The "instant Fix" World, A worrying thing Options

[amanda41]

In my local Festival (Stratford and East London) they still occasionally DON'T give a First Prize for a class if they feel the standard is just not high enough - I must say I think that is the right thing to do!

I agree with you but at the local festival (Beckenham) that I used to be involved with, adjudicators who did this were never asked back... :(

I've never heard of that being done before (in a class of more than 1 anyway!) but it seems reasonable enough to me.

I suppose it very much depends on the adjudicator's idea of what is a "good" standard of playing.

It's a pity if they don't get asked back because of that though. There's always something to be learned from listening to lots of different opinions on your playing - it doesn't seem right to shun someone because you like their response!

I always found the Music Festivals a good experience, although I think some parents forget to tell their children it's not all about the winning etc.... That's when it can turn into an ordeal! A bit of healthy competition is good though, and it gives you a chance to hear plenty of performances.

Going back to the original subject, the good thing about the music exams is that you don't get your grade/mark based on what everyone else has scored, unlike g.c.s.e's etc.... If you're not up to scratch you don't pass, whereas you can pass a maths g.c.s.e with an A grade by getting 40% for example, because everyone else has scored lower....

Amanda xxx

[Juze]

I agree with you but at the local festival (Beckenham) that I used to be involved with, adjudicators who did this were never asked back...

Hey, I'm involved with Beckenham Festival! Yes, this still happens occasionally, the "winner" of a class might get a First Place certificate but not a medal or trophy if they hadn't got an Honours mark. If they're generally a good adjudicator we'll ask them back.

[amanda41]

I agree with you but at the local festival (Beckenham) that I used to be involved with, adjudicators who did this were never asked back...

Hey, I'm involved with Beckenham Festival! Yes, this still happens occasionally, the "winner" of a class might get a First Place certificate but not a medal or trophy if they hadn't got an Honours mark. If they're generally a good adjudicator we'll ask them back.

That's great! I must go to a festival again to see how they have changed since I did them. Probably not too much! It tends to be the same people who stayed involved in them. My gran has been making the tea and biscuits for our local one since I can remember :D

Amanda xx

[Juze]

One big change is that some festivals even have their own websites - see here!

[amanda41]

One big change is that some festivals even have their own websites - see here!

Wow! That's a really impressive looking website! Most of the festivals where I live (Northern Ireland) are on a much smaller scale. I'm talking about tiny church halls in the middle of no-where! There are a lot of them about though, and Belfast has an excellent one which caters for dancing as well.

I found the competition a lot stiffer in Belfast (I suppose it's just becasue of the size and number of entrants)

Where I would have won a class in a small town festival, it maybe would have been third place in Belfast etc...

I used to love the piano duet classes! I have a couple of pupils who are brothers, and very musical. I might start looking into the festival programmes, as they would probably love it :)

It would be really exciting to go back as a teacher and see my own pupils performing!

Thanks for that link - I'm going to have a proper look at it now,

Amanda xxx

[della]

Hmmm ......I suspect this is not preparing anyone for today's workplace.  We now have a forced distribution system for annual performance assessments which means that even if you have achieved everything and performed quite well during the year, if everyone else has (ie you are in a high performing environment) then your mark will be "forcibly distributed" downwards. (The bar is forever moving higher year on year), and you will be marked as "requiring improvement" or worse.  I won't go into the ultimate consequences of this, but it sure saves on redundancy payments if we are in a "headcount reduction" situation :o

Where I work the situation is very different. One man often falls asleep at his desk and takes at least 5 times longer than others to do any task. The rest of the team are often having to clear up his mistakes. He's been doing the job for nearly five years and although the manager knows that he's poor, he doesn't seem to be quite poor enough to be asked to leave. So there are workplaces where people can earn a good salary without putting in any effort at all. This seems, nowadays, to be a general expectation of many people.

[Yabba]

I also play for dance exams and a lot of these now don't like to fail children so a pass generally means you're pretty rubbish and anyone half decent gets a merit or distinction. Quite a few of my pupils come from the dance school so I am always having to stress that the criteria for music exams is different and you actually have to be pretty good just to pass - a concept which seems to be lost in today's new "improved" exam system!

