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In your opinion piano competition should be categorize by age or by level to be fair?
Jane is 9 YO, she can play Level 9 pieces because she started piano at 4YO and really hardworking in practicing.
Adam is 9YO too, he can only play Level 2 pieces because he just started piano one year ago.
Let's say both of them are same quality in performing their own pieces, and went to piano competition categorize by age, of course the judges would favor Jane but not Adam.
What do you think?

That's why I never really got the point of competitions.

Like skating since size isn't an advantage, I'd go with by skill level. You have to trust the teacher (just like the coach) to not sandbag. It happens, but life isn't always "fair".

Fair competition is stimulator and will serve it good purpose.
I am thinking about this because as far as I know, chess competition is not categorize by age but their Level (from 0 to 2000 as national master). However, physical competition such as running is categorize by age. I like to know what other teachers think. Thanks.

Competition is apparently inherent to the human condition. This neither makes it healthy or unhealthy for students. Generally speaking, my experience has been that musical competitions are so inherently "unfair" that I seldom enroll my students in them. The exception for me is when I can make the student's participation congruent with other learning goals, such as a performance opportunity for an advancing student that has music performance ready and is looking to perform.

In one competition that I observed, there were 3 categories based on grade in school: elementary (for kids K-5), Middle school (grades 6-8) and high school (9-12). The overall winner could be from any of the categories, and in the case I observed, it was won by a middle school child.

If the 9 year old plays her level 9 piece well, then she'd be more likely to win than someone playing a level 2 piece well. But a lower level piece played well would outscore poor playing at a higher level.

Jane and Adam would be in the same category. You would have to look at the quality of student who generally enters the competition to figure out whether it would be appropriate to enter a Level 2 kid in the competition.

There are competitions, and then there are COMPETITIONS.

At serious events -- and yes, I know that the word "serious" is loaded -- age is usually the criterion, and it's not really much of a problem. All of the 10-12 year olds are going to be quite good. You're not going to have 12 year old beginners entering the same events with the 10 year old whiz kids playing advanced sonata movements. Serious events would include scholarship auditions (things with money on the line) and important master class auditions. These events are somewhat biased against late starters. That's life. I know this one from personal experience since my eldest was just such a late starter. Oh well.

At more "friendly" events, like Federation festival, level is the criterion. Students play pieces from a set list that is level normed. And this too isn't a problem. Students aren't competing against each other quite as much. They're shooting for a superior, for instance. These are events that are primarily designed to support student learning and give them a performance opportunity (with feedback) outside of normal studio recitals. They are less intensely competitive.

Well, there's a big difference between being able to play level-9 pieces and playing it musically. If a 9-year-old kid can play Liszt or Brahms convincingly, musically, and powerfully (that's a big if), then that kid should definitely go compete.

Teachers must do their homework and find out the nature of each festival and competition. Enter the average students in the less competitive ones, and enter the really talented students in the more competitive ones. It's really not that complicated.

Indeed.

There is no dominant ethic of fairness that should govern how every event is run. There is instead a diversity of goals and norms. Pick and choose based on the talent, training, and personality of your student. As AZN says, It really is not that complicated.

I think the fairest competitions are based on level of playing - where they have a list of what pieces they consider to be "advanced" "intermediate" etc. and the competitors choose from that list.

The problem is that we always have a few outlier teachers who don't read the rules and/or just "don't get it." They keep on sending kids in method books to the most challenging events. My favorite example, which I've alluded to before, is a girl playing from The Joy of First Year Piano, while the rest of the field is playing Mendelssohn Songs Without Words, Bach Prelude and Fugue, Mozart Sonatas, Mozart Fantasies, and other substantial repertoire.

On the other extreme, there are also trophy hogs who send their best students to the easiest categories. Recently, I'm observing more and more judges (with ample experience) who actually punish the talented students in the easier categories by picking winners whose repertoire matches the intent of the category. Good for them!

That's the way the Federation state level competition in Virginia was (is) run. They take the various levels (oh, perhaps twenty of them) and bundle them into three super levels. You still wind up having early intermediate students competing against early advanced students within the same level, but that at least narrows the field a bit.

But I would hesitate to call this "fairest" in any objective sense. As AZN notes, you can have an advanced student go back and clean up in an easier category, both because they are older (and more musically mature) and because they are simply better. That's not fair to the students who are younger and who have just begun to mature into their current level.

In my area, we have a major scholarship audition for high school and below that is divided into junior and senior categories, by age. Thirteen and under is junior. Fourteen and up is senior. Period. Clearly, a fifteen year old intermediate student has no chance in the senior category. Many have tried, and for them it's just a performance opportunity. That's OK with me. I don't find that particularly unfair. These high schoolers aren't allowed to go compete with the juniors. Likewise, there are some juniors who are as good as the top seniors. In the junior category, these wind up the winners! What a surprise. That's life. The juniors who are not at that level have something to which to aspire! Everyone is invited to listen to all the performers, so every contestant has the opportunity to hear the others, if they wish.

I have ALWAYS had a problem with competitions for students. Young students in particular.

Music should be about SHARING MUSIC, not competing.

At all levels and ages.


Grrrrr....

end of rant.

By saying so, you mean competition at your branch is base on easier or harder categories (level) but not age?

In our local sonatina/sonata competition, we have six divisions (Primary through Advanced), and each one has an upper age limit, e.g. Primary - 7 and under, Elem. I - 9 and under, etc... The repertoire selections within each division are graded within a narrow range.

This lets the younger students "move up" and compete with more-difficult repertoire, but prevents the "big kids" from playing the simpler pieces in the Primary and Elementary divisions.

This is really weird. Don't those events have a pre-screening? Top auditions require students to list the repertoire they have played for the previous year or 18 months. The organizers can then limit the competition to students who have achieved at least a certain minimum level of proficiency.

No. My branch does every festival/competition by age, except for Bach Festival. There are lots of other non-MTAC competitions in Southern California, and they are all different in terms of difficulty and competitiveness. Do your research.

So you mean some is by age and some other is by level, and I have to do my research.

There might be one or two events that pre-screen, but none that I know of. It's commonplace to see the scenario I described. It happens almost every year. At the top, top competitive events, most of the teachers know what they are doing when they send students there.

Who knows? Maybe the teacher is sending the method book student to these events as a "See, you need to practice more!" learning experience. Some kids are oblivious to how much more advanced their peers are.

If the events don't pre-screen, then they are creating their own problem. And part of this problem is borne by the poor students who don't know what they're getting into, and who wind up profoundly embarrassed. I would not have much respect for teachers who deliberately send young people into the buzz saw, wasting the judges' time and embarrassing the kids and their parents.

I remember being in events for which I was overmatched. But I was playing the right level of repertoire.