Jason wrote:
"Playing music shouldn't be a competition."
I always looked upon the Harmonica Challenge as a personal challenge, more along the lines of "Can
you rise to this occasion or not?" than "Who can play this song the best?" I think that anyone
who can rise to the challenge and submit an entry for public scrutiny is worthy of high praise,
and I don't necessarily endorse the idea of naming a "winner" in our friendly challenge.
BUT, just to play devil's advocate to Jason's comment - isn't there a long-standing tradition in
the classical world of competitions? In 1981, at the age of 24, my friend Jeff Kahane made it
into the finals of the prestigious Van Cliburn piano competitions. He called it a "lucky break"
just to take 4th place, but that competition gained him world reknown and served as the
springboard for his entire career as a highly successful symphony conductor. So I don't think I
can ascribe to the sweeping generalization that "playing music shouldn't be a competition."
Competition can be good.
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