Two Recent Issues Need Clarification in Sight Reading Contests
By Richard Floyd | Monday, December 14, 2009 12:27 PM
Yep. Texas is a big state. Let’s face it. According to Mapquest, it is 820 miles from Texarkana to El Paso and an equally impressive 930 miles from Texline in the Panhandle to Brownsville in the Rio Grande Valley. That’s a lot of wide-open spaces, and at countless locations in this vastness, there will be UIL Concert and Sight-reading Music Contests this spring. And, it will be the hope that most, if not all, will be run consistently and with little confusion or misunderstanding. Of course, this is always the goal but perhaps not always the reality.
Two issues have surfaced dealing with band, choir and orchestra sight-reading that deserve our collective attention and commitment to a higher level of consistency from contest to contest. Executive Secretaries have asked me to address these issues in an effort to eliminate misunderstanding and confusion.
One has to do with who is allowed to be present in the sight-reading room while a particular group is sight-reading. In some regions this issue is carefully monitored while at other contest sites many directors and others come and go freely. There are reports of directors travelling to other regions where they are allowed to listen to multiple readings of the sight-reading music in the weeks prior to their own contest. In other regions, no one is allowed in the sight-reading room thus barring parents, school officials and chaperones from hearing their own students go through the sight-reading procedure. During the 2009 summer meeting of Executive Secretaries it was agreed that we would strive to develop a consistent policy, thus creating consistent expectations at all contests.
Therefore, each region Executive Secretary has been requested to adopt the following ground rule for all sight-reading contests in band, choir and orchestra.
ADMITTANCE TO THE SIGHT-READING ROOM WILL
BE LIMITED TO THE FOLLOWING:
* DIRECTOR(S) OF THE BAND BEING EVALUATED
* ADMINISTRATORS OF THE SCHOOL BEING EVALUATED
* MONITORS WORKING THE CONTEST
* JUDGES
* PARENTS OF THE STUDENTS IN THE PERFORMING GROUP BEING EVALUATED (WITH DIRECTOR’S PERMISSION)
OTHERS MUST HAVE PERMISSION OF THE CONTEST CHAIR OR EXECUTIVE SECRETARY
VIDEO AND/OR AUDIO RECORDING EQUIPMENT IS NOT PERMITTED IN SIGHT-READING ROOM
We are asking all contest administrators and directors to help us observe these ground rules and support our goal of achieving a higher level of consistency across the state.
The other area of confusion relates to the extra minute that has been allotted for sub-non-varsity groups during the discussion period. One could argue that the expectations are clearly stated in the Contest and Concert Rules, but there is apparently still misunderstanding and confusion regarding this single issue. The rules should be interpreted as follows:
BAND - Sub-non-varsity bands in all conferences and Conference C non-varsity bands may extend the summary explanation period one additional minute from 3:00 minutes to 4:00 minutes.
CHOIR – Sub-non-varsity choirs may extend the study and instruction period prior to the first reading by one minute. There is no extension of time prior to the second reading.
ORCHESTRA – Sub-non-varsity orchestras may extend the explanation period for their conference by one minute.
Contest chairs and executive secretaries will be asked to review these time allotments with sight-reading judges to provide assurance that the rule is being applied consistently across the state. In addition, directors of sub-non-varsity groups are urged to review these time allocations prior to the date of contest to ensure that there is no misunderstanding regarding when the extra minute can be used.
Certainly these expectations will require adjustments at some contest sites since we know there are “regional practices” that are inconsistent with these expectations. The UIL State Office and all region Executive Secretaries urge all directors to be observant of these expectations and help elevate the consistency and integrity of UIL music contests across the state.