Adjudication Adventures

I completed my Michigan School Band and Orchestra Association (MSBOA) adjudicator training last December, with the thought that next school year I might hopefully pick up a few middle school judging gigs. Middle school kids are my people and I'm a few years away from my prime playing days where I was regularly practicing and performing the level of music that high school students can play.

Imagine my surprise when I was contacted in January for a high school job on February 3!

Surprise. Excitement. Anticipation. Hesitation. Crippling self doubt. You know, the normal feelings for a first job.

I'm grateful for good friends who were encouraging and reminded me that, regular playing gap aside, I'm still a professional music educator with 20+ years of playing experience and 15 years of teaching flute. Even with the inhumanly outstanding players that will occasionally be assigned my section, there's going to be something I can offer them. And if I can't, I can certainly send them on to the next level (State Festival) to gain feedback from a more experienced judge who can. We all have to start somewhere and what better time than now to take the leap?

Once I got going, the butterflies quickly subsided and I had a blast! It was a lot of fun working with older musicians than my usual crowd and lots of flute technique tips I hadn't thought about in years came back with ease. My room chairperson had only good feedback for me, which I appreciated but I did come across some things I need to keep in mind for next time:

• I talk too much. I got in a better groove as the day went on, but I was trying to verbally go over everything I'd written. For time's sake (and the sake of their likely overloaded post-performance brains) I need to cut it down.
• While I'd rather err on the side of too nice rather than too stringent, there were a couple ratings at the end of the day that I think I went the wrong direction on. It always went in the students' favor, but after talking with some more experienced adjudicators, I found myself questioning how much I really helped students by doing so. 
• Layers. Buildings have weird heat settings on the weekends and the bulk of Solo and Ensemble season directly coincides with Michigan winter. It was hours before I finally got my shoulders away from my ears after hunching up from being cold all day. 
• My hand hurt at the end of the day from writing so much. I love my mechanical pencils, but may have to find something where I'm not pressing so hard when writing all day. Being warmer might help me be less tense though too.

I cannot overstate just how much I enjoyed spending my day focused on the first instrument that reeled me into music education in the first place! Here's hoping it's the first of many, many more to come!