SCHEDULE OF EVENTS - 2014 FESTIVAL FOR CREATIVE PIANISTS

April 4-5, 2014

Founder & Artistic Director: Arthur Houle
Festival Assistants: Lyn Ross and Evelyn Billberg
Calvin Hofer, Music Department Head


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Schedule of Events (2014)


All events were in the Colorado Mesa University Moss Performing Arts Center Recital Hall.



Photo courtesy of Evelyn Billberg


3:00 - 5:00 PM
Thursday, April 3, 2014

• Early contestant adjudications* (local residents)

10:00 - 11:10 AM
Friday, April 4, 2014
Attendance highly recommended

• 10:00 AM "Creative Teaching" (interactive workshop)
Presenter: Aura Strohschein, co-author of Creative Pedagogy for Piano Teachers.

• 10:35 AM "Autumn Leaves: A Model for Classical and Jazz Improvisation"
Presenter: Luke Gillespie, Professor of Music (Jazz Studies), Indiana University


Free admission

11:15 AM - 11:45 AM
1:15 - 5:00 PM
(times approx.)
Friday, April 4, 2014

Contestant adjudications*

7:30 PM
Friday, April 4, 2014
Mandatory attendance for participants

Luke Gillespie Jazz Trio Concert
       Luke Gillespie, piano
       Jeremy Allen, bass
       Jason Tiemann, drums
       Assisted by John Salmon, piano

Guest Artist Series admission: Advance tickets are strongly recommended since we anticipate strong attendance at this world-class concert. Contact the CMU Box Office at (970.248.1604). $15 for adults, $10 for seniors & $5 for CMU students. Piano festival students are free of charge, though voluntary payment is welcome and helps support the festival.

9:00 AM - 11:30 AM
12:30 - 2:10 PM
(times approx.)
Saturday April 5, 2014

Contestant adjudications*

7:00 PM (New time!)
Saturday April 5, 2014
Mandatory attendance for participants

• 7:00 PM Awarding of Participation Certificates and Group Photo

All festival contestants: Please be early so we may begin giving out Participation Certificates (and one prize!) to every participant at 7 PM sharp, followed by group photos of everyone onstage.

• 7:30 PM Celebration of Students' Best Recital

All participants will perform their best selection (chosen by the judges at adjudications).


• 8:30 PM (approx.) Awards Ceremony

First Prizes and Honorable Mentions are announced and awarded immediately after the celebratory student recital.

Suggested donation: $10 for adults, $8 for seniors & $5 for students; call CMU Box Office (970.248.1604) for advance tickets.

Changes to the 2014 Festival

Enrollment limit is now 22, not 24 (at discretion of the Director)

• Scheduling is harrowingly tight with 24 students. The new cap of 22, however, makes early enrollment even more advisable. Submitting a non-refundable application fee ($60) is necessary to reserve a spot in an upcoming festival.

New $100 Prize: BEST DEMONSTRATION OF GENUINELY SPONTANEOUS IMPROVISATION IN ANY STYLE

• To qualify for this prize, students must evince real-time spontaneous improvisation with some degree of chance or randomness. See explanation page for examples and details.

New Time for Saturday evening - 7 PM

• Please note that students must arrive by 7 PM sharp (not 7:30 as in past years) on Saturday evening. However, the Friday evening program will remain at 7:30 PM (see full schedule above).

• There is no longer a "Winners Recital" on Saturday night. Instead, all participants will play their best selection (chosen by the judges at adjudications) for the "Celebration of Students' Best Recital." No student will be excluded from performing. This new format will help bolster our message that there are no "losers" in this festival. All students will be fêted for their best work. As always, every student will receive a congratulatory Participant Certificate and one prize for their hard work and courage in performing. By shining a joyous spotlight on everyone's "winning" accomplishments first, we hope that the awarding of First Prizes and Honorable Mentions later on in the evening will be seen as "frosting on the cake" rather than the be-all and end-all of the festival.

• The quality of performances at the "Celebration" recital will not affect the judges' prize decisions. Judges will have already determined prizes (based on adjudications) during their deliberations. So students, just relax and enjoy the limelight on this program. Your "trial" is over. Everyone is rooting for you and honoring your best achievement in this program!

Announcement of Prizes at Awards Ceremony (not earlier, as in the past)

• IMPORTANT NEW PROCEDURE: Prize decisions will not be posted or announced prior to the Awards Ceremony. This will eliminate the stressful Saturday afternoon ritual of nervously pacing the floor waiting to see who will or won't be selected to perform in the recital. Since there is no longer a direct tie-in between prizes and the student recital, we feel it is better to hold off announcing the prizes until the Awards Ceremony. Please do not make the judges or Director of the festival uncomfortable by trying to coax them to "spill the beans" prior to the Awards Ceremony. A strict "gag order" will be in effect. Students: Even if you think you did not win any prizes, please do not ungraciously decide to go AWOL on Saturday evening (more on that below). Besides, students who have done that in the past sometimes found out later that they did indeed win a prize, but forfeited it by being absent. It's best not to second-guess the judges' expertise.

