BRIEF HISTORY OF AND RAISON D’ÊTRE FOR THE FESTIVAL FOR CREATIVE PIANISTS

(This post was written in 2018 by Dr. Arthur Houle, Colorado Mesa University)

Pianists from anywhere in the world up to the age of 19 who are looking for a different kind of competition experience are invited to participate in the Festival for Creative Pianists, a unique and highly innovative event held annually in early June in Denver, Colorado.

The festival encourages students to showcase all kinds of skills and genres at the piano – classical music, original compositions, jazz, ragtime, popular music, underrepresented music by female composers, improvisations, etc.
Students perform up to 15 minutes of solo, concerto or duet music (any style, of their choosing), after which three judges provide them with constructive written and verbal feedback in the form of a mini master class.
Many First Prizes are offered for demonstrations of repertory excellence, various creative skills and original compositions.

The genesis of this festival was in 2000 when I began to question whether the typical piano competition was necessarily the ideal framework to motivate, educate, and validate young students. In that year, I was put in charge of a festival that awarded a First, Second and Third Prize. The judges had a tortuously difficult time deciding on the First and Second Prize winners; it was practically a tie. After the event, I tried to impress upon the Second Prize winner that his performance was truly spectacular. The student, looking glum and devastated, was unconvinced, especially since he had earned Second Prize in previous festivals. In his mind, he kept falling short of that all-important and singularly validating First Prize. “Will you be returning next year?” I asked. “No,” he replied emphatically. His experiences with piano competitions obviously left a bitter scar, despite every effort to convince him that he was not a “loser,” and that the difference between First and Second Prize is sometimes virtually meaningless.

For me, this was the last straw. I vowed to either abolish the festival or revamp it entirely. A vision for a new kind of competition began to take shape. It centered on three challenges:

• Could an event be focused more on fostering well-rounded musicianship and less on cutthroat competition
  between students?

• Could more than one First Prize be offered, for maximum motivation? (The winner-take-all approach works
  wonderfully for the ‘winner,’ but what about the vastly outnumbered ‘losers?’) Do we need a “second”
  prize, “third” prize, etc.?

• Could prizes recognize more than one kind of excellence? Could a festival validate more than just note-
  perfect, autonomic performances? Could we encourage creativity, originality, risk-taking and spontaneity as well?

In 2008, the festival found a new home at Mesa State College, which became Colorado Mesa University in 2011.
We deeply appreciate the university’s steadfast support; however, we gradually came to realize that a major airport city would help the festival “spread its wings” and – with the help of donors, volunteers, and community support – reach its fullest potential. So, in 2015, the festival was moved to its current location in Denver, Colorado. Enrollment has since more than doubled.

Although we continue to offer a growing number of prizes, the main focus is on education and sharing in the joy of making and performing music. Participants are required to sit in on the adjudications of at least three other students. Above all, contestants are urged to develop and showcase their unique talents and perform with individuality, personality, exuberance, and spontaneity.

Judges are carefully chosen for their eclectic talents and ability to provide learned, positive feedback. We assure the participants that they are all winners because of their hard work, enthusiasm and eagerness to learn. The hundreds of video clips posted online provide an excellent snapshot of this novel event. Moreover, the festival’s website offers a wealth of educational information (ranging from very accessible to scholarly) on how to improvise and embellish in classical and jazz styles, compose, or simply learn more about the greatest composers of traditional piano music repertory. Applications are done online; enrollment is open (starting in September), but limited to 40 students.