The Fallacy of Ranking Music

I went to see my high school son's "choir competition."
It's an event I look forward to every year.
I cannot listen to young people's choral singing without shedding tears.
Every class was wonderful.
I am nothing but grateful to the school for their guidance and for hosting the event.

However, as a musician, there is something I really want to say, which is why I am writing this blog.

It is that I really dislike how, at the end, "judges," centered around the music teacher, decide on a "ranking."
The students also accept this, getting excited like it's a sports match or using it as "motivation."

But in my opinion, this is where the fallacy of music education begins.
Having "motivation" to come in first place is far removed from the essence of music.

In reality, you cannot rank music.

Music is an endeavor of how much one can express the story held within sound, rhythm, and harmony, and how well one can deliver that to the listener.

Therefore, it doesn't matter how the listener feels, and it is an eternal journey with no time to be ranking things.

It is wrong to provide education during the impressionable years of junior high and high school that appeals to the wrong kind of "motivation" through shallow incitements like "instrument auditions" or "competitions."

Starting from here, even when they grow up, people rely on labels like "first place in a competition," asking things like, "Who is actually good?" or "Is this person any good?"

When you hold a competition, you need reasons to assign rankings, so it becomes a contest of pointing out flaws through a point-deduction system.

There is also something strange about the trend where "people who can point out flaws are superior."

Of course, such advice exists. "If you do this here, it will be a little better"—that kind of technical advice. But that is just a lesson you gently provide when the person themselves asks for it. It is wrong to stand on a high horse and present it as "criticism," or explain it as the reason they didn't reach the top, or give the impression that the performance itself was bad because of it.
(Oh, my son's high school didn't do that so blatantly. I think my own paranoia is creeping in.)

Music is something that, in the first place, we should be grateful for just because someone stood on stage and performed it.

Performing music for others takes a lot of courage, and to get to that point, one has practiced a lot, studied, has a love for music, and furthermore, the person themselves knows their own flaws better than anyone.

And yet, on top of that, the person who was allowed to listen criticizes from above??

All one should do is praise the good parts and express gratitude.

If we keep doing things like this, true musicians will not grow.

That is why I wish they would stop doing "competitions" and change them to things like "festivals."
And make it a contest of nothing but praise. A contest of talking about how moved you were.

"Wanting to bring joy to others" is a much healthier motivation and is in line with the essence of music.