Foreword of mine for the ASA Int'l Piano Competition this year

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit." -Aristotle (384-322 BC) ............................................................................. Two years have passed since Edith Widayani won the Ananda Sukarlan Award (ASA) 2010, and four years since Inge Buniardi won the 2008 edition. Now, both have excelled and certainly will continue to do so (and both coincidentally are at the moment living in the same country, the USA, as brilliant students receiving full scholarships) taking part in building Indonesia's reputation as one of the biggest "producers" of highly accomplished classical musicians. Both have won tough piano competitions abroad that have brought them to the first shining steps of their pianistic careers. ........................................................................................... We admit that competition is not the best way to build musicianship, but it is, until now, the only way to start a classical music career, where it become a platform where talents are discovered and recognized. Taking part in competitions and how to prepare for it is now a natural part of musical education, and its merit is now even more meaningful, considering that there are so many business of music schools that offers "instant" education, fulfilling the many hopes of parents for their children to be "able" to play the piano in a few months time. The quality of a musician can only be proved by one's musical performance and nothing else, and it is only through a competition where one can present one's quality both to the wide public and to experts who act as judges. It is through the quality of those musicians that the classical music scene of the country would grow and bloom and in the long run it is through them that classical music would be accepted, "understood" and loved. ............................................................................................ The classical music scene is a very active one now in Indonesia, going to both positive and negative directions. As one of the top 5 users of social media (especially Facebook and Twitter) of the world, Indonesian classical music also is well represented with so many Facebook groups and twitter followers. Many sources of informations are by amateurs, and some of them provide misinformations, but time will filter the good quality of those forums which at the moment grow more in quantity than in quality. We hope that ASA could contribute not only once every two years by producing Indonesia's great pianists of tomorrow, but also in the daily life of classical music by being a meeting point for classical musicians in its events, either concerts, workshops and seminars that we have organized and keep on doing. Let's hope the new acquaintances, not only among musicians but also between musicians and music lovers that we made in events such as this competition would then develop for a long time, and if distance is an issue, let's keep in touch virtually through the social media. Happy music making, folks! ....................................................... @anandasukarlan