On Thu, 13 Apr 2000, Trevor Allen wrote:
> I agree with Anne. Last year when I did my NATS
> audition, the judges wrote incessantly. I know that
> time is so limited and the comments I got were very
> helpful and encouraging. It was just very difficult
> to perform in such close proximity to people who had
> the look of someone not paying attention to me. I
> also know that the audition day is long and judges
> hear so many people and must give comments to each
> one, but being friendly is such a big help to the
> student auditioning. A smile would make the entire
> auditioning situation much more pleasant for everyone.
Dear Trevor and Vocalist:
This thread reminds me, there is no adjudicating class in college! We
aren't told what to do in this situation. We're just expected to know what
to do, I suppose. I remember my first adjudicating experience--pure panic!
I had no idea what to do. Do I look at the student and not write? Write
like a demon and not look up? What would make the student more or less
comfortable? Isn't it my job here to give them some useful feedback that
they can take home with them? How can I do that if I don't write? Some of
the singers (especially in high school contests) actually looked more
terrified if I even glanced in their general direction.
Now that I have more experience, I try to look up at the performer(s) at the
beginning of the song for sure, and then whenever else I get the
opportunity. I always try to observe and comment on posture, which I
couldn't do with my eyes closed.
What irritates me, as a teacher, is when my students get their adjudication
sheets back, with a score or ranking, and little to no explanation for how
the decision was arrived at. I want festivals and contests to be an
educational experience for them, and "good," "fine," "poor," "needs
improvement" just doesn't give us enough to go on.
Now, let me tell you my adjudicating horror story. This happened to me last
spring, and it involves a high school contest adjudicator in Iowa. You must
believe me when I say I'm not exaggerating this, ok?
At this contest (the district vocal music contest), I had noticed throughout
the day that there was a lot of drama and trauma associated with a
particular judge's center. Lots of students and teachers pow-wowing around
this center, lots of students crying, lots of contest administrators
stalking the halls, saying things into their walkie-talkies like "get your
hands on the rule book!" Finally I found out what was going on, when I went
in to accompany one of my students in this room. This girl was a high
school sophomore at the time.
She finished her first song, "O del mio dolce ardor." The judge smiled at
her and said, "ok, before you continue let's work on that." You should have
seen the look on her face--she wasn't expecting this and neither was I.
It's not permissible in Iowa; you're permitted to talk to the student
performers, or at the very most say something encouraging after the
performance is finished. Well, this man took that paragraph from the rule
book to mean "give a mini-master-class."
He quizzed her on the composer's markings ("what does a piacere mean?"),
grilled her on her posture, giving her a demonstration ("watch--see how I do
it"), and picked apart her Italian. I wouldn't characterize what he said
necessarily as cruel, but it was a little cutting and completely blunt. He
focused on everything he felt she had done wrong, and didn't give her any
feedback on what she had done well. Please believe me when I say that there
was plenty that she had done well! I am a doting teacher to some extent,
but I'm realistic in assessing their performances, too. She is a very
talented young girl, and had just sung extremely well for a high school
sophomore, yet here is this judge pointing out all her perceived flaws.
Furthermore, when she didn't remember what "a piacere" meant under this kind
of pressure, he asked "didn't your teacher tell you? At this point, she
shot me this panicked glance and mumbled "there's my teacher." He said to
me, "well do *you* know what it means?" "At the pleasure of the performer,"
I replied. "Well, you should have told her what it meant," he scolded me.
What all this was leading up to was that he wanted her to take more time on
one of the mini-cadenzas in "O del mio dolce ardor." Couldn't he have just
suggested that in writing? Or if he was going to suggest it, couldn't he
have said it in a nicer way? He seemed to be flogging her (and me) for not
having her sing it the way he heard it in his own head.
As this man worked with my student, with me, her teacher, in the room, I
could really see the fight-flight-or-freeze response working. My student
was just frozen to the spot, not wanting to appear uncooperative or surly.
So she just basically went with it, which I thought showed a lot of maturity
on her part.
So after being coached and corrected and scolded by this man, she had to
sing her second song! By this time we were running at least 10 minutes
behind schedule. After she sang her first song, he talked for at least 10
minutes! Those of you who have seen American high school contests know what
this means--scheduling disaster!
When my student was finished singing her second piece, do you know what this
man said? He turned to the parent/volunteer who was monitoring the room
(who was ostensibly there to man the stopwatch) and said, "now, did you
notice that her posture was much better on the second piece?" I'll never
forget the look on this woman's face--pure horror at being made an unwilling
co-conspirator in his antics.
When this travesty was mercifully over, my student, her mother, and I were
out in the hall dealing with the fall-out. As we were talking it over, and
complimenting my student on how gracefully she'd handled this, the contest
host went storming into the room. I heard every word she said: "Mr.
So-and-So, I have the rule book here. It clearly states that you are NOT to
coach students; you can say something encouraging to them or speak to them
after the performance is finished. You are NOT allowed to work with them
between the pieces. Your room is running terribly behind, and I must ask
you to stop coaching the students."
His response? "Well, the rule book doesn't say that I *can't* do this." An
absolute embarrassment. After I sorted all of this out, I actually ended up
feeling sorry for the man. Everyone was upset--the students were upset, the
teachers were upset, the parents were upset. Later in the day, this man
actually coached another of my high school sophomores, a tenor, to pull his
tongue back into this mouth on a high Ab! Can we say "NATS Code of Ethics?"
It was the darndest thing I'd ever seen at a high school contest. I somehow
think this man won't be back in that district ever again...
Stay tuned in another post for the lighter side of contest adjudication.
Cheers!
Jana
--
Jana Holzmeier
Dept. of Music
Nebraska Wesleyan University
5000 Saint Paul Ave.
Lincoln, NE 68504
jjh@n...
402-465-2284
Visit the Music Department website at http://music.nebrwesleyan.edu/
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