Hello All - For a number of years that I have been involved in High School Marching Band activities, I have seen dwindling numbers in the High School Marching Band programs in the Southeastern PA region. I always wondered if it was the schedule or style of judging. While there are ups and downs in attendance and participation, there is no doubt Marching Band is a commitment. There are various reasons for the attendance numbers, such as sports, work and school balance, but when it comes down going to the competitions, I always wondered why the larger competitive circuits are still using a scoring system, rather than use the Jazz Band Judging style of Superior, Excellent, Very Good.
One thing I admire about the formal competitive organizations such as USSBA, Tournament of Bands, Cavalcade of Bands is the fact they are very organized. They plan their events far in advance, have a detailed sign-up process, and they have easy way for High Schools to register and plan their schedule with also the follow up of the event’s scoring via a web site. The events provide judges and have set up some rules for fair and balanced judging. However, the one thing that I don’t seem to understand is why the organizations still stay with the numeric scores. Clearly, you can you 2 “Superior” bands but it is just a tick mark or slight decimal differences that distinguish between a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place rating. Wouldn’t it be better to judge a band on their merits as a band performing? This is exactly how the Jazz Bands are judged in the spring. So basically, the kids are judged against their own performance and not necessarily against another band. It is how the entire ensemble performs as a group.
When the Marching unit is judged using a numeric score, even though their performance was Outstanding or Superior, I always wondered how the unit felt walking away from a competition where they had put on a great performance but lost a 1st or 2nd place trophy due to a small tick mark on a decimal point. I think, if anything, the organized judging associations should consider the choice to the band participants on the style of judging they would like to receive. Perhaps there is room for both types of scoring, but my suspicions would be that the way they handle the Jazz Band scores with Superior, Outstanding, Excellent, Very good methods would probably be more favorable to the entire unit. It would be interesting to see which the kids prefer.
