| as an adjudicator several things
1. dont give the student a solo that they might be able to play on a good day if the full moon is in the constallation xaxuxathuing. give them a piece that will stretch them a bit but not more then they can handle
2. preperation, preperation, preperation. with a metronome more then a tuner, i hear a lot of students that cant keep pieces stable and the slow downs and spped ups are in obvious place that shouldnt have it.
3. if using an accompanist to have more then one run through with the pianist.
4. work with the students on recovery from mistakes the one thing i hate to do is give a iii to a kid i know can play better, they start off really well make a mistake and then nosedive from there. stay in the present time. i was more then happy to overlook a mistake, but not when it dominos on top of each other
5. attention to details 98% of what i tell kids either verbally or written is on the music if they woudl just do it.
6. expand the dynamic range i too often hear two dynamics, soft mf and loud mf. but fff does not mean blast the player still has to have control of the sound.
7. encourage them to listen to other players from other schools, not just their own. often they are playing in an empty room which i dont think is good for the kids.
8. use smart music if possible. my student teaching supervising teacher used it for his doctoral dissertation, and found it makes a big difference.
9. get the students to really listen to themselves, even taping themselves.
10. make sure the students know all the terms and instructions. i have lost track of how many students when i asked them if they knew what something ment didnt,
11. encourage the students to be themselves not just copy the record
12. work with the kids on phrasing, flow and line very often the biggest weakness i hear
hope this helps
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Per aspera ad astra |