Adjudication Comments - Now What?

As I write this QuickNote, I hope it finds you flying on a high from another successful contest season. I was able to listen to a number of bands in my service area last week and heard some amazing performances. I am sure my fellow Educational Service Representatives will echo my thoughts from their service areas as well!

 

Now that the contest season is over, what do we do with all of that feedback we received from (what we hoped were) knowledgeable adjudicators for all our band performances, orchestra performances, small ensemble performances, and solo performances? It does take a bit of time, but we can use this information to build a very useful snapshot of our program.

 

The first thing you have to do is put some space between your performance and your analysis of your adjudication comments. You really cannot be objective when you read the comments in the heat of the rating or score being posted. Too many emotions, both good and bad, influence your true objectivity toward those comments. I am not saying don’t read them, because you want to know right away what was awesome and what the issues were.

 

Many times when I read the comments within an hour of the performance and ratings being posted, I just mumbled, “That’s not right,” “I didn’t hear it that way,” or “They completely misread my interpretation!” I simply wasn’t in a good headspace to absorb what the comments were truly saying. When I went back to those same adjudication sheets the next day or a few days after, I generally agreed with those comments and could easily process the true meaning of what was being said.

 

Now, this is where you can take all of those adjudication sheets and start to analyze the comments and scores. Grab a notepad and start writing down the main points about all of the performances. Start with just one. Don’t worry about the music-specific comments, like “watch the Concert Ab trombones at measure 63” or “we missed that slow down completely at the end of the slow section.”

 

Focus on the general comments. Write down items like, “Well-played dynamics and great dynamic contrast,” “The clarinet tone could be much fuller and darker throughout,” “Percussion is too heavy throughout,” or “Work on using crescendos and decrescendos to enhance your phrasing.”

 

Now, move to the next set of comments and make a tally mark by the comments that were repeated and add additional comments as needed. Do this with every adjudication sheet, whether it is a band, orchestra, ensemble, or solo sheet. As you do this, you will start to see the strengths of your teaching and areas that you might need to concentrate on more with both your large groups and your individual students. I would guess that if your large groups have tone production problems, your small ensembles and soloists do as well.

 

From this, you can start to build a comprehensive improvement plan (ooh, did I just say those words?) for your program for next year. Don’t plan on fixing everything; rather, find an area or two that you really want to concentrate on with all your groups and performers in the coming year. Do you want to focus on tone production, phrasing, or balance? Now, over the summer, you can make a plan of attack to improve on those one or two areas.

 

I know that the end of the year has so many obligations for you and your program. Spring concerts, senior recognition, graduation, summer repair, fundraisers, camp dates, and so on; the list is endless. So, if you need to, put this adjudication analysis off until the start of summer break when you can give it your full attention. This will also allow you to find sessions at your summer workshops and in-service opportunities to help you improve your teaching in those focus areas and find ways to really help your students improve.

 

You can also begin to select repertoire that will allow you to again focus on those areas of improvement. This will give your upcoming year some purpose rather than just going through another year and getting the same comments again.

 

Congratulations to all for surviving and hopefully thriving during another contest season. To those who met all of their contest season goals, well done! If your contest season didn’t go as well as you hoped, please take a moment to reflect on your journey through this season. Picture where you started back in January, look at the obstacles you have overcome, and be extremely proud of the progress you made, even though the outcome may not have met your expectations.

 

Please remember, this adjudicator or set of adjudicators is only seeing a seven to fifteen-minute snapshot of your program. They don’t have a clue what you have endured to get to this point of your year. They don’t know that your lone tuba player was playing baritone five weeks ago and made the change to help the ensemble.

 

They don't know that due to spring sporting events, you have seen your students only three times as an entire group since spring break, or that a parent ran over your first-chair flute player’s instrument in the driveway, and they are playing on a loaner that isn't near the quality of their own. They are only seeing that quick snapshot with absolutely no background knowledge.

 

So, if you made it to the end of contest season with some sizable improvement and overcame some big hurdles, regardless of your rating or score, it was a success! Pat your students on the back, pat your parents on the back, and pat yourself on the back for a job well done!