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Writer's pictureRyan Reed

The Perfect Myth

First of all, congrats to everyone that was able to participate in an indoor season this past winter! My high school just finished our season up yesterday with a live parent performance, which was our first (and only) live show. I didn't plan this but it ended up being on what would have been WGI Prelims, which was pretty cool to think about. It was pretty special to end the season with the students of both the percussion ensemble and the winter guard, and their families. It didn't hurt that both groups were pretty great too.


So let's talk about the "perfect myth," or does perfect exist? The short, and honest, answer is "no." If you did in hard enough there is always something that is not perfect. In music, one mallet being worn down more than another or one note being SLIGHTLY out of balance makes it not perfect. Or someone's tone not matching exactly the players on either side of them. Hell, just having different equipment, or finish on the instrument, or environment you are performing in can keep a performance from being "perfect." The hardest part of that is if you aren't familiar with it and really digging in, you may never hear those things.


On top of that, music is so subjective that if you are an adjudicated event someone may interpret something different based on their experiences and preferences. Judges, just like the rest of us, are humans after all. The saying "one man's trash is another man's treasure" really rings true in our activity. It hurts sometimes to get those reads, but at the end of the day do we create our products for them or for us. For most of the groups I am with, we create it for us and just hope that it affects people the way we think intend it to. There is nothing we can about those who either aren't affected by it or are affected differently, AND there is nothing wrong with that. It is art after all.


So, if perfect doesn't exist what does? Maximum (or maximized) does. This something I have had numerous discussions about with many people, and by means am I taking credit for this way of thinking. I am just talking about it because it has been in my brain during the end of the season. Maximum achieve exists. Which is either the best thing ever witnessed in our art form OR the very best our students achieve for the level they are at. Maximum in A Class is VERY DIFFERENT from maximum in World Class. I got to witness a maximum performance from my students last night. There was nothing else to be had. Was it perfect? No way, but it was everything they had in them and maybe a little more. Maximum is leaving no stone left unturned in a production. Making sure all the i's are dotted and the t's are crossed, and the performers can achieve it at a very high level. Maximum is walking away at the end of the season, or show, and saying not needing anything else. I have only experienced this a handful of times, even teaching at a World Class level, but it so special when you can experience it.


So what does maximum translate to on a score sheet? Hell if I know. Scores are out of our control as designers, educators and performers. I do know the feeling I had as a performer knowing we did everything as well as we could. I know the feeling of watching my students achieve, and perform, at a level I didn't know that they would reach. And after yesterday, I know what it feels like to have your original vision for a product be fulfilled. And I experienced those last 2 things in year where there were no scores and no placements for us. So what does maximum translate to on a score sheet? I don't know and I don't know that really care to either. Don't get me wrong winning is awesome, but winning doesn't feel like this...and I enjoy this feeling.


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