On Thursday, March 15, the Collegedale Academy Band had its adjudication, which is attended biennially; this year it was at Bradley Central High School. An adjudication is essentially a regional band festival that is judged by a panel of professionals. During the adjudication, the band played a warm-up piece (which isn’t scored), followed by two pieces and one sight-read piece.
Gregory Lindquist, who teaches band and chamber orchestra at CA, said this: “An adjudication is like a competition; except, instead of competing with other musicians, we’re competing with the music, itself.”
The band scored a I on the sight-reading portion and a II, overall. Nobody was bitter. However, some band members expressed disappointment that they didn’t receive a I overall. Despite this, adjudications are a good experience for the band to have; they allow the band to receive objective criticism from a professional panel of judges that helps shine a light on its strengths and weaknesses.