• Remember: Students must fulfill all festival requirements to receive prizes. That means attending at least 3 adjudications (beyond your own), attending the Friday evening program, performing on the "Celebration of Students' Best Recital" and being present throughout the Awards Ceremony. (Prize requirement exceptions might be made for Honorable Mentions only due to highly extenuating circumstances, at the Director's discretion.)

• Judges will award no more than 3 Honorable Mentions (except for highly extenuating circumstances) so as to confer greater significance to these prizes. Also, this will more likely keep the pool of non-prize recipients from getting so small that students feel stigmatized. But speaking of stigmas, please read on...

No Awards = Bad Performance? (Probably not!)

• Should students who are awarded no prizes assume they performed badly? Here's a far more likely explanation: Heavily contested prize categories. Let's say 6 students perform a piece from the Romantic era. Let's assume further that 4 of those students play their piece quite well. There is only 1 "Best Romantic Period" prize (though judges sometimes split a prize). Even in a "best case scenario" wherein the judges split the "Best Romantic Period" prize and award an Honorable Mention to boot, that still leaves 1 deserving student unawarded. Furthermore, if that same student happens to play only repertory from heavily contested categories, the end result might be no prizes at all despite commendable performances. The judges work hard to avoid this, but there are only a finite number of prizes.

Lightly contested categories
On the other hand, let's say that only 1 festival student performs a Cowboy Jazz piece. This student is almost a shoo-in for the "Best Cowboy Jazz" prize. ("Almost" because judges are not obligated to award every category of prize; performances must meet at least a minimum level of excellence.)

The aforementioned scenarios illustrate how the number of prizes earned (or not earned) may sometimes reflect more on the choice of repertory & skills presented than on the quality of performances. It might be tempting for a parent of a non-awardee to think, "My Suzie Q [Romantic Period performer] played way better than that Cowboy Jazz kid! What were the judges thinking?!!" On the surface, that sentiment is understandable, but it's a classic case of "apples and oranges." The fact that someone's Chopin may be superior to another's jazz (or vice versa) is not necessarily relevant, especially when conferring prizes in the more restrictive applicable categories.

Respecting Prize Decisions & Good Sportsmanship

Teachers, parents and students are strongly urged to take the time to read carefully the festival website and understand its intricacies. Adjudicating this festival is immensely complicated and challenging; the judges' notes and "prizes worksheets" make the federal tax code look simple by comparison. The judges care deeply and work very hard to validate as many students as reasonably possible, as fairly as possible. They discuss, re-discuss and often agonize over decisions, for they passionately want to be as encouraging as possible and avoid hurt feelings. But judges must often make close calls. Difficult decisions must be made and should be accepted with grace, understanding, and humility. (Why humility? Well, check out their bios - there's quite a bit of training and expertise in them thar hills.) Of course, that's not to say that judges are infallible - they're human, after all. But aspersions on their integrity or motives (blessedly rare, thank goodness) only reflect poorly on the judgment, civility and grace of the accuser. Fun as prizes are, let's keep most of our focus on the festival's valuable learning experiences. Students, given half a chance, are resilient in the face of disappointments and are better served if we encourage them to look forward, not backward, by strategizing, learning, and practicing hard throughout the year so as to perform better and better in each festival.

Tips for Students from Dr. Houle

  1. If you wish to maximize the odds of earning prizes, showcase as wide a variety of skills as possible. Prizes favor those who show excellence and versatility. Best of all, you'll learn a lot in the process of broadening your horizons - and that's what really counts!
  2. Have fun striving for prizes, but keep the focus primarily on the tremendously inspiring educational value (and fun!) of the festival.
  3. Be gracious about prize decisions. (Parents and teachers, please lead by example on this.) What is graciousness? It means do not leave early or sulk if not selected for prizes. It means thinking about everyone's feelings, not just your own. Ask yourself: How would it feel if the tables were turned? Wouldn't you want others to share your joy and applaud cheerfully for you? Wouldn't you be hurt if others showed jealousy or poor sportsmanship?
  4. Lastly and most importantly, could we all please banish the word "loser" from our vocabularies? Remember: No one can make you embrace this dirty word without your permission. Your attitude is everything. You can choose to recognize that everyone who makes a strong effort, learns from their experiences, and keeps on truckin' is truly a winner - with or without those pretty sheets of thick paper with the word "prize" on them.
Prizes are akin to degrees. Dr. Ernest Boyer, former president of the College Music Society, called the doctorate "a badge of persistence." I prefer to call my degrees "Arbitrary-Points-Of-Arrival-in-the-Lifelong-Learning-Quest-With-Fancy-Letters-Signed-By-Ever-So-Important-People." O.K., relax - I'm not really trying to denigrate life's symbols of achievement. They are important psychological markers and should indeed be celebrated. But it's also good to keep a healthy perspective (and a bit of down-to-earth humor) about life's external "trophies." It's what's inside - your character, grace, determination to improve, discipline, and joy for learning - that counts most. You are master of that domain.

*Adjudications (Moss Performing Arts Center Recital Hall)

All adjudications are free admission and open to the general public (times subject to change).

Please do not enter while students and recitalists are performing.

Also please remember to turn off cell phones and pagers and be sensitive in the use of cameras and videos.

Detailed adjudication schedule and repertory will be posted approximately one week before the festival.


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