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DIRECTLY FOR YOUR BROWSING
Your CMEA Bay Section Special Representative for Adjudication is Orrin Cross III.
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Orrin Cross III 5172 Olive Drive Concord, CA 94521 E-mail: occ3@comcast.net |
DIRECTLY FOR YOUR BROWSING
Your CMEA Bay Section Special Representative for Adjudication is Orrin Cross III.
|
Orrin Cross III 5172 Olive Drive Concord, CA 94521 E-mail: occ3@comcast.net |
Adjudication, by its very nature, is always highly suspect. Whether it is a Supreme Court decision on a controversial topic, a referee’s invoking that “tuck rule” on a snowy football field in New England (Raider’s fans will remember this one), or an adjudicator awarding a rating to a young musical group at a festival, the final decision is always open to criticism. Those of us who take our groups to various music festivals know that they vary greatly in quality, difficulty and reliability. Some festivals pretty much require only that you show up, to receive a high rating. Some are designed to justify to parents and school officials the reason for taking groups on trips. Some are so critical that directors and students have no desire to ever return to them again. Some are designed to evaluate a group’s performance in a kind, yet educational, manner. I hope the Bay Section, CMEA qualifies for the latter example.
Other CMEA sections and private festivals have selected to use many of the Bay Section’s festival and adjudication processes. We take pride in the fact that our performance criteria and adjudication forms are often used throughout the West Coast. Remember the old adage, to copy is to compliment!
For the past decade we have spent considerable time evaluating our festivals. We have compared what we do to other festivals, written new and specific performance criteria, devised new adjudication sheets for all groups, trained and evaluated our adjudicators, held workshops to improver what we do and encouraged feed-back from directors. The process is continuous and constantly evolving. All prospective adjudicators must go through an apprenticeship with a respected Bay Section adjudication mentor in each area they wish to adjudicate. This is required of everyone wishing to become an adjudicator in the Bay Section, regardless of previous experience, position or reputation. This is required to ensure that all of our adjudicators approach our festivals from the same position – a desire for the most consistent product possible. The training is in the Bay Section process of adjudication. It is essential.
All Bay Section adjudicators must attend a workshop a minimum of once every two years. This usually is held during the Bay Section conference, in January. The workshops cover different subjects each year and again, are designed to make what we do consistent and at the highest level possible. Most adjudicators attend the workshops every year, even though it is not a requirement.
Directors are requested to complete adjudication rating forms after each festival. Unfortunately, very few take the time to do this. The forms received are usually only from directors upset about something, but don’t give detailed enough information to be of value to anyone. We need these forms for every adjudicator from every festival; good, bad or indifferent. Take the time to be specific and detailed. You may outline something very important that the subject adjudicator was not aware of. These evaluations are given to each adjudicator for their perusal at the end of each school year. Starting in the 2008 festival season, these forms will be on our website and will be interactive, which means you will be able to complete the evaluation on line and send them in with a minimum of time and effort involved.
Finally, the Adjudication Director makes a presentation to the Bay Section Executive Board on the status of all adjudicators at the end of each festival season. This includes assignments completed, a summary of directors’ evaluations, Head Adjudicator evaluations, attendance at required workshops and any other pertinent information. Apprentice Mentor evaluations are read and discussed. At this time the Executive Board makes recommendations on all adjudicators. This may be highly positive for their continuance as an adjudicator, may request further training or could possibly call for their removal from the list of adjudicators.
We encourage everyone involved in the Bay Section to give input to our adjudication process and adjudicators. Our sole purpose is to serve you and your students. Help us to make the Bay Section the leader in music adjudication.
Orrin Cross III
Adjudication Representative
The singular most important part of having a successful festival experience is the selection of the music to be performed. Many fine young musical organizations have had unpleasant experiences at festivals due to this problem. I believe I speak for the majority of adjudicators when I say this. Let’s take a few minutes and explore this subject.
The music to be performed must be “art” music, according to our handbook. What is “art” music? Better, we might ask what isn’t “art” music? So called “pop” music doesn’t qualify, that we know. The problem lies in the gray areas such as using selections from Broadway musicals. Music from “The Lion King” wouldn’t be acceptable, but the Overture from “Candide” would be fine. Vaughan Williams’ “Fantasia on Greensleeves” is a go whereas, John Lennon’s “Imagine” is questionable. Avoid rock charts for all groups. The rule of thumb here is: if in doubt about a composition, don’t play it! I know this whole subject is argumentative, but why push the envelope? Save that “cute” piece for a home concert for the Mom’s and Dad’s.
