Date: November 19, 2001

Director's Notebook by Rob Mance

How can one judge give us a 60, while another judge gives us a 79 on the same song? Isn't that a really big difference? What were the judges thinking, you ask? All of these are good questions.

We find that when judging contests, with almost 100 percent accuracy, that the more consistent the performer is that the scores will then be closer together. Sometimes very close! In our performance we can note that some aspects of it were at a very high level for a chorus such as ours. We can also agree that other aspects of our performance were probably below the anticipated level of a chorus such as ours. The final product sure netted happy results as that was definitely our best performance to date. And the highest point, in my opinion, was just how comfortable everyone was on stage and how much fun we had going to a contest. However, let's take a look at what some of the judges had to say about their differences in scores.

In presentation we had a spread of scores from a 73 to a 60 on the same song. Presentation takes into account issues like in-tune singing, theme, dynamics, visual etc. Essentially, they are judging the performance as if they are an audience member and how they are impacted by the performance. The judge that gave us the 60 gave us two very good examples of why the impact we made on him was worth a 60. First, as we greeted the audience, we looked like smiling mannequins. Second, as we sang our songs, we kept the same facial expressions through much of our performance. There are much worse things that we could have done, no doubt. However, those two items are normally characteristic of groups scoring in the 50s or low 60s. So, we set our listener up for something less than we are. However, other presentation judges ended up focusing much more on our thematic delivery, dynamics and level of tuning, which were at a substantially higher level. So if you were the judge faced with some issues at very different levels, where would you put the score? Tough question.

In music we benefited from this "problem". One of our music judges was so completely focused on how wonderful our theme, delivery and dynamics were that he "forgot" to take into account any of the other things that happened in the performance. So, on the first song he shot up to a 79. Who would have thought that we would have seen a score that like at this contest? Many scores average 79 or below at international! But just how a presentation judge got caught-up in some of the lower issues of our performance, this music judge got caught-up in some of the wonderful things in our performance.

In the singing category, it turns out that all contestants in the whole contest were scoring about 5 points lower than they had at previous contests. We simply had a lower scoring set of singing judges. However, everyone was still scored in the right order. In our evaluation, our singing judge made great comments of how wrong notes was not a problem. But now having dispensed with that issue that some notes, particularly in the lead section are slightly lower than their ideal value. They are the right notes, just lower versions of that note - like playing in the cracks of the piano. This dulls some of the brilliance in our sound. It was also noted that there are still small snippets of pieces where the tuning will come apart in a particular section.

Having nine judges on the panel is a wonderful benefit, as even when some judges fly high and others dip low, the correct results are almost always achieved. There are only a couple of issues that are providing that sense of an inconsistent performance. If we spend the next few months working to eliminate those issues that could make one think that we are a lower-level chorus, then the judges won't have to say "these issues were amazing, but these not so much... where do I put the score?" They won't have to ask this question because we will have already provided the answer. Let's work towards consistency as we prepare to once again leap to a higher level.

The Circle of Fifths From the web site:

The Circle of Fifths is an easy way to find out the key a song is in. The Circle of Fifths tells you how many sharps or flats are in a given key. C has no sharps or flats. It is called the Circle of Fifths because as you go clockwise you go up a fifth. For example, the fifth note of the C major scale is G. The fifth note of the G major scale is D, and so on.

Notice that every other note is succeeded by the one before. C, skip G, D, skip D, A, etc. Also notice how there are twelve notes corresponding to twelve numbers on a clock. C is in the 12-noon position. G is in the 1 o'clock position (likewise has one sharp; F in the 11 o'clock position.) D is in the two o'clock position (likewise has sharps; F and C). A is in the 3 o'clock position (likewise has 3 sharps; F, C, G). E is in the four o'clock position and has 4 sharps (F, C, G, D). B is in the 5 o'clock position and has 5 sharps (F, C, G, D, A). F# is in the 6 o'clock position and has 6 sharps (F, C, G, D, A, E); everything is sharp except B; notice also how this corresponds with the key of F in which it has one flat, Bb). These are just some memory tags that can help you remember. Also, notice that G through E, each letter has as many pen strokes in writing the letter as it does sharps. G is made with one pen stroke and has one sharp. D is made with two pen strokes and has two sharps. A is made with three pen strokes and has three sharps. E is made with four pen strokes and has four sharps.

Practice is something we do at home, every day, between rehearsals!

Rehearsal is where we reinforce what we have been practising every day!