* Me thinks everybody is overracting. The ragtime piano street fair
"cutting
contest" I described was just a mild collection of mostly ragtime
performances.
* I was talking about a friendly little competition at SPAH.
* Ranging somewhere above the open mikes where everybody gets up to
play
(sorry) and the international competitions where everybody is
judged on the
ability to perform a competition piece note-for-note.
* Not a traumatic battle where the "losers" would slink of and
destroy their
harps out of shame.
* Not a duel to the death like the original piano, jazz cutting
contests.
* This would accomplish the "storied sharing" that always goes on
at SPAH
conventions.
* What better way to "share" than to demonstrate what works in a
performance?
* Plus, it would allow people who are not a part of the "regularly
scheduled
performers" (those top-notch players who just happened to attend
SPAH) a
chance to get up and perform in front of an audience instead of
being relegated to
the hallway next to the sandwich stand.
* We had the same thing several years ago when Thursday was Blues
Night at
SPAH and several players got up and played. It was not billed as
a cutting
contest, but it was clear that some players were better than others
and some were
making their first public performances.
* And whatever happened to Blues Night?
I'm getting too old to stay up all night -- when I'm not getting
paid -- just
to listen to blues jam and then try to get up the next day.
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