Thursday, May 7, 2009

Day 4: formally known as the mother of all headaches

Day 4 of the Eisteddfod and one more full day to go. By 9am I had the mother of all headaches that no amount of panadol, black tea, green tea or coffee was shifting. In spite of this I did spend a very enjoyable session this morning listening to young pianists. Some very impressive 8-12 year olds coming up through the ranks. Over the last few years the piano sections have been a little bit abysmal so it was lovely to see some good work being done by some talented youngsters (and of course their teachers).

This afternoon it was all about string playing, again with the younger age groups. Now we all know string playing is difficult and can be very hit and miss especially with the very young, but again, some wonderful work being achieved here.

So far, the upset mother count has now risen from zero to 1. I smiled and listened politely and then kept walking. It's not my problem if the adjudicator chooses not give your child a Highly Commended. Be happy that they did their best on the day and then let's all move on with our lives. I see no sheep stations on the horizon.

If I had my way there'd be no prizes at all.

5 comments:

Andrew said...

Iagree, no prizes. Just adjudication on what the kids play!

Wendy said...

egg-zackly.

not competition but performance practice/learning experience

Anonymous said...

YES when I played the clarinet it was practice/learning experience for me. I dont care about prizes they get so ahh i dont know how to explain it, about it all.

Andrew said...

Argh Performance practice)concert practice_ bad memories

Wendy said...

oh no..what fun..being publicly "constructively" criticised ;)