MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF TMAA
Teaching through Adjudicating

TMAA Members,

Here’s wishing you a joyous and prosperous New Year! Thank you for taking the time to read this newsletter, which serves as our annual TMAA business meeting. Our Executive Secretary, Greg Countryman, does an outstanding job of keeping the organization running on a day-to-day basis. He’s compiled lots of valuable information for you in this newsletter.

I’ve recently been reflecting on our unique and important role as music adjudicators and how it fittingly corresponds to our own teaching-conducting roles. As an adjudicator, offering constructive feedback to improve a group’s future performance defines our primary purpose. The very same can be said of our essential purpose as teacher-conductors. Therefore, we teach when we adjudicate. We employ the same processes for the same ends: to improve musical performances.

As an adjudicator, however, the audience differs. Rather than the musicians we may conduct, the educators whose ensembles we are evaluating become our audience. Although we write our comments in a professional manner to be read by the students, their parents, and the school’s administration, let’s be clear about who the intended recipient of our constructive feedback really is—the ensemble’s conductor. Only conductors can move their ensembles forward toward greater levels of artistry. It is the conductors’ practices that we hope to influence through our evaluative comments.

To influence those we adjudicate, we must write comments that TEACH conductors something new and MOTIVE them to reflect upon and change their current practices. To teach and motivate, we employ the same assessment processes that we use when conducting our own ensembles: recognition, diagnosis, and prescription. Let’s examine each of these processes.

Recognition happens when one compares an ensemble’s performance to the aural image that exists in one’s mind—which is derived from the musical score—and then finds something lacking. With our own groups, we spend hours engaged in score study to develop a comprehensive aural image of the works we are conducting. When adjudicating, we must read the score on the spot and instantly derive an aural image. I’m sure you’ve noticed how much easier it is to evaluate a work that you’ve previously rehearsed or conducted; you already possess an aural image. Conversely, we find it challenging to evaluate a complex new work we’ve never heard; it takes a great deal of musicianship to read a score, simultaneously generate an aural image, and then compare that aural image to the live performance.

As adjudicators, how can we improve our skills at developing an aural image “on the fly”? By reading lots of scores. H. Robert Reynolds calls the initial perusal of a musical score the “leaf through.” One can quickly identify key structures, thematic material, formal elements, and part-scoring by performing a leaf through. At UIL concert/sightreading evaluations, you can leaf through unfamiliar scores between groups when time permits. Then, you will have a cursory aural image to assist you in adjudicating balancing responsibilities, as well as technical and expressive elements.

Once you’ve identified musical elements—either tonal, technical, or expressive—that are missing from your aural image, you must make a
diagnosis of the discrepancy’s cause. Here’s where we must heed that “tickle” in the back of our brains when we hear something that just doesn’t sound quite right. Unfortunately, we can’t rewind and re-listen during a live performance. With experience, though, we can improve our ability to quickly identify weaknesses and pinpoint their causes. When writing your constructive comments, the diagnosis becomes your entry point. “I noticed that the ensemble did not perform...”

The final step in the assessment process entails providing a detailed
prescription to address the diagnosed discrepancy. A diagnosis without a prescription will not alter the conductor’s practices. If one goes to the doctor with a physical complaint, a medical diagnosis without a concomitant prescription will only cause aggravation. As adjudicators, let’s not commit musical malpractice by withholding the prescription. To address the diagnosis, offer a prescription—or two—to remedy the problem: “...in the future, try...” “...to address this, ask the ensemble to...” Here’s an oversimplified example: “I noticed that the melody occasionally gets covered up by other textural lines. Guarantee the melodic material always can be heard by asking the students to mark in their music and defer to whom they should balance in each phrase.”

The next time you’re invited to adjudicate, think about the recognition-diagnosis-prescription processes when assessing ensembles. Ensure every comment you write on the adjudication sheet or record onto an audio file contains a clear diagnosis and an applicable prescription. Most importantly, remember that you’re a teacher first and foremost. Teach and motivate the conductors you evaluate by offering relevant feedback that can be readily implemented.

In closing, I want to thank our talented TMAA board for their dedicated service to our profession: Jeff Bradford (Past-President), Craig Needham (President-Elect), Mike Howard (Concert Band VP), Melissa Livings (Orchestra VP), Kay Owens (Vocal VP), Gerry Miller (Marching Band VP), Ruben Adame (Mariachi VP), Dr. Brad Kent (UIL ex-officio), Gabe Musella (UIL ex-officio), Jerry Babbitt (UIL ex-officio), and Greg Countryman (Executive Secretary). These amazing servant-leaders make TMAA the respected organization it is, not only in Texas but also around the nation.

I wish you a successful spring semester as you transform students’ lives through the pursuit of musical excellence!

Regards,

Jim Drew
TMAA President