PIMBA contracts the PA Federation of Contest Judges (PFCJ) and highly-regarded ‘outside judges’ from throughout the US and Canada to judge its shows with the goal of attaining the most accurate rankings---the placements or 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc., in each class, systematically derived ratings for each sub-caption, caption, penalties and overall total score, and the highest quality input from real time cassette tape commentary, the written comments on the evaluation sheets, and the post-contest dialogue between the directors/staffs and the judges known as the Critique.

The adjudication system used by PIMBA is patterned after the Bands of America (BOA) structure to best meet the educational needs of our participating bands and student band members.

The two judges evaluating the Individual Music and the Individual Visual captions are stationed on the field, responsible to evaluate the ‘technical’ aspects of the band’s music and visual performance. Audience members will see them moving around and within the drill, necessary to sample individuals and small groups in every section and unit of the band in order to evaluate the performance level relative to the difficulty involved.

The two judges evaluating Ensemble Music and Ensemble Visual are stationed in the press box, responsible to evaluate the ‘technical’ aspects of the performance of the overall band. The Ensemble Music judge evaluates the composition and performance level of the music, including sound quality, technique and musicianship. The Ensemble Visual judge evaluates the composition, technique and performance level of the drill, body movement and auxiliary/guard contributions.

The remaining three judges evaluate General Effect, two judging General Effect Music and one judging General Effect Visual. All three are stationed in the press box and are responsible to evaluate the artistry presented throughout the entire show.

The General Effect Music judge evaluates the effectiveness of the musical repertoire as designed and of the musical performance itself, along with how effectively the expressive elements of the production are communicated musically, which also do include significant elements of the visual design and presentation.

The General Effect Visual judge evaluates the effectiveness of the visual program as designed and of the visual performance itself, along with how effectively each aspect of the show is coordinated among all units of the band and how effectively the expressive elements of the production are communicated visually. Each judge evaluates the ‘what’ of is being performed, including the level of difficulty involved, along with the ‘how’--- how well the show is being performed.

Each General Effect caption receives up to 20 points. Therefore, up to 60 points of the final score comes from the ‘artistic’ or ‘expressive’ components of the music and visual performance. Also, note that up to 60 points comes from ‘music’ captions and 40 points comes from ‘visual’ captions.

The Timing and Penalties judge is stationed on the field with a clipboard and a stopwatch, responsible for monitoring the flow of the event, the time requirements involved before, during and after the performance, boundary violations and other guidelines. This judge is then responsible to assign any penalties involved.

Finally, a Tabulator is responsible to accurately confirm and enter each score from each judge into a spreadsheet, determine the final placements and special caption award information to be announced to the audience, and to compile a summary cover page and overall show recap to print, collate and provide to the band directors at the critique.

The directors are required by PIMBA to submit evaluations of each judge’s performance. The process comes full circle, as the evaluators are themselves evaluated.

This ‘system’ is the product of years of planning, ongoing reflection and refinement, and collaboration between PIMBA and the PFCJ------all designed to provide you, the audience, with an enjoyable, entertaining show in the art form of competitive marching band that reflects both artistic quality and a positive educational environment for the students involved. Equally important is that the system provides the students performing tonight both a means of artistic expression and a mechanism to provide a measurement of the level of performance attained along with input to foster ongoing improvement.

Section 1. COMPETITIVE CLASSES.

Finals or by choice of the Director. Winter 2003

B. A band in National Class that does not place in the Top 5 at a BOA Regional Final or does not participate in a BOA Regional during a given season shall be re-classified to  the appropriate class (based on number of musicians) for the next season. Winter 2003

C. A Drum Major shall count as a ‘musician’ for classification purposes if he plays an instrument at any time in the show. Clarified Winter 2004.