Contest Suitability of Arrangements

Advice on Contest Suitability of Arrangements
Kathy Greason, Music Category Director/Judge
[ From March 2009 e-Note ]

It’s getting to be contest season again and our performing groups are putting the finishing touches on their contest numbers. Are they “just hoping” that they have chosen music that will shine in contest? Yikes! Well, it may be too late for this year, but here’s how you can go about getting an assessment of whether songs you have chosen are good barbershop contest vehicles.

Of course, the best thing you can do to get an assessment of whether an arrangement of a song is contest-suitable is attend HITS! Part of the applied music track - once you know how to analyze chords - is learning how to assess the suitability of a song for contest. Having the knowledge to select songs that are likely good for contest will certainly give you or your music team a big head start as you consider future musical selections for your chorus.

But if you haven’t gotten to HITS and need a more immediate way to get some help in deciding whether a song is suitable for contest, a good thing to do is contact a music judge. Any music judge will do, but in particular, Anne Bureau and I have agreed that we would be the front line in answering suitability questions for our Harmony, Inc. contestants. We’ll try to look at your music ourselves, but if our "real" lives and time constraints don't match your timetable, we will try to hook you up with someone who is more immediately available, perhaps other music judges, former music judges, or music judge candidates.

So here's what to do - E-mail one of us to start the ball rolling, telling the name and arranger of the song you are interested in performing in contest. I’m at kgreason@aol.com and Anne is at abureau@comcast.net. We can determine with you the best way for us to get hold of the music chart. We both have a fair number of barbershop arrangements in our own possession, so sometimes we can simply look in our files. If not, mail, fax and scanning can provide alternatives.

We will then look at the harmony, melody and lyrics of the song and arrangement, comparing them to the guidelines that are described in the music category (which will be on our Harmony Inc web site soon!).

If the lyrics look possibly patriotic or religious, we may refer you on to a presentation judge.

Looking at and, to the extent possible, listening to the arrangement, we will try to identify places where it is weak or strong as a contest vehicle, and characteristics that might make it more or less suited to groups of varying skill levels. (Remember, music judges are judging the song and arrangement "as performed," so sometimes a song that looks good on paper doesn't come across well, based on performance choices and abilities.) We will get back in touch with you, usually by e-mail, to let you know our thoughts. We TRY to have comments to you within a few weeks, but sometimes a month is more realistic.

And, along those lines, here's the big caveat: there are just a few of us, and there are LOTS of performers in contest (and isn't that great!). While we absolutely want to be helpful in a big way, we will be overwhelmed if we hear from 150 choruses and quartets in January and February, each giving us a list of songs that they are considering singing in April and May. We can be the most helpful if requests represent a song or two under serious consideration and if the requests are spaced through the year - a great incentive for music team planning!

We look forward to helping you out.

News  |  About Area 1  |  Chapters  |  Quartets  |  Events  |  Education | Resources  |  Links

© Copyright 2002-2009, Harmony Incorporated, Area 1.
All rights reserved.
Site Developed and Maintained by: