My son has done national piano playing auditions (guild) for 5 years. His marks have always been in superior range and a national program (10 memorized pieces. This year he is intermediate A. However, he is not prepared- some songs aren't completely memorized, some memorized songs have one or more "rough spots." My question is: should he do guild at all even though he is not totally prepared? I discussed with his teacher about 2 weeks ago. She agreed that he might not be prepared, but that we should keep trying. He has made some progress since then. Should he try to play 10 songs even though they aren't perfect (maybe taking a chance that the judge won't ask to hear all 10?), should we try to play less than 10 songs? Should we not try at all? He realizes that he isn't as prepared as he has been in the past and seems a little reluctant

-- piano mom (noname_poster@yahoo.com), April 30, 2001

Answers

What does your son want to do?

-- Mary Jo (noname-poster@yahoo.com), April 30, 2001.

I'd have him play the # of pieces that he can perform well. Ten is not a magic number, is it?

-- wow (noname_poster@yahoo.com), May 01, 2001.

Ten isn't a magic number, it just changes the type of certificate. i.e ten is a national program, five is district, etc. I think you have to play 10 pieces each year to be eligible for recognition such as 5 year pin, 10 year pin, etc. He could do less than 10. He already has a five year pin. He's somewhat undecided, but he'd probably rather do less than 10.

-- pianomom (nonname_poster@yahoo.com), May 01, 2001.