USBands Adjudicators
About USBands Adjudication
USBands’ primary goal is to serve young performers through competitive events throughout the United States. The cornerstone to that service is a community of adjudicators who are motivated to develop the highest standard of excellence. USBands is in the forefront of adjudication education and standards of performance.
Our community is led by the USBands Adjudicator Leadership Team consisting of Eric Kitchenman - Adjudication Coordinator for USBands, Mike Stone - Adjudication Coordinator of WBA, Shirley Dorritie – Director of Adjudication Philosophy and Mark Kraft – Music Adjudication Advisor.
USBands is passionately committed to supporting our adjudicators and our adjudication system with integrity, respect, and a pervading sense of community. We do our very best to place our adjudicators in a variety of regions from week to week, and from year to year to provide fresh, unbiased, supportive, and relevant feedback for every program.
Philosophy of Adjudication
Our core values are built upon service, partnerships, and community. We understand the impact that quality adjudication can have on the integrity of any competitive event. We believe that it is through a deep commitment to this competitive integrity that trust is established, and the best service can be provided to our community.
The USBands adjudication philosophy emphasizes clear distinctions between the role of adjudicator and the role of program consultant/advisor. We believe that the responsibility for accurate evaluation, ranking, and scoring is what sets the adjudicator apart from the evaluator, clinician, instructional staff, and general audience member. We also believe that a deep commitment to accurate evaluation, ranking, and scoring is the cornerstone of integrity in the competitive arena.
Therefore, we ask that all adjudicators of USBands competitive events limit advice-giving and instead prioritize these specific aspects of their role:
- RECOGNIZE and VALUE the degree of achievement demonstrated by the program and the performers.
- RANK the competitors in the correct order; and
- RATE the competitors through the comparative scores earned during each contest.
Our training program and achievement-based adjudication system are specifically designed to make this possible.