Injustice

Emily was part of her school choir which performed as part of "the Big Sing" in Auckland Town Hall, and as proud parents of course we were thrilled to go and enjoy the evening. Her choir did really well, and I hope they feel their hard work - being in school at 8am each friday - paid off. They were great.
We heard 23 choirs perform, most were good, some were amazing, one or two average. Then the Auckland Youth Choir (I think) sang three things. 'Things' is a technical musical term to describe noises as opposed to meaningful words, sounds as opposed to tunes, and a garbled mess of voices as opposed to beautiful harmonies. The result of a 'thing' is that incredibly talented angelically-voiced young people end up singing garbage art-farty stuff rather than using their talent to actually sing.
I digress. The evening concluded with the awards ceremony, each choir being granted either "Highly Commended," Commended" or the patronising to the point of being insulting "Particpated".
I knew that Emily's choir would get the lowest award. Firstly they attend a low decile (poor) school with a mixed reputation. Secondly, they were not all white angels, nor did they use the "we are all Maori" or "this is how we sing in the Pacific Islands" tactic - they were integrated, a mixed group of kids who love to sing together. And thirdly, they sang a proper song, with enthusiasm and emotion. Not at all what the musical elite appreciate. And I was right, they received the award that was more offensive than Simon Cowell at his worst.
I wasn't the only person who left with a sense of injustice. I believe and encourage healthy competition. I do not support rewarding poor performances. But I am tired of some places being denied the opportunity to explode out of the shackles of their image or reputation. Can anything good come out of Avondale College? Or Nazareth? Oh yes!