I remember a similar thing when I was doing dancing exams. I knew not a single person who got a fail, or a pass, the lowest anyone ever got was commended (required to be pretty bad), then there was highly commended (the usual mark for someone reasonably well prepared) and honours (actually meant one was good). An interesting system!

But no one is allowed to fail now - it's called 'deferred success' !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rubbish! If you fail you should go back and do it again -with a whole lot more effort and work inbetween - and then, you should pass fabulously!

[musicmanNZ]

Bill Gates once gave an address where he outlined his "Rules of Life" and one of them ( my Mum has them up on the notice board trying to subliminally indoctrinate me :) ) is appropriate here:
Rule No 8
Your school may have done away with winners and losers - life hasn't. In some schools they'll give you as many times as you want to get the right answer. failing grades and classroom and sporting winners have been abolished lest anyone's feelings be hurt, and they tell you that effort is as important as results. This, of course, bears not the slightest resmblance to anything in real life"

[Semele]

Let's have all 11 Rules posted here,shall we?

RULE 1
Life is not fair - get used to it.

RULE 2
The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world
will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel
good about yourself.

RULE 3
You will NOT make 40 thousand dollars a year right out
of high school. You won't be a vice president with
car phone, until you earn both.

RULE 4
If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a
boss. He doesn't have tenure.

RULE 5
Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your
grandparents had a different word for burger flipping
they
called it Opportunity.

RULE 6
If you mess up,it's not your parents' fault, so don't
whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

RULE 7
Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as
they are now. They got that way from paying your bills,
cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about
how cool you are. So before you save the rain forest
from the parasites of your parent's generation, try
delousing the closet in your own room.


RULE 8
Your school may have done away with winners and losers,
but life has not. In some schools they have abolished
failing grades and they'll give you as many times as
you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the
slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

RULE 9
Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get
summers off and very few employers are interested in
helping you find yourself. Do that on your own time.

RULE 10
Television is NOT real life. In real life people
actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

RULE 11
Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for
one.


I love being self employed!

[chocolatedog]

I think all children in all schools should recite all these rules every day at the start of school!! :P

[Semele]

Not Bill Gates at all. There are more rules....

http://www.snopes.com/language/document/liferule.htm

[amanda41]

Let's have all 11 Rules posted here,shall we?

RULE 1
    Life  is not fair - get used to it.

    RULE 2
    The  world won't care about your self-esteem. The world
    will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you  feel
    good about yourself.

    RULE 3
    You  will NOT make 40 thousand dollars a year right out
    of high school. You won't be a vice president with
    car phone, until you earn  both.

    RULE 4
    If  you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a
    boss. He doesn't have tenure.

    RULE 5
    Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your
    grandparents had a different word for burger flipping
    they
    called it Opportunity.

    RULE 6
    If  you mess up,it's not your parents' fault, so don't
    whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

    RULE 7
    Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as
    they are now. They got that way from paying  your bills,
    cleaning your clothes and  listening to you talk about
    how cool  you are. So before you save the rain forest
    from the parasites of your parent's generation, try
    delousing the closet in your own room.


    RULE 8
    Your  school may have done away with winners and losers,
    but life has not. In some schools they have  abolished
    failing grades and they'll  give you as many times as
    you want to  get the right answer. This doesn't bear the
    slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

    RULE 9
    Life  is not divided into semesters. You don't get
    summers off and very few employers are interested in
    helping you find yourself. Do that on your own  time.

    RULE 10
    Television is NOT real life. In real life people
    actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to  jobs.

    RULE 11
    Be  nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for
    one.


I love being self employed!

I love working for myself too! As chance would have it, I ended up working for a nerd <_< :lol:

Amanda xx

[musicmanNZ]

Well Bill Gates or not they are still good rules.

[Frankie82]

I think the "I want it now" philosophy has come to be the "norm" in life now......have a brand new car "now" (we'll give you the loan), order anything you desire from the internet and get it the next day....store cards, credit cards...where's the "you can't have it unless you work hard to afford it" rule gone? When I grew up, unless I saved then I didn't have what I wanted (I'm only 23 now)....but now it seems people can have exactly what they want, WHEN they want it, so maybe we shouldn't be too harsh on the kids for picking up on this..it's sad, but it seems to be the norm these days...... :angry:

[chocolatedog]

Or the I want to be grade 8 even though I only just passed grade 5 syndrome.