Music Competition - Adjudicating
Andy Seagroatt
local folk festival (feel quite honoured) and I thought it might be a
good thread for this newsgroup. I have my own ideas on criteria that I
should use but would be interested in other peoples thoughts. Some
topics might be:
How do you judge:
Children competing against adults
Entertainment versus competence
Hard tunes played not so well against easy tunes played well
Difficult instruments compared to easy instruments
What is the point of competitions.
I'm deliberately not giving my opinions because I don't want to
pre-empt anything right away.
--
Andy Seagroatt, Newcastle Upon Tyne, England
Fiddle and mandolin player
Cliff Moses
>From: an...@a-seag.demon.co.uk (Andy Seagroatt)
>Subject: Music Competition - Adjudicating
>Date: Wed, 28 Jun 1995 19:02:50 GMT
>Fiddle and mandolin player
I have some thoughts on your question, having competed in "miscellaneous
instrument" competitions in the Midwest Regional Fleadh in the US and the
Fleadh Cheoil na h'Eireann in Ireland and having adjudicated "instrumental
group" competitions, but I wonder if you could provide some more information.
Is this a Fleadh? Is this an isolated competition or a qualifying
competition, i.e. leading to a higher level. The Irish music competitions are
broken up into 4 age groups; is this the case here or is everyone lumped
together?
If this is a regional qualifying Fleadh for the All-Ireland, then there are
some definite points you must consider. Because the instruments will be
different from one another and they are not the main traditional instruments,
the primary consideration becomes whether the competitor is playing the music
in a traditional style: if two players are both very competant, but one
depends more on chords and backup rhythms such as on an octave mandolin, while
the other emphasizes the melody and derives the rhythm from the style of
playing and incorporporates good ornamentation, the latter is the better
traditional musician and should be judged higher. Tradition style over
entertainment; traditional style over classical style. As a general
comment for adjudicating a Regional Fleadh, if none of the competitors are
playing in a traditional style or at a sufficiently high level, the
adjudicator is not bound to give a first or second place award. The overall
purpose of the Fleadhs is to encourage the education of young people in
playing Irish traditional music in a traditional manner; it is a good thing to
provide positive, constructive criticism in your evaluations. Some
adjudicators will state, before announcing the winners, what his/her criteria
was, i.e., what was looked for. Lis Carroll is one of the best adjudicators I
have ever seen for young people. She gives special attention to every
competitor and finds something to encourage and something to develop. An easy
tune played well is better than a hard tune played poorly; in between is your
call. Also, it is better to play a tune somewhat slower and maintain good
ornamentation and lilt than to play faster and begin to lose it. Also, for
the Fleadhs, there is an adjudicators guide which you should be able to get a
copy of from the local Comhaltus Branch that asked you to adjudicate.
Lots of ignition points here for flames.
Cliff
*****************************************************************************
* Cliff Moses * *
* Southwest Research Institute * *
* voice : (210)522-2370 * *
* email : cmo...@swri.edu * *
*****************************************************************************
George Hawes
>>I've been asked to judge the miscellaneous instrument competition at a
>>local folk festival (feel quite honoured) and I thought it might be a
>>good thread for this newsgroup.
<cut>
And Cliff Moses responded (much cut):
>Is this a Fleadh? Is this an isolated competition or a qualifying
>competition, i.e. leading to a higher level.
Given that what you're judging appears unlikely to be a Fleadh, I suggest his
comments on the importance of "traditional style" are not relevant; apart
from that I would strongly concur with most of what he says, especially:
>Lis Carroll is one of the best adjudicators I
>have ever seen for young people. She gives special attention to every
>competitor and finds something to encourage and something to develop. An easy
>tune played well is better than a hard tune played poorly
I suggest you can only judge by your reaction to each piece you hear - I
suggest equally important ar its feel of "life" and its musicality. Sadly you
can give little credit (in rank order terms) to a piece which, on the day,
proves a little too difficult for the performer - at the same time you should
not give too high an apraisal of a piece which you feel is not stretching the
performer at all.
It has been said (often) "never appear with children or animals"; I would say
even more "never attempt to judge children or animals" (they have parents/
owners) - you're a brave man, good luck!
George Hawes
Cambridge UK
migoya
>
>I've been asked to judge the miscellaneous instrument competition at a
>local folk festival (feel quite honoured) and I thought it might be a
>should use but would be interested in other peoples thoughts. Some
>topics might be:
>
>How do you judge:
> Children competing against adults
> Entertainment versus competence
> Hard tunes played not so well against easy tunes played well
> Difficult instruments compared to easy instruments
>
>What is the point of competitions.
>
>I'm deliberately not giving my opinions because I don't want to
>pre-empt anything right away.
>--
>Andy Seagroatt, Newcastle Upon Tyne, England
>
>Fiddle and mandolin player
>
*never, ever* an easy task! In this category you are to judge, it should
be your own feeling of importance that should rule. IOW, whether it will
be competence and technique over entertainment factor, difficulty of
selection over impressiveness of variations, fluidity over challenging
attempt.
Although there are cases (several!) of children outplaying adults, the
rule should be to present constructive criticisms to children, letting
them know what they should concentrate on and what the adults have by
way of experience that they may not.
While someone who attempts a difficult tune should be given some credit
for the job, in no way should that outdo someone who presents an easy
tune with grace, style and fluidity. Look for spirit, not so much
technical skills. A machine can produce a car but only the human hand
can produce a Rolls. As such, a computer can play the flute, but only
Molloy can give it emotion.
