NFHS to Hold Adjudicator Seminar at Walt Disney World in Florida

By Emily Cerling

Three years in the making, the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) will unveil its music adjudicator seminar this spring at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. NFHS Assistant Director Kent Summers began the project because he believed adjudicators needed a consistent method to follow when judging performing groups.

Two weekend seminars - one held at the end of March and the other in April - will be used to better train adjudicators for both instrumental and choral groups.

Currently, no adjudicator seminars involve live performing groups. However, this conference will allow potential judges to witness live instrumental and choral productions. The seminar will be held in conjunction with Festival Disney, which runs for seven weeks in the spring. High school students from across the nation participate in the festival and are judged on their musical talents and abilities.

"When we got the idea to conduct this seminar, we thought Disney might be a great place to have it," Summers said.

Two guest clinicians will assist in facilitating each weekend seminar. John Sinclair, the director of music at Rollins (Florida) College, will oversee the choral portion of the adjudicator seminar. In 1990, he was appointed artistic director and conductor of the Bach Festival Society of Winter Park, Florida.

Sinclair also selects all choral and orchestral works performed for the Choral Masterworks Concert Series and the Winter Park Bach Festival. Instrumental facilitator Hal Gibson was a 2004 inductee into the National Hall of Fame for Distinguished Band Conductors.

Each weekend is limited to 12 choral and 12 instrumental adjudicator trainees. The seminar will begin on Thursday night with an introduction and a short class, and the remaining days will focus on judging practice. After each group performs, the designated clinician will critique the group and give the attendees advice on how to judge performing groups. Attendees will listen to a musical group while observing the icon adjudicator. After the performance, the clinician will discuss the recorded video of the performances and address the feedback notes.

Later in the weekend, trainees will receive an earpiece to listen to the adjudicator as he records a tape of the performing group. At the conclusion of each performance, the facilitating adjudicator will discuss the previous group. That same evening, trainees will be able to listen to a group and then fill out adjudication forms during the performance. Although they do not affect the scores, the attendees will gain valuable practice in filling out judging sheets for the live performances.

On the final day, trainees will be able to conduct a full adjudication of the performing musical groups. The attendees will be able to practice recording tapes and filling out forms to strengthen their adjudication skills for the future. Similar to the previous day, the attendees will discuss each group after it has performed.

The National Association for Music Education (MENC) has partnered with the NFHS in this event.
"The MENC is really excited about working with us to make this event successful," Summers said.
Summers hopes this adjudicator seminar in Florida will be a benchmark for years to come.

"I would like to see this seminar going in the future," Summers said. "Our hope is that we are able to make a national registry for our adjudicators."

Emily Cerling was a fall semester intern in the NFHS Publications/Communications Department.  She is a senior at Butler (Indiana) University, majoring in integrated communications.