Battle of the F#'s

May 14, 2008 at 1:29 PM

My daughter had violin class in school yesterday and it sounds like it's going well. She says she's now in a "face-off" with another girl to decide who plays the solo. She is not playing Frere Jacques after all, she is playing the Can-Can, which is harder. Her opponent is playing Lightly Row. Both in D major, key of beginning string programs everywhere, and both of them have to watch their High 2's.

I'm not sure I love all these sports metaphors (the guy behind it is really a band teacher, what can you do . . ;-), but if this means she is in the Top Two third grade violinists, that's cool with me!

(added later): Michael's comment below makes me feel like I should add something. I'm personally ambivalent about competition in this context and especially at this age. But it seems to be all in fun and to be having a positive effect on my daughter, so I'm trying to keep an open mind about it.

From Michael Czeiszperger
Posted on May 14, 2008 at 2:11 PM

That's crazy! Why in the world do they start competition at this level? Its this kind of thing that shoves the introverts in the class right out the door.

Why not have them play a piece together instead?

Playing music is supposed to fun for heaven's sake.

From Karen Allendoerfer
Posted on May 14, 2008 at 2:24 PM

Michael--

Interesting. I tend to feel as you do about competition in string playing. I never liked auditions and recitals when I was a student; I suffered from a stage fright that was close to debilitating when I was a child and adolescent. I finally started to outgrow it when I was around 27. :-P

And, my daughter is normally, or at least has been, the queen of the introverts. Suzuki didn't work for her for a number of reasons, in part because she so disliked the performance aspect to it. This is actually the first time she has ever been the least bit excited about playing a solo. So I'm trying to give it a chance and share in her excitement. I think the teacher is trying to keep it all pretty low-key and in fun.

From Pauline Lerner
Posted on May 14, 2008 at 5:27 PM

I think different people, and even one person at different stages of his/her life, respond well to different approaches. I have always run away from competitions, so I'm often overlooked. Another issue is the grading, which in playing music, is quite subjective. I'd hate to lose a competition and never know why or to know the reason and disagree. However, if it works, as it seems to with your daughter, go for it. Have you thought about what you will say to your daughter if she loses the competition?

From Karen Allendoerfer
Posted on May 14, 2008 at 7:24 PM

Yes, I've tried to lay the groundwork by telling her that just getting the piece to the stage she has is something to be proud of. She is doing much better than before, she is much more self-aware and willing to work to get beyond confusion and set-backs. So even if the other girl gets picked to do the solo, I won't see that as "losing." I hope she won't either, but it's probably human nature to be disappointed, at least at first.

They seem to be doing a number of little competitions, over different things, in school. For example, they each had to build a "home" for their class pet crayfish. It was just cutting some pieces out of a plastic flowerpot, in our case. It was something that the crayfish could swim into and out of and was supposed to teach them about crayfish habits.

Apparently they also counted how many crayfish were attracted to each type of home and had a little competition around that, too. I thought it was kind of weird--like, WHY? But my daughter didn't seem to be bothered by it and was perfectly satisfied that her crayfish home was preferred by an average number of crayfish and finished somewhere in the middle. She pointed out that the home that won was wider but had fewer windows. They keep score in soccer now, too, and keep track of who wins. It seems relatively harmless, but I know that kind of thing can get out of hand.

Maybe there's something to be said for just getting used to a lot of little competitions in which the stakes are low. Then the saying "you win some, you lose some" actually starts to make sense.

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Battle of the F#'s

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