Posted on: June 14th 2013
Kate from Form 5 has shared a recount of her experiences of participating in music competitions:I have participated in the North London music festival many times, and twice this year. This festival starts in April and it ends in May. I played in a grade 1-4 competition with ten other contestants. There are many benefits from participating in a music competition: you listen to many musicians, sometimes from around the country, you also get to play in front of a large audience on a Steinway grand piano worth about £100,000.
An adjudicator judges the competition and tells each participant how to improve. My adjudicator was amazing: he can play any piece he hears by ear without having heard it before or looking at the score.
There is, of course stage-fright which happens to us all. The only downside is having to be well prepared. This takes a lot of hard work: you must practice every day until you can play your piece perfectly first time around. My teacher, Mrs Medina, is a lot of help for me and many young pianists.
She has always been there with a helping hand if I get in the habit of doing something wrong or there is something that I am really stuck with.
My hard work paid off and I got a distinction. So if you are playing in the school talent competition then practise hard and good luck!
