Miriam's audition

Miriam had an organ audition this morning, which I just looked up the meaning of because the word "audition" has been confusing me since she started to do these things. I mean, she's not really auditioning for anything! Paul K. Fox offers some clarification on the meaning: there are three levels of evaluating music students and "audition" is one of them. It's not as intense as being adjudicated (a word that I would be more likely to quickly associate with performing music for a panel of judges); it's one step below a formal adjudication. 

So, Miriam had her organ audition this morning. Grandpa took her for us since Andrew needed to be on campus and I...well...there are reasons Grandpa is helping Rachel learn how to drive. Plus we had our septic tank friends over again so I had to be home for that. Plus I have, what, five other kids at home.

Anyway, she played very well. Her organ teacher, who was allowed to be present for the audition, took this video for us:

Grandpa had to wait outside (though last week he got to go in and listen to her when she did her pre-audition rehearsal (to get to know the organ, etc)). This is the organ that was once at Trinity Church in New York, so that's pretty cool!

Miriam got back her ratings this evening—Superior Plus in all categories. 

That's the highest ranking. 

When she got home, Rachel asked her if she "got an A."

"A's are bad!" Miriam shuddered.

"What do you mean? A's are good!" Rachel laughed.

"No. A's are bad. I want C's."

"C's are bad. A's are good."

"No! C is for 'special commendation!' A is for 'needs attention.' A's are bad!"

"Then what did you get?" 

"I don't know yet."

"What do you hope to get?"

"I dunno. An S, probably."

"An F?! What is this?! Why is music so backwards about everything?"

"Not an F! An S!"

"So A is bad, C is good, and you go all the way to S? This is getting ridiculous!"

"No. A and C are the only rankings you can get for each aspect of each song you play. Then you get an overall score of S for Superior, then E for Excellent, then...I don't even know...I think it goes down to G for good."

As you can see, none of us are very clear on how the scoring works (though this might help clear things up a bit), but as far as we can tell, Miriam is doing alright.