SBBA Passport to Adjudication
THE Scottish Brass Band Association (SBBA) is delighted to announce the establishment of the SBBA Passport to Adjudication programme.
Members of the SBBA executive committee voted unanimously in favour of embracing the scheme following a presentation by Nigel Durno, Bruce Fraser and John Mabon, who all have considerable experience of working with the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) and were responsible for the development of the Passport to Adjudication.
Taking effect from the 2016 Scottish Regional Championships, the innovative programme is designed primarily to provide bands and conductors with an unprecedented amount of evidence detailing how each adjudication has been arrived at, and secondly to widen the pool of adjudicators, equipping them with the skills and experience necessary to judge in events across the country and beyond.
The criteria-based system involves using a booklet which requires two adjudicators to reflect on every aspect of a band's performance under a series of headings including tuning and sound quality, tightness of the ensemble, rhythmic accuracy, dynamic content, articulation, the musicality of the performance and the quality of the soloists. Under each heading, judges choose from a wide spectrum of quality indicators to show the extent to which a band's performance did or did not satisfactorily meet the necessary criteria, ticking the appropriate boxes.
There is also space in the booklet for adjudicators to write any additional comments they may feel beneficial.
To determine the score received by a band, the two adjudicators' marks are added together and divided by two. That figure is added to 120 to give a score out of 200.
As part of the SBBA Passport to Adjudication programme, competing bands will also receive one quality stereo recording of their performances with a voiceover adjudication to offer detailed, insightful and real-time feedback on bands' performances.
To ensure adjudicators are comfortable with the scheme well in advance, they will take part in a training event prior to the Scottish Championships. For 2016, the adjudicators for the Scottish Championships have already been booked and as such, the adjudicators responsible for the fourth section will be asked to attend the course. In future years, it is expected that the adjudicators for sections using the Passport to Adjudication programme will be chosen from those who have taken part in the training day. The event will enable participants the chance to become comfortable with all aspects of the adjudication booklet and the voiceover adjudication process, after which they will receive an award to say they have completed the SBBA Passport to Adjudication programme.
The fourth section will make use of the new system in 2016 while it is anticipated that it will be used for the third section in 2017 and the second section in 2018.
Nigel Durno, who helped develop the Passport to Adjudication, commented: "With little or no change to the system of adjudication used in brass band contests during the past 100 years, a change that brings about greater transparency and a more objective approach to our system of adjudication is long overdue. Applications are invited from suitably qualified people (brass band conductors and instrumental teachers) to attend the training day in January 2016. The training day will be unique in that delegates will learn to use the new system working with scores and recorded live performances of the 2016 forth section test piece - what better preparation can there be for adjudication?
"The SBBA Passport to Adjudication team has developed versions of the system that are appropriate for solo and quartet contests, entertainment contests as well as the traditional set test piece based competition.
"Performers get a very detailed snapshot of how their performances unfolded on the day. With the yearly step by step delivery of the SBBA Passport to Adjudication combined with annual reviews, it is anticipated that this new system will rapidly gain widespread acceptance across the whole brass band world for the foreseeable future."
Carrie Boax, SBBA president, said: "SBBA is delighted to announce the exciting Passport to Adjudication programme, which I firmly believe will offer bands the chance to receive invaluable comments to help develop and improve performances.
"SBBA already supports voiceover adjudication and I am proud we are giving bands the opportunity to benefit from constructive, immediate feedback which pinpoints precisely the aspects of a performance which excelled and suggests areas of improvement while that performance is being listened to.
"SBBA is also keen to provide training opportunities for its members and we aim to produce a strong pool of adjudicators from the Passport to Adjudication programme. As we strive to be even more transparent with the invaluable input from Nigel Durno, Bruce Fraser and John Mabon (all of whom have a wealth of brass and education experience) we believe this innovative adjudication process will be welcomed by brass bands in Scotland who are always keen to receive quality, written feedback and hear their actual performances analysed.
"The Passport to Adjudication promises to make the contest experience better for everyone involved."
