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Thomas finished one competition and now another next weekend in Orono Maine, the Pine Tree Competition. He didn't get the top 3 spots today at th Young Stars of Maine today. Although he a little sad by the results, he WAS selected into the finals plus got honorable mention. it is hard for him to understand that he should be super proud of those things alone because there is always next weekend and next year. Here is his practice video from 2 hours before the competition today. he was invited to practice at the Samoset Resort in Rockland, maine for the lounge patrons, which helped him overcome his fear and shyness. The judges only critique was that he needed to be more animated, as I have been telling him and helping him with for a couple months now. NOW, he understands that Dad is right and trying to help him. He is going to work on it for the next week. I think he did incredible.
Jim(Thomases Dad)
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JimandThomas
For the first competition of that caliber, you did great.
Keep on playing but remember to enjoy the journey, your practice was very good.
Keep up the hard work, it's paying off.
Mark
Master the Frog and you have mastered the bow.
Albert Sammons
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With high level competitions just getting to the final is an achievement, so well done Thomas!
With more experience and by learning from the feedback, you'll get better each time.
Competing against other players is a different experience from performing for an audience and you need to get used to it.
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@JimandThomas -
LOVED listening to you, Thomas!
I see & feel the hard work you've put into this!
I think you looked relaxed & owned it!
It's amazing how well you've kept up your enthusiasm -
YOU played extremely well!
The odds of being disappointed when competing is VERY high.
The strangers who judge you are only human - they could have had a terrible night's sleep, maybe they just prefer a different composer someone else used - a lot can depend on what & who they hear right before you play. It's impossible to have any control over this.
When I was young I was involved with competing in Dog Shows & Horse Shows. Whether my performance or my animal's performance - it was well known that Judges had preferences, but I STILL HAD FUN! Serious competitors actually studied each Judge's career & characteristics of who they chose for winners, in hopes to raise their chances by competing under the most favorable Judges - but even this is no guarantee of winning.
If you want to GRAB a Judge's attention, you can MAKE THEM focus on you. Pretend you're an ACTOR - practice changes in facial expression & slight gestures that help show your connection to the music you play. You can think about what grabs YOUR attention when you watch great violinists play - how do they show their passion grows, or if they feel a change in a passage?
Competitions provide a reason to make yourself better!
Please keep sharing what you love, participate in more competitions to make yourself become well known - strike up conversations wherever you go to meet exciting people (and make new friends) on this part of your Violin journey!
Thank you for sharing this!
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Thank you everyone. Thomas and I just sat down to read the comments and recommendations and he said he was going to really really start trying to show emotion on his playing tonight for Saturdays competition. I added to "show off" during his playing this time too. Show off like you are the best in the world and know it because he actually wants to be the best soloist when he gets older.
Jim(Thomases Dad)
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Be careful about this.
"Show emotion" aka "emoting" can be done very badly, i.e. fakely.
What Thomas must do is learn to sing with the violin so that it makes him feel emotion (*). If he only has a week before the gig, he might screw it up. Just be natural.
*Different people feel different amounts of emotion, so don't feel wrong just because you are different. It's the same with reading. I do next to zero emoting when I read, but I had a university mentor who experienced emotionally every word she read, and she had read every Victorian pot-boiler in the British Library (she was head of English at QMC and chief examiner for London University)! She was 100% sane, but shouldn't be emulated.
Andrew
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I loved everything about it ! And I really like the comment Gordon made about the violin making you feel emotion !! I’ve never thought of it that way around. Well done Thomas I think you are incredible!!
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