<p>Has anyone here ever done one? What was the experience like? Worth it? Other thoughts?</p>
<p>Ah! Piano = fantastic, although I'm terribly out of practice now because we had to ship my lovely yamaha upright away :(</p>
<p>My last piano competition was sophomore year, at a general music festival. I wasn't too nervous beforehand, as I had been practicing my piece since, well, forever, but GOODNESS. Once I was in that room with just the piano, the judge, and the judge's pencil and paper, and a couple of friends for support, my mind blanked out and I had to start over again. I remember; the beginning was really shaky, but I had gotten into the song by it's "peak" point. I got one or two points taken off for not being consistent in my "feeling" of the song and missing some notes, but I got top scores in all areas (form, interpretation, etc). I felt I did do a decent job... but my nerves got the best of me in the end, because I knew I had done a lot better during practice at home. </p>
<p>And sadly, I don't remember the song's name-- this was ages ago. Ahhh... but it was something by Bach, I believe. It wasn't a hard piece note-wise, but interpretation-wise, it was kind of thorny in my opinion. It took me a while to get a feel for the song. ><</p>
<p>Anyways, it was definately worth it, because I didn't have a formal teacher at the time and the judge helped by giving me some confidence that I was doing a decent job going solo (something I definately needed because my self-doubt at the practice bench always led to laziness :P). And confidence is definately something all pianists need-- we have to be able to trust ourselves to sort of "let go," and let our fingers do their own thing, yeah? :P</p>
<p>I've done SO MANY competitions it's not even funny. I'm like numb to them now. I think they were worth it, despite how boring I thought they were at the time. Nerves were a problem when I first started competitions, but after doing a few they're not as bad. I'm not a huge 1st place winner or anything, but I think piano competitions were fun (in retrospect..haha)</p>
<p>haha yeah same i've been competitng for... 7-8 years? (playing for 10) and it's like something that's become part of my life... the nerves still play a factor, but only when i remind myself that my future could depend on winning it or like if someone i know is listening to me but... i just like performing for people. :)</p>
<p>Where do you find the opportunities to perform or compete?</p>
<p>Mostly through the school's music department.</p>
<p>also depending on your state, there are often a lot of state-wide or at least regional competitions. ask your private teacher :D</p>