Winning a contest - summary and discussion

Writing this series on winning a contest has been a fascinating experience for me.  The effort to cover everything important about some topic winds up creating a framework - a set of ideas that becomes a kind of checklist or breadcrumb path for others to follow.

So looking back on what I wrote, keeping in mind that nearly all of it was written without a master plan in mind ahead of time, here's the framework:

1. Get technically good enough at your craft so that technique is not an impediment to the story behind your art.  Avoid the pitfall of perfectionism.
2. Get well known before the contest, to the audience and the judges.  Your reputation is your biggest asset.
3. Dig deep into the music and make an amazing plan for each piece - understand the music better than anyone else, and know what it has to offer to the audience.
4. Arrange to be in peak form on the day of the contest, physically, vocally and mentally.
5. Make a great first impression when you walk on stage, and in the first eight bars.  Nail the tag.

That's all there is to it folks!  Of course each bullet point represents an awful lot of work.  For example, it's easy to say "get good enough at your craft" but it's not nearly to easy to do!  It takes a lot of hard work and open-mindedness and tenacity!  But at least if you follow this path, you may believe it's useful work instead of the trial-and-error, one step back and two steps forward kind.  Maybe you can get to the top of you game a lot faster this way.

So if you want to take it seriously, and see if this path leads to success for you, I believe you need to borrow some concepts quite alien to the performing arts.  You need to make lists, break things down, follow up on things - really it would help to be a project manager!  Or to have a coach who happens to possess those skills.  So here's my recipe for applying the lessons in this framework.  Create the following checklist and use it to focus your rehearsals:

1. Take a skills inventory for each member of your ensemble.  Get the necessary coaching.  Check off each issue as it is addressed.  For example, if the lead needs more graceful high notes, get him the coaching he needs until he can do it.  Check it off the list.
2. Brainstorm who you are as a quartet.  What's cool about you?  What do people like about you?  Once you've got it right, get it out there - make a web site, participate in the community, incorporate it into your stage show.  Get known!
3. For each contest piece, have a brainstorming session to identify what the song is about, and what it has to offer to an audience.  Write down a performance plan that includes the love, the conflict, and the character development that will keep you interested the whole time.  Find the most musical and insightful person you can find to help you with this stuff.
4. Write down what each person is going to do, to be in peak form on game day.  Call each other every day, to make sure it's going well.  If it isn't going well, support each other - it's time for an intervention!
5. Create your rehearse-like-a-pro plan, including when you will get a song ready, get it on video for review, get it in front of friends, and get it on a real stage.

If that doesn't get you great results, consider voodoo.

Finally, I confess that I have no way to discover what is missing from my own framework except asking you!  Did I leave any huge questions unanswered?  Was my coverage of any topic too shallow?  Please wander over to the forum and add your comments to the "winning a contest" thread.  If we work together, we can make this a great resource for all competitors, and I for one would like to have more fun watching contests.  Better contests, for me, would make for a better world.