The struggles of managing “normally” during this odd year have given way to innovation and adaptation in the music community. Chief among those struggles is the opportunity for students to participate in international performance competitions which would have normally taken place live, all over the world. Given that this is a busy time for those entering performance competitions, we caught up with current GGS students Ben Albertson (BMus ’22, harp), Ji Soo Choi (ADP ’21, violin), and Godwin Friesen (BMus ’20 / ADP ’22, piano), as well as Glenn Gould School Dean James Anagnoson about their experiences participating as competitors and adjudicators in competitions this year.
Benjamin Albertson, harp performs his program for the American Harp Society National Competition in April 2021. His program includes Fauré’s Impromptu Op. 28, Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite: Infernal Dance & Berceuse (arr. Ben Albertson) and Caplet’s Divertissement: À la français et à la espagnole.
Sounds Like GGS!: What is the same and what is different about the competitions you have been participating in, compared to competitions before COVID-19?
Ben Albertson: Competitions have changed in many of the ways you might expect. Rather than in-person rounds, video recordings are submitted. Sometimes, the same recording that was used for the first round can be used for later rounds. I feel like this makes the competitions less personal. However, there is still a lot of tension as you wait for results to come in from home. The competition I most recently recorded for, the American Harp Society National Competition, is still debating on whether they will host their final round in person in Los Angeles at the end of June. It is almost guaranteed that there will be no audience, but they may just use my existing recordings for the final round if I cannot play there.
Ji Soo Choi: I think that the preparation process and the amount of work that goes in are the same, compared to pre-Covid. The difference is that there are a lot of competitions that are happening online, and some are preparing for in-person with all the safety protocols. However, the good thing is that there are a few new competitions that require the participants to send recordings, which creates more opportunities for young artists.
Godwin Friesen: For the PianoArts competition, one of the most special aspects is getting to know the other pianists, in the various workshops and activities that lead up to the actual performances. When I first played in this competition three years ago, I was so inspired by the others and excited to have made new friends. This time, I really missed those opportunities for interaction.
Ji Soo Choi, violin and Jeanie Chung, piano play Schubert's Rondo in B Minor, D895 for the 2021 Joseph Joachim International Violin Competition Hannover.
Sounds Like GGS!: Would you have been able to participate in this competition in a “normal” year? Ben
Ben Albertson: I spoke with Dean Anagnoson about the American Harp Society National Competition. Since it was unclear whether I would be submitting a recording for the first round or both the first and final rounds, he graciously gave me the use of a hall to record despite the policy that hall reservations are exclusively for final rounds. The uncertainty comes from the fact that the competition itself has not and cannot make clear their future procedures at this time due to Covid. The week before I made the AHS competition recording, I had received third prize in a competition in Colorado called the Grand Junction Symphony Young Artist Competition. For that final round, I had to submit an older pre-pandemic recording as I did not have access to a hall or pianist (I used the Ginastera Harp Concerto for that competition). I was very grateful for the opportunity to have the resources to submit a quality recording to the competition.
Ji Soo Choi: Yes, competitions were something that I wanted to participate in in the years 2021 and 2022. Since I had this goal in mind for a long time, I think that the pandemic also helped me to stay focused, without much of a distraction.
Godwin Friesen, piano performs a varied program of works by Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Coulthard and Brahms for the 2021 PianoArts Competition and Music Festival.
Sounds Like GGS!: How does the use of technology and recording rather than playing live change the way you perform and prepare?
Ben Albertson: I am extremely grateful whenever I have help with recording technology. My self-recording equipment and technological skills have certainly improved during the pandemic, but the Royal Conservatory recording engineers make the process far smoother than I can accomplish alone. I purchased a Zoom Q8 camera, and while it does a good enough job for preliminary rounds and auditions, it is certainly not as clear as the professional job that can be accomplished by audio engineers.
Ji Soo Choi: I feel that recording devices and recording spaces are things that can really change how I sound in a recording. With recent lockdowns, it was quite difficult to find a space to record in and to find affordable recording devices and of good quality. Thankfully, I was able to record at the Royal Conservatory, where they offer to their students all the best equipment for us to record. One thing that I find very funny was the night before I was preparing my outfits for the recording, I was trying to match my mask with my outfit!
Godwin Friesen: The most obvious difference is that recordings can be restarted. But I can't say that my preparation was any different; I was striving for complete confidence and control and aiming to achieve my highest level of performance in my first take. In the end, I had time to redo one of the recordings, which I was grateful for. But my experience of nerves, my awareness of my listeners, my focus, and my expressiveness, I believe they are all the same, whether recorded or performed live. The only thing missing is the direct two-way communication between performer and audience, for which I will continue to wait patiently.
Sounds Like GGS!: What is the same and what is different about the competitions you have been adjudicating, compared to competitions before COVID-19?
James Anagnoson: In truth, everything about online competitions is different. Participants don't have to travel to a particular destination, so participating is much easier logistically, and as a result, I think some students entered many more competitions than they might have in a normal year. As an adjudicator, I can quickly hear who the person is online and can evaluate their performances much as I would have in person. But the players themselves are not performing in person and playing for a camera is very different than playing for a live jury, so I often felt the playing I heard might well have been quite different if it were in person.
Sounds Like GGS!: Do you find that you have a better or worse sense of the players, given the use of technology?
James Anagnoson: It varied - some performers sound better in this medium, some don't sound as good. I used to be on the juries for Canada Council grants, where the jury met and listened to the first round in videos, then a month or so later reconvened to hear the finalists in person. I used to make notes to myself in the first round of who I thought would sound either better or worse in the live round, and I was usually correct.
Sounds Like GGS!: Are there any aspects of the current system in place for COVID-19 that you would keep?
James Anagnoson: Not for competitions. But at GGS we did a lot of recital adjudications online this year, and in those cases, the performer was still playing in a hall, often for a small audience, and it worked quite well. It left me feeling that live recitals given as part of an undergraduate or graduate program can be evaluated very well online.
Sounds Like GGS!: As an adjudicator, do you have any tips for students who are working on recordings for upcoming competitions?
James Anagnoson: The most difficult thing for students to do in front of a camera is to play with the kind of freedom and musical connection they would have if playing for a live audience - so that should be their goal when preparing to make a recording. But I think it just takes a lot of experience to get comfortable with this medium.