Visit 5

Solo and Ensemble was the coming weekend and Doug was out of the classroom, so Josh ran warm ups, attendance, and let me read the "lesson of the day". It was fun to moderate a discussion that allowed 7th grade young women to think a little more deeply than they're probably asked to in other classes.

We then listened to solo competitors sing through their pieces and it was really amazing to hear the difference in the voices. I was amazed at the maturity of the some of the voices, and great to hear the growth in some of the voices I had gotten to work with individually earlier in the semester. After the bell had rung, one girl was near tears because she hadn't gotten a chance to go. Josh told me that she had performed the day before and had run out of the room crying in the middle of the performance. They decided she could go to her next class late and perform for the 8th grade girls that were scheduled for class next. That really made me think about a couple of things


1) What was motivating this girl to compete even though she had obvious performance anxiety issues?
2) How would I deal with the situation that had happened the day before?
3) Who would I allow to compete in Solo and ensemble? How would I choose if I decided that I needed to make that decision?

She performed the entirety of her piece for the 8th graders who were AMAZINGLY accepting, encouraging, and attentive for her (hearts forever to them).

To answer my above questions, I don't think that I could answer the first one unless I knew the student better. It could be parental or sibling pressure (maybe her older sister always competed and did well). Maybe she wanted to prove something to herself or classmates. Maybe she loved singing and was trying to work through some anxiety issues, the list goes on and on. Any way you put it, it's SO important to create an environment where someone can come back from an event like that and be able to try again. Which in turn, I think, answers number 2. You deal with the situation in whatever way lets everyone know that things like that happen, and that's okay.
In terms of competition and who can compete, I think it depends on the community environment. Is this valued in the community? If it is, is it healthy? I really like that Doug allows his students to compete if they want to, but barely talks about ratings. He sort of touches on them, and then moves on and just praises his students for working towards competing in a festival setting.