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http://www.accordions.com/news.aspx?d=10-Jul-2020&lang=en&s=16623
http://www.accordions.com/news.aspx?d=10-Jul-2020&lang=en&s=16623
10-Jul-2020
Judging a Virtual Competition, the 58th Annual New England Music Festival - USAby Harley Jones |
 Rita Davidson Barnea, Editor USA Accordion News wrote the following article:I was very honored to be asked to judge accordion and piano categories by Sam and Peggy Falcetti, organizers of the 2020 58th Annual New England Music Festival. Originally, it was to take place in Massachusetts in April 2020. Because of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the competition was prevented from happening as a live event. The Accordion Teachers Association of Massachusetts (ATAM) had to work very quickly and diligently to overcome the difficulties of the pandemic by transforming their annual music competition into a new virtual format which. I feel, they accomplished with great success. For the past 57 years, the annual New England Music Festival had been held during a weekend in April where over 600 students and their families gather to compete and showcase their musical abilities. With categories for accordion, drums, guitar, piano, voice, and violin players, there was a wide variety of musicians represented. Also, just last year, the ATAM added categories for adult musicians as well. Unfortunately, the New England Music Festival, had to be postponed due to the pandemic. While the competition had originally been postponed to July, the members of the association made the difficult decision to convert the live competition to a virtual format. This decision did not come easily, but the ATAM found it to be the safest and most effective way to hold the competition during the uncertain times of Covid-19. With this transition to a virtual competition, the students who had invested so much time and energy to prepare their competition pieces were still able to perform. The ATAM directed their efforts to finding a virtual format that would be efficient and simple, so that all of the original contestants would have the opportunity to remain in the competition. The students cooperated with their teachers and studios to record their performance and post a video for each of their categories onto YouTube. The judges were sent a scoresheet and video for each contestant and scored and critiqued each performance. Over 800 students participated, perhaps making it one of the largest music competitions in the USA. Over the years, I have judged many piano and accordion competitions at all levels. This was my first experience as a virtual judge for a virtual contestant. At first, I was apprehensive. How can this possibly work? How can I judge them from my computer in my home? For the 800 plus contestants, it resulted in a unique and valuable experience. I actually enjoyed the experience of online judging. Each category was sent to me in an email including organized links to each contestant’s competition video, their music, and a score sheet. I judged over 150 contestants in categories ranging from beginner to adult on both accordion and piano. I loved every minute of it! Of course, the best way to judge and compete is live in person. But with the excellent organizational skills of Sam, Peggy, Michael Falcetti and Mike Silvia, the transition to online judging was painless! I might add that having the ability to hear the contestants more than once helped me to fairly determine a decision in cases where the contestants were very close in their performances. Having grown up competing in accordion competitions at an early age through adulthood, makes me feel extremely responsible and also empathetic toward the competitors. I am happy that at least the students were able, after long months of preparation, to compete. All of them were well prepared, poised, and I could tell they tried to do their very best. So, in a sense, all are winners. They learned the importance of lessons, practice, discipline… all which transfers to building good character, confidence, and self esteem. Online virtual judging may not be the best solution for more advanced competitions since the videos, depending on their quality, may not offer a true representation of dynamics and the contestants performance etc. Also, the ability to perform before an audience while under pressure, cannot be determined via a video. Nothing can really replace the excitement of a live competitive performance. I am hopeful that in the near future, we will go back to the traditional ways of musical competitions. I would like to conclude by saying that the excellent organizational skills, hard work, dedication, and the enthusiasm of all involved, made the New England Music Festival and Competition a very worthwhile, successful and positive experience for all the judges and contestants. A huge congratulations and thank you to Sam, Peggy, and Michael Falcetti and Mike Silvia for creating a very successful, educational, and enjoyable event! Picture below: Rita Davidson Barnea |
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