“You Be the Judge” a FREE Listening/Contest Critique for Choirs!✏️ 🎶
‘Tis the season for music large group adjudication festivals! Choir teachers everywhere are perfecting 3 songs per choir and waking up at 2am singing all the parts…
When I first started teaching, I realized that the students didn’t understand exactly what the judges were looking for when we went to a contest festival. Not only did I need to teach the correct rhythms and pitches to the students, but I had to explain and make them understand exactly what the judges were listening for.
As a result, I began creating mock adjudication forms for my choirs. We would discuss and listen to examples of correct tone quality, clear intonation, crisp diction and explain the importance of balance in a choir. We would discuss what it means to have musicality in your performance and we tackled the broader term of “other performance factors”.
And so, the FREE “You Be the Judge” Listening Critique worksheet was born. This 2 page worksheet lets students play the role of adjudicator by providing space for comments and a score. Easy to understand definitions are provided under each category so students can learn about each term as they go.
And did I mention that there is also a PDF fillable version? This is perfect for those times when you need an online activity.
How I use this worksheet ✏️🎤
As a Sub plan- Assign four YouTube choir videos and ask students to rate each performance. Sometimes I use our current concert repertoire and sometimes I choose some they are unfamiliar with.
Listen to four videos together in class, pausing to discuss each performance and allowing for a classroom discussion and sharing of ratings.
Use over the course of a week or month, rating one video at a time. “Watch It Wednesday” is a popular day in my classroom. Use this worksheet to complete one song a week or one a day.
Click here to enjoy the FREE “You Be the Judge” worksheet! Pass it along to your fellow choir colleagues!
Enjoy and happy singing! 🎤🌟
