Judging Competitions

Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to judge high school studentsin the Baytown/Beaumont region for Solo and Ensemble.  I heard some wonderful singers, and gained some insight into how my students are doing relative to other singers.  However, what I wanted to share today our my top tips for any UIL Soloist in order to get a one.

1) Please state your name and song title slowly.
2) Act confident, even if you are terrified.  Speak slowly, say thank you and please to your accompanist.  Basically, convince me you are in complete control.  Believe it or not, an 'act' of confidence is as convincing as REAL confidence!
3) Sing with a much more open mouth!  I cannot tell you how many singers had pretty voices, but the sound was so tiny because they just weren't opening their mouth.
4)Face the judge....this seems obvious, but I cannot tell you how many singers faced their pianist.  You don't need to look at me, but do send your sound my way!
5) Do not worry about a minor memory slip-up.  I will often give a singer a second-try if they did the rest of the song well.  It happens to the best of us.
6) And most importantly - NEVER, EVER, GRIMACE when you make a mistake.  More times than not, I heard the mistake and did not care, but when the singer showed a negative reaction to a minor slip-up, it magnified the mistake and made it MUCH more important to me.  Pretend (ACT!) that you did exactly what you wanted to do!
7) Finally, I realize how nerve-racking these situations are.  I truly want to give you a '1'.  So know that you have not a judge, but an ally listening to you.

Thank you to everyone for singing so beautifully!

DWS