Gotta give a shout-out to all the HS students participating in Solo/Ensemble Festivals during a pandemic. They truly have it harder than most students in past years, for a number of reasons:

1) Performing in a mask is hard, not just because it feels restrictive, but it makes it harder to breathe freely, may fog up eyeglasses, and makes it nearly impossible to see your violin as well.

2) In preparing to record your solo or ensemble, you may, depending on private teacher policies, have only had the option of online lessons. (As a private teacher myself, I don't prefer teaching online, because I can't walk around and view my student from different angles, I never know if the parent is actually there taking notes, I can't mark something in the music for the player, the lag in the various apps makes it difficult to play together, the dynamics in a piece don't always come through the technology accurately, and I can't manipulate a student's arms or hands at all, which can be helpful for a beginning player.)

3) When you pre-record a video for judges, true, you can re-record before submitting it if you mess up. But this also means that since the judge doesn't have your music in front of them when watching it (complete with measure numbers), they can't write down as you go, "You were out of tune in measure ten." In fact, they are allowed to back up the video when they notice something and say instead, "At 2:06, you were out of tune." Talk about scrutiny and pressure to be perfect throughout!

I've seen a lot of great performances as a judge in the state of Utah in 2021. My hat goes off to you, as the saying goes!

As students overcome unique and difficult challenges with music and technology that are nothing to sneeze at, it goes without saying that they're going to be better and better as time goes on!