The 25th International Chopin Piano Competition in ASIA
Feedback from the Jury
Final Round of Preschool●Jury AI was impressed by the fact that everyone played with so much heart and soul. When you
try to sing, be careful not to move your body too much or move it like a bowing gesture,as this can be transmitted to the fingers and cause ups and downs in the sound. It would
be great if you could convey the music to the audience yourself and not just the way yourteacher has taught you. Many people played as if there were rests between the first andsecond half of the Menuet, but continue naturally without pausing.
●Jury BMy sincere congratulations to all the participants for their wonderful performances! It isgreat that you are engaged in music and at such a young age you are already able to doso much. I wish you much joy in your further work, passion and musical success!
●Jury CThe overall level of performance was high, congratulations!
●Jury D
Congratulations on making it to the final round. I’m sure everyone has practiced a lot inpreparation for this day. In both Polish and Baroque music, recognising pulsation is very
important. Feel the pulsation and make music in it, rather than just singing. I wish you all
the best and hope that you will continue to be exposed to a lot of music and growmusically further in the future.
●Jury E
Everyone played very expressively and happily. What do you feel on stage and how doyou express it? For example, even in a short piece, try to make dynamics, changes intone and nuances clearer to the audience. I hope you will continue to practice different
pieces and gain lot of experiences so that you can play many works of Chopin andbeautiful Polish music.
●Jury FAs for my comments and suggestions to the young pianists - those I had the opportunity

to listen to during this year's Competition, I must admit that they do not differ from thecomments I made earlier, in the previous many years of my contact with theCompetition.
The pianist, or rather I prefer to say - a real artist, does not play the piano, but tells hisstory not with his fingers, but with his artistic imagination. Single notes are words, aphrase is a sentence, a piece is a whole story. Only with this understanding andtransmission of music can we reach the soul of the listener and convey all the emotions
and expressions of music.
Of course, I could write - as I have done many times before, about the importance of
Chopin's "legato cantabile" - legato done with the fingers and not with the pedal, about
the sense of harmonic structure, about articulation, precise pedalisation, about
naturalness of playing which Chopin paid so much attention to, about playing without
any artificial "gadgets" often only aiming at arousing the applause of the audience, about
a sense of time in the music and flexible narration not subjected to excessive pressureof the metronome, which often disturbs the artistic imagination in favour of correct but
mechanical playing.
All these comments - as I understand it, in this very moment are not directed to theyoungest children playing piano. I'd like to transmit it, first of all - to teachers and afterthat to young pianists.I think so, because I am fully aware that as a juror of a competition
judging young and youngest pianists, I am judging to a large extent not only the playing
child, but also, and perhaps above all, the teacher of this young pianist, who, at only a
few years old or a couple of ten years old, is only trying to politely follow therecommendations of his teacher. Yes, without doubts - the profession of a pianist ormusician is not an easy one!
Unfortunately, very frequently especially, we can see artificial theatrical gestures, which- perhaps according to the teachers - because certainly not the playing children!
Presumably these gestures are meant to prove that we are listening to a very talented
student. In my opinion - the true talent will defend itself without these sometimes
ridiculous and not very artistic gestures! This remark is directed at teachers - I do so,
because this 'pedagogical phenomenon' has been observed in Japan for many years.
Unfortunately it is the twisting of a young performer's personality - and very bad way forthe development of young pianists personality.

And a few words directed to young pianists - please remember, the important purpose ofparticipation in competitions are not the awards! Competitions help us to consciously
increase our repertoire, they give us specific and deadline tasks, they have a positive
influence on our ambition and concentration at work. Competitions are the importantand positive element in the development of every young musician.
To conclude my perhaps a bit overlong comments, let me convey from the bottom of myheart, my best wishes to all participants of the Competition, also to their teachers andparents. I wish you all much of joy from the artistic achievements of their children andstudents, and satisfaction in the peaceful observation of the natural development of thetalent of our piano youth.