getting into encore (1 Viewer)

[tash]

hey does anyone know when you find out if you're nominated for encore??

 

[Katey]

I'm not sure really, but Drama nominations for Onstage came out only one or two weeks after the practical exams, so I guess it's probably the same for music.

 

[the_gloaming]

I think the nominations have already come out. I found out I was nominated on the last Friday of term. My principal neglected to open the nomination until lunchtime that day, so my music teacher ended up calling me at a graduation after-party thing. I was completely shocked, especially after seeing the phenomenally good piano performances at ENCORE last year. But my school teacher was just dancing around on the phone and saying "you are so musical though. All that matters is the style and you have beautiful personal expression when you play". She has been saying that for so long now, and for so long I have just looked at her like some perfectly-pitched village idiot. But now I think I am really coming to understand that it doesn't matter if you have completed your A mus and L Mus and every other letter of the alphabet corresponding to Mus, they want to see how 'musical' you are, and although that is a very vague notion and will vary in meaning from person to person, I think that the 'musical' thing is what really makes a performance enjoyable to watch. I hate watching pianists who play like they have a posture stick wedged up their ass. I would at least prefer it to be an electric cattle prod, maybe then they would look a little more animated.

Sorry for rambling, I told myself to stick to a straightforward answer.

Anyway, good luck to anyone eagerly awaiting a nomination. Who knows, your principal may have neglected to open the mail on the last day of school or something. That would be a true shame, because the videos are due in 10th October, which is before the beginning of next term. I swear they should have called, rather than send out letters!

 

[tash]

oh ok. damn i was hoping someone in my class would get nominated but i suppose not. that's a shame

 

[sugared plum]

I was nominated - and my teacher called me while I was at a friend's house desperately slugging vodka down so I could cope with the formal that night...
Anyway, the video has to be submitted by next friday, and I haven't taken my instrument out of the case since my exam. I have NO desire to be in encore, or be a musician for that matter. No one seems to listen to me though, but there's no fucking way I can just do a video the week before exams. It sucks. The whole system is fucked. They should have asked who wanted to play and who didn't...

 

[SugaryPlume]

Wow, I'm really surprised that you guys don't seem too keen on the idea... I was ecstatic when I got nominated (as were my parents) that is until someone was telling me about how at all these other schools, one of the worst students got nominated... I mean it's expected cos I was definitely not the best in my class! What did you guys play as your repertoire?

 

[sugared plum]

Did you do a video SugaryPlume? What do you play/sing?

My school threatened to expel me if I didn't do one. Haha, told me to stop being a "recalcitrant hysteric".
Very offensive.

The video I made was done with my mother accompanying, we pressed record, and played it all until the end. In some sections, I was totally wrong, but seriously I am so bored with the pieces, and haven't touched the cello since my exam...

 

[the_gloaming]

I was ecstatic when I got nominated (as were my parents) that is until someone was telling me about how at all these other schools, one of the worst students got nominated...

In reply to this...all I can say is that the way the HSC is marked is bizarre. I agree, I was also not getting anywhere near the top of my class in prac marks, until the trials, when a Senior Marker came to the school, a friend of one of the music teachers. The guy seemed to know his stuff, as his son got first in the state a few years ago! He gave me like 69/70 for my program, and that was with two songs riddled with mistakes, as in sf crashing double octaves at the bottom of the piano, thrasng the wrong bloody
notes!
Basically he told me it does not matter if you stuff up, as long as you are playing in the style and the audience aren't aware you have made a huge blunder.
One girl only got like 42/70 and had been getting 17+ for her pracs from the teachers all year! It is screwed up if you ask me. Although the guy said while she would have got an A in an AMEB exam, the HSC is nothing like it. Doesn't even matter really how hard the piece is. So in other words, someone who plays grade 5 piano pieces emotionally or what ever they are after, will do better than someone who has the notes under their fingers for an A Mus standard program.

 

[Weisy]

Yeah, I would agree with that to some extent. There's a great deal of subjectivity in the marking of the pracs. I was marked down as well by the actual HSC examiners, probably 4 marks lower in total for 3unit than for my trials. This greatly pissed me off, of course, but I don't suppose there's anything you can do about it. I think it's a combination of impression, subjectivity and whether or not the examiners know your pieces and/or your instruments well enough to actually be able to mark you fairly.

Re: Encore: I found out about my nomination from my music teacher pretty much straight after my practical exam, and then found out I'd gotten in mid-Decemberish, I think. So good luck to all you nominees!

 

[sugared plum]

has anyone found out if they were actually selected?

My teacher just called me...