Why? Because some of his Prelude and Fugues were performed by teens unfit to correctly interpret his music.

Yes, I was one of them.

And here's a picture of me looking like a dork with my second place award.

... at first I was afraid, I was petrified

I always feel that no one can quite master Bach, because... well, it's Bach. His music is somehow different; with romantic music, it's all about interpretation and there's more room for creativity. But with Bach... it either sounds right, or it doesn't. And only Bach can perform the hell out of his pieces.

That's why I was so worried last night. Although, I wasn't worried about being bad necessarily - I was worried about being worse than everyone else. I couldn't get to sleep last night at all because this was my first piano competition in 5 years. I woke up in the middle of the night, restless, and said to myself: Okay. Screw sleep, I'm going to get up now. And then I decided this wasn't such a brilliant plan, because the clock kindly informed me that it was only 3 am.

I'm also amazed how competition can bring out one's true nature. As we all sat down, one girl started asking everyone what they were playing. Then, this conversation happened:

Annoying girl: (to the girl who is to play last) You know, you're lucky to be going last, because then you can see how everyone else played and play better than them.

me: Er... how? What if you're just not good enough?

Annoying girl: ...well then, you SUCK.

me: *thinking* who shoved a stick up your ass?

*facepalm* FYI: you're not going to magically perform better by being the last to play.

Of course, I'm quite happy with second place, considering the girl who won was in university and only beat me by 1%. :) Maybe next year.

Maybe. :)

Have you had any experiences with competitions, if so, how nervous were you?