skilled - perhaps more so than you realized. You gained admiration for one person's poise, another person's amazing technique, another person's moving musicality, and you have recalibrated your own goals as a result. You see places where you can grow, and you are excited to get going on that. That growth mindset is yours to keep.
New friends and colleagues. Thanks to this opportunity to be among other dedicated and talented musicians your age and stage, you have connected with some new people and made new friends. Yes, it's a competition, but not among enemies. Hardly! At its best, music is a collaborative and cooperative art, and those friends you make now can turn into your colleagues and collaborators in the future, medal or no. You won't all win a medal!"
____________
Fantastic blog, Laurie, and I will heartily agree. The same goes for violin-making competitions.
The first and last time I won a violin competition was in 1966. That was also the year England won the World Cup (soccer). Since then our performances have been somewhat erratic but there have been many non-competitive musical occasions when I've felt like a winner.
Thank you for sharing! I think this is very good advice! It is very important to keep working on improving regardless of whether you win or not.
The true measure of a person’s character often reveals itself not in the outcome of a competition, but in how they respond to it. Whether winning or losing, a violinist should carry themselves with grace and dignity. Winning with humility and gratitude shows maturity; losing with resilience and respect shows strength. Both moments—triumph and disappointment—are fleeting, but the way we handle them leaves a lasting impression. It's not the trophy that defines us, but the integrity we bring to every stage we step onto. Putting ourselves out there at all takes tremendous strength.
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June 5, 2025 at 04:42 AM · "A gold medal or first prize at a competition will not build you a successful career or meaningful life. It can help, but only if you emerge from the competition having retained your imagination, musical curiosity, good relationships, and motivation to keep working on yourself."
Fantastic statement. My long-deceased PhD professor was fond of saying, "Your career will be what you make it."
A doctorate from a prestigious university will not build you a successful career or meaningful life. It can help, but only if you emerge with genuine disciplinary curiosity, imagination, good relationships, an emerging network of your own (not just your major professor's network), and motivation to keep working on yourself and to stay at the leading edge of your field. I would add that you do need the sort of education that can support a vividly creative imagination.
My deceased undergraduate advisor, Steve Taylor, said that continuing success as a scientist comes down to maintaining "fire in the belly." I think that sums it up pretty well.