Student "edition" found at {csi dot journalspace dot com}.

Maybe I shouldn't have started this blog now, not with everything that's been going on.

Another pet peeve to be explored here today, again while in the midst of pondering if this is material that should be told to the students.

One of my suggestions for the Talent Quest for three years ago was that a separate category be made for solo performers and another for groups.

This is because three years ago, one of my main concerns was that individuals would be more shy to perform, and that even though they might have more talent, they would rather appear with someone else on stage even though it would mean diminishing their spotlight.

Even though that turned out not to be the case, as the performances would bear out, the fact that solo performers have, for the past three years, been battling it out with groups for the same prize has led to the emergence of a disturbing trend.

For three years, solo performers have always won the first place.

First, it was a beatbox presentation. Last year, it was a solo dancer. This year, it was a solo singer accompanying herself on the guitar.

I'm not saying that these people are not as good as their fellow participants in groups, but they do have one factor not counted against them that is - even unconsciously - being observed in the group performances; I'm talking about coordination.

A solo dancer doesn't have to be on time with the steps of someone else. In fact, he or she can flub and make impromptu changes on stage, and the judges would not be the wiser.

The same with the sense of timing that is displayed having a singer performing at the same time as a drummer, a gutarist and a keyboard player.

So maybe we don't need to up the prize money for solo performers compared to pairs, trios or a dozen simultaneous hands on stage, but I think it would only be fair to have a separate prize for individual and group performers, if only because of the difference in discipline that they have to develop.

Session 1421 applied as both solo and group performer, but didn't win in both. Class dismissed.