The perspective From the Other End of the Table - Judging Singers at a Vocal Competition

Every year, I judge the Solo/Ensemble Competition for the Beaumont area in February. I love serving as a judge for these vocal competitions: you get to hear great singers, discover new songs, and in a relaxed atmosphere (for the judge, not the singer!)

For this post, I wanted my voice students to understand how a judge critiques and evaluates singers.

1. While accuracy is important, you don’t have to be perfect. Messing up a note or two, or forgetting a word does not ruin your solo UNLESS you let it ruin it for you.  

2. Be musical and take a risk. Try to make your singing unique. I am far more likely to grade you highly if there was something special about your singing.

3. Presentation and manners matter. A singer who comes in confident (or fakes it!) and with a warm greeting sets a great mood and I suspect makes a judge more forgiving.

4. I don’t care if your song is hard. I do care if you sing badly. Don’t pick a hard song that you can't sing well. I don’t give brownie points for difficulty. I would rather you pick an easier song that you can sing beautifully.

5. Voice teachers matter. It was very easy to tell when a singer had regular voice coaching. While the singers with voice lessons weren’t necessarily the best, they all were very polished and made few errors. 

Finally, I do want to say that the singers were extremely good, considering the circumstances. This Region was devastated by Hurricane Harvey and I know many of the singers and schools in this area (Port Arthur and Beaumont especially)are still rebuilding. It was a testament to these students that they sang with such maturity and grace.

DWS