Philosophy Of Competition

The views of competition are very wide spread. It seems that everyone has something to say on the subject. Those people who are in favor of competition often point out that it is a strong motivator, it offers more public exposure and can gain community support as their reasoning. Those who have the opposite view often point out that the self esteem is often damaged in those who do not receive top ratings, the pressure to win is always present, and it encourages non musical goals which will be mentioned in more detail later.

The struggle has been long and is still continuing on placing music education as a curricular subject. The intrinsic values of the arts and especially those in music are often pointed out in making this justification. Despite this, the extrinsic motivation of competition is still used in many schools today. These examples can be seen in chair placement and contests. Extrinsic values of the area of music have been used to gain the necessary support for a group and that will probably not change. The problem arises when these values become the primary reason for existing. When it reaches this point the art of music is dead.

In the indoor setting, competition has changed throughout its history. Sight reading was implemented to insure that fundamentals were being taught and that bands were not just practicing concert pieces all year. When it comes to competition in marching bands or other extracurricular bands, the achievements seem to be a little more extrinsically based.

Children are naturally competitive and this allows for the world that we live in to become more and more dependent on that ever present competition. The use of competition can aid in building a program and maintaining one once it is built up. The constant exposure is a good recruitment tool to younger children in the area who may not be aware of this type of thing. The remarks from judges can be very beneficial to both students and directors.