Next — select music that proves that the group can play in a variety of periods, styles, and tempi. Avoid spending your entire performance time playing a single piece, works from the same composer, and/or music from the same period. Demonstrate the versatility of the group within the short time you are permitted. Don’t feel the need to play everything in your folder. Selecting music that is ideal for your students takes some time and thought. We always want to challenge our groups with difficult music, but many directors pick music beyond the technical proficiency of their musicians. A group might not perform as well at a festival due to nerves (directors, too). Be sure to select music into your ensemble’s strengths, not weaknesses. “American Overture for Band” just doesn’t work if you don’t have a powerhouse French horn section. A weak trombone section in your jazz ensemble shouldn’t be featured in a difficult soli section. The second movement of Dvorak’s “Symphony No. 5” just doesn’t work for your orchestra without a decent English horn player. Singing in French can be dangerous if the director has difficulty pronouncing the language.
Not being a purest, you will find no opposition from me for substituting instruments or voices in ensemble work. It’s OK to use baritone saxes in jazz trombone section parts, alto saxes to help out the French horn section (thank goodness for saxes), third violins to replace violas, and altos to help cover the tenor part if there are none, when that’s all you can do. Just don’t feature them.
I have one BIG request to consider. Please, use only one on a part in jazz festivals (that’s the way the music was written). We don’t require this, but it just makes good sense. Let players filter in and out on different charts so everyone gets a chance to perform. Have those not playing at the time sit in chairs off to the side, but onstage. Finally, in selecting your music, place the emphasis on the ensemble. Don’t play a concerto grosso featuring your great principal violinist, nor a jazz ballad featuring that wonderful trumpet player with the ensemble as merely the accompaniment. Many times the question arises regarding the playing of original works verses transcriptions or arrangements. If it is a good composition it doesn’t make any difference. After all “Pictures at an Exhibition” wasn’t written for orchestra originally, but it is heard more that way than for piano. Also, a nice mixture of standard literature and contemporary compositions displays the breadth of a musical organization. Dig in to that old file cabinet now and then and pull out an “old warhorse,” but also be sure to get out to hear performances of new works.
Sight-read daily. When you have played everything you own, temporarily swap libraries with a colleague to have different music to play. Remember, nothing has more influence on your festival experience than the selection of the music (although rehearsal does help!). Think of the categories of evaluation in our festivals. Quality of sound, technique, musicality, and all other factors are directly influenced by the music performed. You can’t play something musically if you can’t cut it technically. You can’t play with great sound if the music is out of your range. Give your young musicians every opportunity to succeed in festivals — select your music with care.
An individual or group may receive disqualifi cation or the lowering of a final rating as a result of not following the festival rules and regulations as outlined in the CMEA Bay Section Handbook. These penalties will be assessed by the Head Adjudicator for Large Group Festivals and the involved adjudicator for Solo and Ensemble Festivals, and are not negotiable.
Disqualification from receiving a rating (individuals or groups may perform for "Comments Only")
Required Lowering of each final rating by one grade by each adjudicator
Other Notes
Under no circumstances may ratings be changed by anyone once the ratings are publicly posted.
by Orrin C. Cross III
Everyone wants his or her performance group to do well at a festival. This is a time when our peers evaluate our musical organizations; therefore, it is a time when the results of our teaching are exposed to all. The purpose of this article is to outline some of the dos and don't in festivals. In discussion with countless adjudicators during the years a consensus of ideas has come forth. Some are objective and apply to every type of performance group. Some are more subjective as a result of the nature of music as an art form and are therefore not "written in stone". Finally, there are some subliminal things, which can effect performance evaluation. These are often the difference between one scoring level and another.
The following outline is meant to be of assistance to a director in preparing for a festival. It can be used as a check-off list, a reminder or perhaps just a constant irritation. If it helps use it. We will discuss many of the below ideas, not always agreeing, but certainly learning.
(If you have a break-down, or are lost, see below)
After reviewing the items above, much of what has been discussed falls into the category of planning and execution from the first day of the school year until the festival. There were no surprises. We didn't get into the details of what is specifically judged (tone reproduction, intonation, attack and release, dynamics, etc.) That is an assumed. With all of the items listed above taken care of, directors can then concentrate on the musicality of their groups.
CMEA adjudication forms are now available from this site in Adobe Acrobat pdf files. When you click on the form, it will automatically open through your web browser if you have the plug-in or download onto your computer. The files can be read and printed on Mac OS and Windows computers through a free application called Adobe Acrobat Reader. This comes bundled with many software applications already, or you can download it from the Adobe web site. You can download copies of the approved festival adjudication forms and the judges' rubric for performance standards on stage and in sightreading.
How To Use An Interactive Form: An interactive form can be completed right on your computer. After you download the form, it will open in Acrobat Reader or on your web browser. Drag your mouse to the place where you would normally start writing text. Your mouse will turn in to the I (insert) cursor, and you can begin to type the information. If you have a professional version of Acrobat, make sure that you have selected the hand tool before starting. Some web browsers will show you where the interactive fields are by checking the "highlight fields" checkbox. If there are radio button to select, click on the correct response (usually Yes or No). When you have completed the report you can print it on your computer. You will not be able to save the information unless you have a professional version of Acrobat, so be sure to print before you close the form.
