Tips for Being an Effective UIL Concert Judge

By Mark McGahey, TMAA Concert Band Vice President | Friday, March 30, 2012 9:21 AM

We are well underway with UIL Concert and Sightreading Contests across Texas. For those who will be participating as adjudicators soon, here are a few things to keep in mind:

Tip #1 - Write in a succinct, concise manner. Get to the point; complete sentences are OK, but not necessary. You can use blurbs or bullet points to set apart the most important information. 

Tip #2 - Make sure the critique matches the rating. All of us have been a part of performances where, when reading the sheet, there were lots of glowing remarks and then the rating listed was a division lower than the words right above. Make sure the majority of descriptive words (all, most, some, few, and none) match the appropriate boxes of the UIL Concert or Sightreading Rubrics.

Tip #3 - Find an effective way to use the plus and minus descriptors under Tone Quality, Technique and Musicianship. One approach could be only circling the topics that stood out one way or another. This will show maybe a common set of symptoms that led to your decision and by not circling each of them this shows that they were present but a non-factor in your decision.

Tip #4 - Be familiar with the new literature that is now listed and being performed on the PML. Pender’s Music (www.penders.com ) has an interactive PDF of the newest additions to the PML. This is a great feature that has all of the new compositions listed together by classification, you can click on almost all of them to hear an mp3 and a score excerpt of that selection.

Tip #5 – Be familiar with the newest rule in the Sightreading Room.  There is a new rule that allows the director of the group (and no other directors) to have a three minute score study time.  Be sure to familiarize yourself with the procedures that will be utilized to accommodate the study period at each contest you judge

To quote Stephen Covey in his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: “Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw.” Be rested, energized and have your skills honed to be an effective adjudicator as you welcome great musicians to our stages and bandhalls across the state of Texas. Let the music begin!