QUESTIONS:
1- After every quartet and chorus contest the judges in each category sit down with the competitors and tell them why they scored as they did. What is (and was) this critique called?
2- Describe the roles of the Secretary, the Chairman of Judges and the Contest Administrator.
3- Identify the stages from the beginning of one's quest to become a Certified Judge to the successful completion of that quest.
4- What automatically happens to all Certified Judges every three years?
5- Of all currently active M-AD Certified Judges, who holds the record for longest continuous service?
ANSWERS:
1- If you said A&R you'd be wrong today but right prior to 2001, when the term A&R was retired and replaced by "Evaluation". This question popped into my mind because I've heard the term A&R (what barbershopper hasn't?) at our recent division contest and countless times previously, and I was struck that nobody, as in zero persons, could tell me what A&R stands for, and I asked lots of people from many different chapters. I called Chuck Harner, the M-AD's VP for Contest and Judging and a Certified Contest Administrator and got the scoop from him. My conversation with Chuck (and another with Steve Plumb) actually provided me with all the questions and answers in this month's quiz, and they are thanked very kindly for their input. (Quizmeister's appeal - Are you an authority on some barbershop topic like Chuck Harner and Steve Plumb are? Email to me [m.axelrod@verizon.net] your own five Q's and A's, citing your source(s), and I'll be happy to publish them and give you all due credit. Thanx). The answer to the A&R question is "Analysis and Recommendations." In a case of "Classic Coke" redux, (case of coke...groan) it seems that the rank and file is still very much attached to the old name as one always hears A&R to this day at contest venues, and Evaluation not at all.
2- Prior to 1994, the Secretary and the Chairman of Judges were two separate functions assigned to two individuals. The role of the Secretary was to gather the judges' scores at the completion of each quartet's or chorus' performance, to compile all the scores at the completion of the contest, and produce the resultant score sheets. The Chairman of Judges was the "boss" of the contest re: all rules and regulations as they apply to both competitors and judges. In 1993 (effective in 1994) the Secretary and Chairman were combined into one position called the Contest Administrator. This occurred concurrently with the society scrapping the four-category judging system used from 1975 - 1993 in favor of the three-category system in use from 1994 through the present.
3- Judge Applicant (desire is demonstrated, not necessarily knowledge), Judge Candidate (trained but not quite there yet, think apprentice), Certified Judge (the drill is 100% nailed, think journeyman). Extra tidbit—Certified Judges' contest expenses, i.e., airfare and/or surface travel, hotels and meals, are paid for by the district where the contest takes place. Judge Candidates, on the other hand, pay all of their own expenses. How's that for dedication to and sacrifice for our great hobby!
4- They get de-certified during the International Convention week in early July! Late in July all judges in the society must go through four days of retraining in which they must demonstrate via written exams their knowledge of the current Contest and Judging rules and regulations. Additionally, in their own category they must judge performances (in international prelim and district contests which have been recorded on DVD's) of randomly selected quartets and choruses at all levels of proficiency and from all 16 districts. Their DVD scores have to be very close to the actual scores awarded by the actual judges. How close is close enough? That's determined by a formula that would melt the wax from a statistician's ears. Suffice it to say that it's a very tiny permissible variation. After the retraining is completed, the Contest and Judging Committee (of the society, not of any particular district) determines who will be recertified for the next three years and who will not.
5- The winner is right in our backyard, a member of the Manhattan, NY Chapter. I refer to Steve Plumb, whose category is presentation. Steve became a certified judge in 1975 when his category was called stage presence.
[Editor's note: In my last quiz I wrote that the Alexandria Harmonizers took the gold in the International Chorus Competition in 1986, 1989 and 1998. A long-time member of that chorus saw the quiz in Mid'l Antics and emailed a correction to me indicating that I had missed one year, 1995. I plead guilty but with an explanation; I omitted 1995 because my source did likewise. I obtain information for my questions and answers only from sources I believe to be authoritative and correct. Unlike a journalist, however, I do not substantiate the accuracy of the info by obtaining a second, corroborative source. My goal, of course, is to provide completely accurate Q's and A's. Accordingly, I would urge all readers of this quiz to do as the barbershopper from Alexandria (who insisted upon anonymity, but I can tell you that he is well known throughout the district and the society) did and contact me if anything is incorrect based on your personal knowledge or based on your having read info that conflicts with what I wrote. If the correction is based on your personal knowledge, fine and dandy, I'll accept it at face value and keep my fingers crossed that my "corrector" is himself correct. If, however, you take me to task based on something you read, you must identify your source(s) to me. Thanks very much.]
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