/s/ Dave
Jay Cummings
[snip, he will be a judge in a music competition with various instr.]
: How do you judge:
: Children competing against adults
: Entertainment versus competence
: Hard tunes played not so well against easy tunes played well
: Difficult instruments compared to easy instruments
: What is the point of competitions.
Whatever the criteria are, they should be explained to the
competitors well in advance of the competition, especially
the entertainment vs. competence one.
I think that you are judging the artistry in a competition,
so the inherent difficulty of an instrument should not come
into it. Artistry takes just as much time and effort with
bagpipes as with fiddle, though pipes are simpler musically
and more difficult physically.
The point(s) of competition, IMHO, are to encourage individuals
to better their performing skills, to give visibility to the
activity to, and to entertain the general public, to increase
participation in the activity, and to have a good time and
maybe win a prize. I noticed that competitions of various
sorts at highland games in Scotland were much more oriented
toward applauding and rewarding the winners than in the US,
where participation seems to be the main emphasis.
Over here, we would always have separate classes of competition
for adults and children. And/or we would possibly have several
self-selected levels of competency, though only the top level
would get any monetary prize.
I lean towards entertainment being more heavily weighted,
because that is what I'm good at. But most competitions
are weighted more toward competence than showmanship. And
being music competitions, not theater, I suppose that's fair.
Choice of tune is tough. It takes a lot to perform or to
appreciate the artistry in a simpler tune. Some people
might pick the hardest one they can manage to show off.
I presume that you are good enough to hear the artistry
in a slow air as opposed to that in a reel set. So I think
that's what you should try to judge. It is also hard to
appreciate what artistry there is if the instrument is
just a bit out of tune, or the fingers fumble a bit. But
you either have to make everybody play the same tune
or let them choose. So it is their problem.
Good luck.
Katherine A. Rickett
Saturday. We had 2 competetors. With such a poor turnout, the
competition is in jepardy. This is the 2d year that it has
been this poor.
Having exhausted all the marketing ideas I can come up with, I
am thinking about opening it up to other instruments. For me,
the purpose of the competition is to keep the style alive. I
was thinking of requiring the same pieces, ie, Air, and March,
Strathspey, Reel set. I have a talked to a judge who is
willing to work with me. Please let me know how your event
turns out.
I would also like to hear from others who have run or competed
in this type of competition.
Katherine Rickett
kric...@leo.vsla.edu
.
--
Katherine Rickett Voice (804) 482-6126
Health Sciences Library Fax (804) 482-6217
Chesapeake General Hospital Email kric...@leo.vsla.edu
Chesapeake, VA
Andy Seagroatt
interesting and valuable especially Christine Ramsay who mailed me
with:
> You could just decide to have different categories, and add up
> points on each...familiarity with instrument, tone, technique,
> musicality, showmanship, overall performance,
> etc.
Sort of summed up my thinking except I would include audience reaction
as another category to consider. I have adjudicated this competition
once before and this was the method and more or less the categories
that I used then.
To answer another question, the competition is a low key local event
not leading to anything. The responsibility of judging an intensively
competitive event like a Fleadh would be quite intimidating I think. I
would be very interested seeing the guide for judging Fleadhs.
Although I have reservations about the subject, I do appreciate that
children especially seem to thrive on competitions and it certainly
gives them something to strive for. There is a danger though that the
competition becomes the be all and end all, it is after all, the
playing and the music which is most important. And competitions can be
very rewarding for the audience too, I'll never forget the All Britain
Fleadh I was at when Martin Byrnes came 1st and Kevin Burke and the
late Des Donnelly joint 2nd in the fiddle competition.
And yes, I have competed myself. I won the All Ireland Miscellaneous
Instrument competition in 1969 when I was 19. Mind you, that was back
when it was quite a low key event compared to these days.
Howard Chu
George Hawes <geo...@acorntes.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>In article <8043661...@imp.demon.co.uk> an...@a-seag.demon.co.uk (Andy
>Seagroatt) wrote:
>>>local folk festival (feel quite honoured) and I thought it might be a
>>>good thread for this newsgroup.
>I suggest you can only judge by your reaction to each piece you hear - I
>suggest equally important ar its feel of "life" and its musicality. Sadly you
>can give little credit (in rank order terms) to a piece which, on the day,
>proves a little too difficult for the performer - at the same time you should
>not give too high an apraisal of a piece which you feel is not stretching the
>performer at all.
>It has been said (often) "never appear with children or animals"; I would say
>even more "never attempt to judge children or animals" (they have parents/
>owners) - you're a brave man, good luck!
Having just been in a fiddle competition, and taking 3rd place, I guess the
other side of the coin is - don't discount the children either. I'm a little
bummed out that the 1st prize went to someone a third my height and probably
a quarter my age, and the 2nd prize went to another person probably half my
height and age, but I watched that kid play, and honestly believe that he
played far better than I. I also let my nerves get the best of me, and started
my tune much faster than I deserved to be playing ... So it goes.
(What the hell, it was a bluegrass fiddle contest, and I got a prize for
playing Irish, and got complimented on my old-timey sound. Can't complain much
there, and I can always tell myself I beat all the other adults... }-)
My teacher had already advised me - play slow enough to get all the "good stuff"
in - ornamentation and variations. I blew that advice, my own fault. But it's
clear that the expectation is to do a good job with whatever tune you selected.
If the player chose a difficult tune and wasn't up to it, then the prize
belongs somewhere else...
--
Howard Chu Principal Member of Technical Staff
h...@locus.com Locus Computing Corporation