Click on VIEW THE POST at the bottom of the email if you want to listen to the audio!
Did you enjoy working on “Cycling Home” for the competition two weeks ago?
Kit and I hope you found it both enjoyable and challenging. The aim was for you to prepare the piece in your own way and by yourself.
Nowadays, they call this “ownership“, and the word is a good one. We all want to be independent, and that applies to our music too. The music teacher’s sole job is to make himself or herself redundant. Although it’s true that the best professional performers still take lessons, that’s because it’s their career and they can’t afford to slip.
For most people, the goal is different. You want to be able to play music – any music! And you want to be able to access it yourself.
These competitions are to help you along that path, as well as adding a bit of spice to the journey. The four Categories were designed to challenge you at the appropriate level, and we hope they succeeded in doing that.
Kit and I had a wonderful afternoon watching the videos and discussing them. It was particularly good that we collaborated on this, as we each had a chance to listen to people we don’t actually teach, and it was fun to share our comments and impressions.
Here is a list of the things we wanted to see from you all:
- Fluent, dynamic playing
- Commitment to the performance
- Accuracy (particularly in Categories 1 and 2)
- Creativity (particularly in Categories 3 and 4)
- A strong sense of the story
That last point was often the deciding factor in our decision. The instructions on the song itself were quite clear: the cyclist, who was going home, had a hilly journey. First freewheeling downhill, then struggling up the next hill, standing on the pedals, probably, and definitely out of puff by the time they got to the top! And finally, the cyclist reaps the benefit – down the hill in an exhilarating swoop, right (we presume!) to their front door.
There were a few performances where this story wasn’t clearly told. A couple of you made the “uphill” part more energetic and more fun than the “downhill” part! And some people didn’t understand the D.C. al fine direction, which means to go back and repeat the first part of the piece.
On the subject of musical terms, directions, signs, foreign words and so on – if you don’t know what something means, either ask your teacher or look it up! Never ignore it! Everything on the page is there for a reason, and it’s your job, as a performer, to understand exactly what the composer wants you to do.
You can’t always know everything, but you can always find out.
So the five bullet-points above directed our assessment of your entries, and now – finally! – here are the results, together with extracted audio, so you can hear for yourselves how the winners and runners-up did.
If you are not one of those listed below, don’t be disheartened! Listen to the audio tracks and see what you think of them. There will be another competition in the winter, and it may be your turn then!
You may need to click VIEW THE POST at the bottom of this email, as the audio tracks usually don’t show up in the email itself.
CATEGORY 1 (beginners up to Grade 1, playing the song as written):
Joint Winner: Trudy
Kit and I loved the confident tone of this, with Trudy’s careful attention to detail – especially the slowing of the music as the cyclist reaches the top of the hill. We thought the pause could have been longer, as the cyclist gets their breath back, but this was a very convincing performance.
Joint Winner: James
This had a lovely brisk tempo for the “downhill” parts, and a great contrast when we came to the “uphill” section. We also loved the slowing down right at the end as the cyclist finally gets home. This slowing down wasn’t indicated in the music, so it showed real care in understanding and delivering the story.
CATEGORY 2 (Grades 2 and 3, playing from memory, with a bit of “invention” somewhere):
Winner: Ethan
This had delightful triplets to replace the quavers in the “downhill” section, and we loved this change of rhythm. Triplets always add bounce! The “downhill” sections were a little slow, but the “uphill” part was slower still, so we felt this was in balance. There were good transitions between the sections too, and the performance was confident and fluent. The final little trill on the last note was a lovely touch – you can imagine the cyclist dancing in through their front door!
Runner-Up: Emma
Good, confident playing, and (funnily enough) Kit and I were impressed by Emma’s handling of the two mistakes, as there was no break in the flow. For a performance given entirely off by heart, the piece was controlled, convincing, and impressively well executed.
CATEGORY 3 (Grades 4 and 5, with increased “invention”, and drawing more on the story):
Winner: Ollie
This was performed on electronic keyboard, and began with a gap of several octaves between the hands – a gap which gradually reduced. We thought this was inventive, and indicated the cyclist’s epic journey. Kit and I loved the “uphill” part of this performance. At first, we were disappointed that Ollie didn’t observe the D.C. al fine instruction, but his “uphill” section developed its own energy at the end, which was a creative replacement. I wasn’t sure if the cyclist actually crashed at this point…
Runner-Up: Colin
There was interesting use of pedal in this performance, which gave it a lovely dreamy vibe. There could, perhaps, have been more invention and extemporisation, but we liked Colin’s fluency and confidence. His cyclist didn’t pause for breath at all at the top of the hill, from which we concluded that Colin would handle such hills with ease!
CATEGORY 4 (Grades 6 and over, where the song as written is a framework for invention, improvisation and building extensively on the story):
Winner: Bethan
Kit and I loved the jaunty start to this, its use of swing rhythms and then the contrast with the “uphill” part. Although climbing the hill is clearly a struggle, when Bethan’s cyclist eventually arrives at the top there’s a positive fanfare to celebrate! We loved the story-telling here, including the final chord using both ends of the piano.
Runner-Up: Abigail
This performance began in a minor key, which made us wonder if the cyclist was actually reluctant to go home! There was a very dramatic second section, also in a minor key, but finishing with what’s known as a “Tierce de Picardie” – a major chord, which propels the music into the sunshine right at the end. We loved the invention here, although perhaps the performance strayed rather too far from the original song. But great credit to Abigail for her interpretation of the brief.
Prizes and Certificates!
There are small prizes for the winners, and elegant certificates for all the Winners and Runners-Up, and you’ll receive these at your next lesson, or in the post if you learn remotely.
Our next competition will be just before Christmas, and Humoresque will publish the music in September. Look out for it!
I’d love to know what you think of this Humoresque. You can put a comment in the box below this post, or you can email me directly. I read and respond to everything.
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Humoresque = a whimsical or fanciful piece of music. Be whimsical, be fanciful, but play in time!
This is Humoresque Number 42