Over the past few weeks, I’ve adjudicated at two competitions and one competitive festival. It’s a favourite part of my role as a music educator and I wish I could do more of it. Two of the three competitions were ‘live’ events where I was the sole adjudicator, and the third was online, where I was on a panel with three other piano judges.

Event number one was a BIFF (British and International Federation of Festivals) music festival: two days of wall-to-wall piano classes. The standard was fairly high, not throughout, but there were several classes of advanced level playing with plenty of interesting repertoire performed to a large appreciative audience. These competitive festivals generally highlight amateur players or students, the youngest of which was around five years old, whilst the oldest competitor was probably over 80!

The second competition took place at a London-based independent school where classes were smaller and repertoire was, perhaps, more predictable. However, the standard of playing was mostly extremely high and the age group ranged from 11 to 14 years. I wrote copious notes for every performer and provided positive feedback after their performance at both these competitions: I feel this is crucial to the success of any piano festival or competition.

Finally, in late May, I was on the jury panel at the 2026 G. Henle Verlag Children’s Piano Competition, which is hosted by premium German urtext music publisher, G. Henle Verlag. This event is conducted online with recorded performances which have been uploaded to YouTube and which spotlight specific repertoire for each of the four classes. I’ve judged this competition for the past five years, and it’s always been an interesting and rewarding experience.

The Henle Children’s Piano Competition generally focuses on one composer per year: we have previously enjoyed a mostly Romantic selection, including works by Robert Schumann, Edvard Grieg and Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky, but this year the ‘Classical style’ took centre stage. Classes are for a fairly narrow age range: the first two (6 – 7 years and 8 – 9 years old) were both required to present a movement from any sonatina by Italian composer Muzio Clementi (1752 – 1832), whilst the two older classes (10 – 11 years and 12 – 13 years old) played a movement from any sonata by much-loved Austrian composer W A Mozart (1756 – 1791). After hearing and marking all the young performers, the jury met online to listen again to our selected finalists and to decide the winners and highly commended players from our lists.

I can’t remember listening to so much Clementi and Mozart in one go! During this competition, we heard 277 young pianists and the overall standard was high. Most competitors played from memory and the winners were quite clearly way beyond the level perhaps expected from a student playing their selected works. This isn’t to say that these works are in any way simple to perform. Far from it, and hearing this music repeatedly – many chose the expected ‘favourites’ – focused my attention on the real difficulties when learning and presenting this repertoire, and, ultimately, why it’s a good choice for any competition. And, in many respects, this music is particularly well-suited to the young pianist.

Classical-style piano works can be great levellers: there are numerous distinctive technical and musical elements which must be assimilated, and if they are not, this usually becomes apparent within the first phrase of any performance. With this in mind, what makes the repertoire such a good choice?

• It’s excellent for those with a smaller hand. I’m a cheer-leader for repertoire which suits the younger or smaller player and feel that exam boards in particular should pay more attention to this issue. Those taking advanced exams are becoming increasingly younger and some have tiny hands compared to their older fellow candidates. The limited span of the Clementi sonatinas, especially, allows students to become confident without ever feeling over-stretched or fatigued.
• Scales, arpeggios and broken chords. These note patterns abound throughout Clementi and Mozart’s works. Their repeated inclusion cultivates good scale or rapid passage playing, mostly at speed – and importantly – can foster clear, controlled articulation. This point, for me, was the deciding factor in good playing throughout the online classes, and it was certainly a major consideration during our conversations at the final online meeting. Students must be able to perform often taxing rapid passages extremely evenly. An elegant non-legato articulation is another major factor in the success of any rendition, too.
• Rhythmic control. In a similar way to cultivating good articulation, playing in time is a prerequisite in this style: both the overall pulse, which, by and large, must remain the same throughout a movement, as well as the way note values are perceived and articulated within a phrase.
• Tasteful but not over-stretched rubato. Whilst this style is not known for rubato – or the stretching of the tempo within a phrase – a small amount of ritenuto or a ‘pull-up’ at the ends of phrases is a nice touch and offers a musical and analytical understanding of a piece.
• Limited use of the sustaining pedal. Mozart apparently used a ‘knee-pedal’ when playing his fortepiano, and use of the sustaining pedal should be kept to a minimum. But certain phrases and chordal passages require some resonance, especially on modern instruments.
• A beautiful pearly sound with superlative balance between hands. This ordinarily involves a predominant melodic line and softer accompaniment figure, but can extend to melodic colour at the tops of chords and within a more contrapuntal texture.  

Whilst the above are all significant, the most successful players brought much more to the table. Professionalism is tricky to define, but one can hear it immediately, and it’s sometimes possible to become aware of it even before the student begins to play: when I examined, I could generally spot a distinction candidate by the way they walked into the room. Therefore, with this in mind, fostering confidence and good communication skills at the instrument as well as clear sound projection could be considered defining attributes. 

Inevitably, there are those who disagree with competitions altogether. With this in mind, I feel it’s fair to point out that plenty of festivals at which I adjudicate put a much greater emphasis on non-competitive classes where adjudicators simply provide solid, helpful performance notes and feedback. But, in my experience, this isn’t what motivates students to excel. The act of preparing a piece or group of piano works to be evaluated can provide an enormous boost to some young players. Competitions are not for everyone but for some they are definitely a useful benchmark.

You can hear our selected winners at the 2026 Henle Children’s Piano Competition by clicking on the link below.

Image: Concert Hall at King’s College School in Wimbledon