Getting Better

Recently, I took a number of high school and middle school orchestra students to a Solo and Ensemble event. The students chose their own music and practiced it for weeks leading up to the event, and then had to go perform their pieces in front of judges to receive a score from Novice (the lowest score) to Distinguished (the highest score).

Students’ performances are judged by several criteria ranging from tone to pitch control to stage presence. Each of these categories has, on the score sheet, a section for the judge to leave comments. Performers aren’t given their scores right away, so the teacher has a chance to look at these comments.

Many of these students were 6th graders and had never participated in any event like this before. They had never had anyone besides their teachers evaluate their playing, and had never had to think about the struggles of playing by themselves or in a small group in front of another person. All of the students were excited and nervous.

For this event, there were two judges, each in separate rooms. I would line up my students in the hall outside the room, and one by one they would go in to perform and get their scores. From the first room, every time a student came out they spoke about how nice the judge was and how she told them how lovely it was to hear them play. From the second room, students came out nervous and did not mention the judge except to say that he didn’t talk to them much. I told each student I was sure they did fine and I was proud of them for playing.

Later, I was able to pick up and read the scores. The judge from the first room filled the boxes with comments, describing things she liked about their performance and things that she thought they could improve on. At the bottom of the page, below her signature, she often left a comment about how nice it was to hear them play, or to wish them luck.

The second judge’s sheets were nearly empty. There were scores in the appropriate boxes, but no comments or notes on any of the score sheets. No signature on the bottom.

Before you get the wrong idea, this post is not meant to berate judges, or to complain. There are many different styles of judging and some just don’t find it necessary to leave comments. The students and I were happy with the scores they earned, even if the rationale was not written out.

Instead, this post is about the mindset of one of my students after she saw her score sheet.

She was a 6th grader who I had started in orchestra as a 5th grader, and she had been assigned to the second room. She is a talented player and before that day had only played in public three times; all three as a member of her full orchestra, not as a soloist. I could tell she was nervous as I handed her her score sheet. For a moment, she looked at it, frowning.

Then she said, “But, how am I supposed to know what I can do better?”

I looked at her sheet, and saw that she had earned Distinguished ratings in every category; the highest score possible. But that wasn’t what she was focused on. She saw that there were no comments and she was concerned that she was missing out on a chance to improve. To her, this was not just a performance, but a chance to grow as a musician. She was happy to have earned a top score, but she also wanted to know WHY she earned it so that she could keep building on those skills.

This is the mindset that I want to foster in all of my students. Not the idea that they’re never good enough, but the idea that there is always another level you can reach for. Even a great player can find a new way to be expressive, or to reach an audience. I want my students to realize that they can be great and still learn from others. I want them to see every performance as a chance to make themselves better.

Maybe more importantly, I want them to be able to translate that mentality to life outside of music. I know that many of them will not be professional musicians or music teachers. But if they have the mentality of that student and they constantly strive to improve while recognizing their past achievements, they have set themselves up to be successful in whatever field they enter.

They will be able to struggle and know that things will improve. They will be able to succeed and remember the struggle. It starts with them having a mentality that is focused on their own growth, and how they can keep getting better.