Competition Information

If you will be attending your first marching band competition, or if you are new to the world of marching bands, you may be wondering haw the judges come to their conclusions in ranking and rating the bands.  Perhaps the following will help you to understand the complex process of judging a band competition.

There are several judges involved in the evaluation of the bands.  Of these, two judge the music performance, two judge the visual performance, two judge general effect, and one judges percussion.  Another judge keeps track of timing requirements and notes rule infractions that occur.  There may be other judges that adjudicate special units, i.e. auxiliary, field commander, soloists.

• Music: The judges evaluate the technical accuracy of the performance, recording their comments on cassette tape.  They concern themselves with how well the wind and percussion performers play together and the difficulty level of the music being performed.
• General Effect: The GE judges evaluate how well the music and the marching drill coordinate to present a unified production.
• Visual Performance: This judge watches the marching performance and gives a score based on consistent accuracy, i.e. how well the individuals in the group carry themselves, difficulty level, accessibility, and frequency of difficult (yet easy-to-see) moves.
• Visual Effect: This judge, positioned in or on the press box, has the difficult task of determining how well the drill (marching formation) program interprets the music as well as the coordination of all the visual aspects of the show.  This judge also scores the group based on how well they "sell" their show to you, the audience.
• Percussion: This judge evaluates the technical, individual and ensemble aspects of the performance.

OMEA Marching Band Competition

Bands receiving a final rating of I in any Marching Band Competition that operates under the Ohio Music Education Association guidelines are eligible for State Finals in the Class for which they are qualified.  Host bands may qualify for State Finals at the contest for which they act as host, providing none of their staff acts as a judge in any caption.

Rules for Qualifying for State Marching Band Contest

Classification

A. Classification for this contest will be determined by total school enrollment of grades 10 through 12 inclusive.

B. The following classification shall be used:

C. A band may enter a higher classification than specified by enrollment, but not a lower.

D. Every band member must be a bona fide member of the school, and must not be over 20 years of age.  No student below the seventh grade may participate in high school contests.

Ratings and Scoring

Each band unit will receive a Roman Numeral rating and a numerical score.  The final band score will be computed by:

Averaging the two Music scores and adding the Percussion score to the average; adding the two Visual scores; averaging the two General Effect scores; adding the final scores of the three main captions for a grand total; and finally subtracting any penalties from the grand total for a final numerical score.

How Bands Qualify for State

To qualify for OMEA State Finals, bands must earn a Superior rating in four of the seven major captions and a total score of less than 11.  Points are assigned by judges in each caption to determine order of finish in each class.  Judges assign a score in each of the following captions:

Music Judge #1 (gives an overall music rating and a percussion rating)

Music Judge #2 (gives an overall music rating and a percussion rating)

Percussion Score = composite of the percussion score of Music Judge #1, the percussion score of Music Judge #2 and the score of the Percussion Judge

General Effect #1

General Effect #2

Visual Effect

Visual Performance

Timing and Penalties (give one lower rating for every 10 points in penalties)

Overall final rating determined as follows: