It's Not a Competition

With the American Music Awards being on tonight, I feel it's a fitting time to discuss music being a competition. It's not. We have award shows for various categories, but that's not what it's about. 

Music is about spreading happiness, or feelings. It's about expressing yourself. It's about being together, and connecting with those around you. Artists all work hard, and put their hearts and souls into the music they make, no single artist works harder than another. 

This also holds true in high school bands and musical groups. They all work super hard to make a good show. Every group, from band to show choir, they all have a love for music, and they are all there to get better at what they love doing, and to be a team that works together. Yes, most groups go to competitions, whether they are invitationals or state competitions, and yes, they do get scores. Somebody ends up first, second, and so on, and unfortunately this means somebody is last.

But just because you got a higher s ore that another group or person doesn't mean that you beat them. It simply means that you were liked a bit better. And this is simply in the minds of the judges that were scoring you. It doesn't mean that every person played the music perfect, or hit the choreography perfect. It simply means that the judges didn't pick that stuff out too much. The next time you go to a competition , you could be last place, because they are not the same judges. As long as you work hard, and give it your all, everybody is a winner. 

I'm also not saying that award show are complete crap. Winning awards for artists are a big accomplishment. To them, I means that all the hard work they have oht into their newest song or album pays off, and that people liked what they did.  It makes them feel honored, and proud. It doesn't mean that they are the best around, it means that for that specific category or time in their career, they were liked better than the other artists nominated for that award. 

So the next time you go to a competition, don't boast that you "beat" another band. Tell all of the other groups that tbsy did a great job, because they did. They worked just as hard as you did. The judges were simply in your favor for that time.