Foolery
April 1. How can I resist posting on April Fools' Day? I would love to come up with some elaborate story with a great ending and "Ha! April Fools'!" tagged onto the end, but I hain't got the energy.
I spent the day (or at least way more of it than I intended) at the NATS (National Association of Teachers of Singing) Houston Chapter student auditions. That's what we call the "competition" we have at the local and regional level every year. When I competed, way back before the earth cooled, I wondered why they called it "auditions" when everyone treated it like a competition. Being new to Texas, I was already behind the curve when it came to the religious fervor of vocal competitions and was disinclined to get het up for it to begin with.
Now that I'm a voice teacher and get to read the magic book of rules for myself (now there's a byzantine document), I see the logic. The preliminary round is the allegedly non-competitive part. You sing for a panel who (ideally) grades you on your performance that day on a scale of 1-100. Again ideally, this is an assessment of your progress based on the expectations for one at your stage of vocal development, versus in terms of the other singers in your division. If you manage to get an average of 90 (or 2 scores above 90— but who's to quibble), you "advance" to the semi-final round, in which you are actually competing against those in your division who successfully made the cut-off. From there a small number advance to finals and then you have "winners" in first through (insert variable cardinal number of finalists here) places.
Having said that I get the logic, there's still some slight disconnect there. Not sure if it's the theory or the practice. Maybe it's the hybrid nature of the thing. Or more likely, the nature of the profession. Sometimes, even when singers say we aren't in competition with others, we really are. Maybe if I were running the world I would call the first round the auditions and the subsequent rounds the competition. Maybe I'd change the apparently misleading appelltion of auditions and just call it the student competition.
Although, if I really were running the world, there would be far more pressing matters to which I would attend.
Well, that was longer than I planned. I could have gone ahead and done something foolish. It'd be a first.
By the way, I had six singers entered. One was a no-show (grrrrrr). They all sang well, or so they tell me. Jarrett Buffington made semis in Sophomore Men (non-competitive at the local level, but an achievement) and Jessica Reyes won 2nd place in Beginning Adult. Way to go, Studio!
I judged the 11th grade girls category. Trust me people, the profession is in good hands. These kids blew me away. No way high school girls sang like that when I was in high school (when dinosaurs roamed the earth).
This too, is no fooling: 45.5 lbs. The mini-goal of 5o by Easter is within reach.
I spent the day (or at least way more of it than I intended) at the NATS (National Association of Teachers of Singing) Houston Chapter student auditions. That's what we call the "competition" we have at the local and regional level every year. When I competed, way back before the earth cooled, I wondered why they called it "auditions" when everyone treated it like a competition. Being new to Texas, I was already behind the curve when it came to the religious fervor of vocal competitions and was disinclined to get het up for it to begin with.
Now that I'm a voice teacher and get to read the magic book of rules for myself (now there's a byzantine document), I see the logic. The preliminary round is the allegedly non-competitive part. You sing for a panel who (ideally) grades you on your performance that day on a scale of 1-100. Again ideally, this is an assessment of your progress based on the expectations for one at your stage of vocal development, versus in terms of the other singers in your division. If you manage to get an average of 90 (or 2 scores above 90— but who's to quibble), you "advance" to the semi-final round, in which you are actually competing against those in your division who successfully made the cut-off. From there a small number advance to finals and then you have "winners" in first through (insert variable cardinal number of finalists here) places.
Having said that I get the logic, there's still some slight disconnect there. Not sure if it's the theory or the practice. Maybe it's the hybrid nature of the thing. Or more likely, the nature of the profession. Sometimes, even when singers say we aren't in competition with others, we really are. Maybe if I were running the world I would call the first round the auditions and the subsequent rounds the competition. Maybe I'd change the apparently misleading appelltion of auditions and just call it the student competition.
Although, if I really were running the world, there would be far more pressing matters to which I would attend.
Well, that was longer than I planned. I could have gone ahead and done something foolish. It'd be a first.
By the way, I had six singers entered. One was a no-show (grrrrrr). They all sang well, or so they tell me. Jarrett Buffington made semis in Sophomore Men (non-competitive at the local level, but an achievement) and Jessica Reyes won 2nd place in Beginning Adult. Way to go, Studio!
I judged the 11th grade girls category. Trust me people, the profession is in good hands. These kids blew me away. No way high school girls sang like that when I was in high school (when dinosaurs roamed the earth).
This too, is no fooling: 45.5 lbs. The mini-goal of 5o by Easter is within reach.
posted by YankeeHobbit | 1:51 AM
1 Comments:
Good for you! How was your Good Friday performance? I'm sorry I couldn't make it.
Post a Comment
<< Home