[Harp-L] Music is not a competition?

["jazmaan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx" <dmf273@xxxxxxxxx>]

"Music is not a competition?"

I've heard that said many times.  
Yet here is a partial list of current major classical music competitions:

    * Bartok-Kabalevsky-Prokofieff Piano Competition
    * BBC Singer of the World Competition, [1]  (http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/singeroftheworld03/)
    * Cleveland International Piano Competition, summer of each odd numbered year, $50,000 1st
prize. [[2] (http://clevelandpiano.org)]
    * Concert Artist's Guild, a series of competitions for younger, up-and-coming musicians, [3]
(http://www.concertartists.org)
    * CyberSing 2004, an international web-based art song competition, [4] 
(http://www.lottelehmann.org/cybersing2004/)
    * 5 Town Music Piano Competition, [5] (http://www.uk-piano.org/5towns/index.html)
    * Guido Cantelli Conducting Competition, one winner was Eliahu Inbal.
    * Kingsville International Piano Concerto Competition
    * Leeds International Pianoforte Competition [6] (http://www.leedspiano.com/)
    * The Queen Elisabeth Concours, located in Brussels, Belgium, it is a competition for
performers.
    * International Frederick Chopin Piano Competition - The most prestigious competition of its
kind in the world.
    * Sydney International Piano Competition of Australia, June 2004 marks the 8th annum
    * International Tchaikovsky Competition
    * The Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, held by the Van Cliburn Foundation. Van
Cliburn himself was a winner of the Tchaikovsky Competition. [[7] (http://cliburn.org)]

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That last one on the list, the Van Cliburn, is of personal interest to me because a friend of mine
named Jeffrey Kahane was an unknown "late-blooming" 24 year old L.A. pianist when he entered the
Van Cliburn.   He didn't win, he didn't place, he didn't even show, but he'd be the first to tell
you that his 4th place finish was an "incredibly lucky break" that "changed my life".  Thanks to
that competition he was invited to be a guest soloist with many major symphonies and before long
he was conducting the L.A. Philharmonic.

So I don't buy into that "competition is bad" mindset.