Most of us respond positively to a challenge. Among the more rewarding aspects of working towards an exam, concert, music festival or other event, are what we learn about ourselves along the way, how we respond to aspects that don’t settle so easily, and of course the sense of accomplishment we gain from feeling we’ve done ourselves proud. It’s by no means the case that we need a competitive angle to spur us forward; indeed, anything we can do to nurture and sustain a positive cycle of inspiration, endeavour, improvement and onward progression is surely a good thing. Although preparing for a concert performance is undoubtedly a different matter from gearing up to meet the more specific/varied requirements of a competition, audition or exam, there will nevertheless be similarities in timescale and overall approach, both to our state of mind and of course to ensuring musical and technical aspects are robustly in place.
