michael reeedy wrote:
so I'm kinda lost...should I do a mozart or do most feel that
Something like strauss would be more impressing? its a competition
open to all instruments.
It really depends on who will be the judges. There are a lot of small
all-instrument competitions that will have judges that know very little
about actually performing on the horn. Some may have little knowledge
about actually performing music on any instrument. Seriously.
If there is a brass player or reasonably respectable musicians on the
judging panel, you should play something that you can perform well and
really shows off your musicianship. Don't play something too difficult
for you to get through without a lot of mistakes. Pick a program with
enough contrast to show tone, dynamics, phrasing, technique, etc.
If the judges consist of the music critic from the local newspaper, the
lady who plays piano at the expensive hotel in town, and an elderly,
rich, non-musician-but-"music-loving" patron of the local symphony, play
the piece that shows off the most impressive technique you can muster.
These judges will have no idea what a good horn tone sounds like and
probably wouldn't know good musicianship if it smacked them in the face.
This is also the panel of judges that will probably never let anyone but
a pianist, violinist, cellist, or very attractive flutist win the
competition.
I've actually heard the judges (decently good musicians, by the way) of
an all-instrument competition tell an excellent musician: "your
performance was fantastic, but the literature for your instrument just
can't compete with the music written for violin, piano, and cello."
Please don't let any of this discourage you. Play your best. If you
sound better than everyone else, you might just win. Or you might not.
Use the experience to help you play even better the next time a
competition comes around.
Greg
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