Do we need competitions to motivate bands?

I only know of one way to create a love for music and performing in students.  It has to start with the teacher having a love for music and performing him/herself.  The teacher then has to have the ability to convey this love of music to the students.  The teacher may have all the enthusiasm in the world, but if he/she doesn’t express it, then the students aren’t going to see it.

One example of a teacher showing his/her love for music is simply taking it seriously.  I recently watched the movie “Chopped.”  It was obvious that the jazz band director Ace Martin from the movie had a love for music because of how seriously he took the band.  After he had conducted the auditions, he made a comment about how he was just hoping that the band would sound good and that they had enough talent.  He cared deeply not just about music, but about performing music at a high level and making it sound great. 

As I watched the movie, it became clear that one of the reasons why Martin was so serious was that he was working toward getting to and playing at The Essentially Ellington competition in New York.  When he told the band that they had been accepted, everyone was incredibly excited.  The band became more focused and worked harder.  Everyone cared about maximizing the potential of the ensemble and playing as good as they possibly could. 

This competition was the basis of the film.  It’s clear that competing in New York was a major motivator for all of the schools involved and pushed all of the bands to sound better.  This seems like it could only be a good thing, and yet the idea of competition in music as well as any art bothers me.  I realize that band competitions are a reality that I must live with, but the whole concept just doesn’t sit well with me.  I suppose it’s human nature to be competitive, but why do we have to give trophies to winners?  How does one “win” in music?  Isn’t the desire to sound great enough motivation?  Apparently not unfortunately.

In the second half of the movie when some of the bands were shown performing, my feelings were even more amplified.  I realize that the bands had to qualify to be there in the first place, but I found myself wishing that the competition was just a performance only.  All of the bands sounded great.  I would think that for the students, hearing great bands from other schools would be a valuable enough experience.  Why does there have to be a winner and a bunch of losers?

I hope that when I get my first job, I won’t have to participate in musical competitions, because I don’t know that it’s in me.  I hope that I‘ll be able to get an ensemble to take music seriously without an extrinsic motivator like a trophy.  I don’t know exactly how I’ll do this.  I know it starts with having a love of music, which I know that I have.  I guess I’ll see.  I realize that this is probably all wishful thinking, but at this moment, before my teaching career begins, this is how I feel.