Recommendations to Finalists from adjudicators Competition 2005

This is an extract of Professor Windmill's address to the contestant during prize-giving time. On this page, I have highlighted some of the important things he said because they are very good suggestions for an effective performance, and especially valuable for future contestants. I put my own comment in brackets.

• Try to overcome your "nerves"
• Enjoy your performance, involve your audience
• Yamaha disks - more important to put your own "stamps" to the performance, it's a very individual performance (what do you want to express through the music?)
• Consider playing from memory
• for competition, musical materials with contrasting materials will be better (i.e. avoid playing a music that's loud from start to finish)
• play musically, according the style, put your own interpretation to the music (David's paraphrase of Roger's explanation on "musical awareness and communication")
• the use of instruments on the organ, effective sound? does it imitate real instruments appropriately?
• play notes correctly
• presentation of yourself to the audience, don't look embarrassed or nervous
• involve the audience, get them into the music experience
• control and technique, e.g. synchronisation with disks / tracks / rhythms, phrasing, scales, pedal work, all parts balanced