The Case For Contest

March 1st in my Classroom means District Contest is around the corner.  Our organization, the Ohio Music Educators Association, officially calls it an Adjudicated Event.  Competitions and Contests tend to be a polarizing issue in music education.  Much like dance competitions, figure skating, and dog shows, they involve subjective opinions.  This is my 13th year taking all of my choirs to an adjudicated event.  Contest makes me nervous every year, and that is a good thing.   

• Standards-Based Assessment and Quality Literature

The OMEA Adjudicated Event form asks the judges to respond to the following standards:

Tone Quality
Breath Support
Blend
Balance
Intonation
Interpretation
Tempo
Phrasing
Expression
Style
Dynamic Level
Technique
Note Accuracy
Rhythmic Accuracy
Articulation
Diction
Facility
Precision
Posture

A Committee of teachers chooses a list of choral literature for the event each year.  This exposes directors and students to quality literature that stretches their depth of knowledge.

Ensembles have to execute all of the technical and expressive aspects of the music that are on the page and then create things that aren't on the page to show musicality and mastery.     

• Feedback from Master Teachers

One reason that I feel strongly that the contest experience is valuable is that your ensemble receives honest constructive feedback for improvement from master teachers.  The judges are carefully selected, well seasoned, and have proven track records in the same event.

Students need feedback from others than YOU.  So often a judge will share a comment with our students that I have said several times, but hearing it from someone else gives them the "a ha" moment of learning.  If you are teaching well, the judge will simply confirm what you've been saying all along. If there are areas for improvement from a teaching perspective, you will hear that as well.  No matter what the outcome, students will learn.

If you aren't asking professionals for their honest feedback, how do you know where your ensembles are in their development process?  It is easy to become complacent and assume that what you are doing is right.  It takes courage to put your work out there for others to respond to.  Every 4-6 weeks we have a performance and put our class work on display for public consumption.  Twice a year we display it for expert consumption.

The exercise of taking ensembles to contest is professional development for teachers and directors. Asking for peer feedback on the teaching and learning that goes on in your classroom everyday is essential for growth.  

• Contest Defines your Purpose

The Disney Movie The Greatest Game Ever Played contains the line "There is golf, and then there is championship golf." It is one thing to prepare for home concerts where parents will smile and clap regardless of what you do, it is another thing for your performance to be measured against a set of accepted musical standards.

Sight-reading is authentic assessment.  There is a sight-reading component to our competition.  We will perform three selected pieces, some from a required list of approved literature, and then sing a selection that we have never seen.  The process of sight-reading requires a system and practice. Having to sight-read at contest gives us a purpose to begin with the end in mind.  There is an obvious and relevant purpose to what we are working on, none of it driven by an individual grade, but by a team assessment.  "When are we ever going to use this?"...right now. 

• School Representation and Pride 

There is a strong sense of school pride in all of our music programs at Gahanna Lincoln.  The students at Gahanna Lincoln are accustomed to success at contest, which could be challenged this year.  For the last decade, nine performing ensembles have routinely received superior ratings at the State Level competition.  On the other hand, you are only as good as your last concert and you have to strive to achieve more. 

There is no arguing that when students are engaged in activities that are successful, their confidence, academic achievement, and attendance increases.

Contest involves team-building, planning, and common goals.  When students come together with a purpose and a goal, they are ultra-engaged.  This isn't just for Mom and Dad, this is for all the marbles.  All students unequivocally want to feel good about the organization they are in, and universally want to do well.

When a new or veteran teacher is struggling with a new or stagnant music program, my first piece of advice is taking the students to a contest.  The deadline and standards require students to give their all, not ever concerned with what grade they will get in the class but rather with how the team does as a whole.  It is my opinion that all ensembles, from middle school to high school, should go to contest to develop their skills. 

No matter what the rating, significant learning will occur for the teacher and the students by receiving expert feedback.

As my colleague Dawn Fickel says:  Nothing Motivates Like Success