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Post by Deleted on Nov 7, 2021 10:08:40 GMT -6
This has absolutely nothing to do with the incredible bands competing this weekend. But going through the recaps, I noticed that all 14 judges from prelims and finals in San Antonio were men. All 6 judges for class A and B at ISSMA were men. There’s one judge who only used an initial for their first name in class C and D, so that person could be an exception, but the rest — all men. Can we please get a little more diversity in panels making these decisions? I’m not suggesting a set quota or anything, but I do think we have to be more intentional about diversity of thought when it comes to these influential positions. That’s all.
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Post by trombonium on Nov 7, 2021 10:27:55 GMT -6
While more diversity wouldn't be a bad thing, I struggle to see how the gender of the judges influences a single aspect of their job. Plus, Music for All is not a massive organization with thousands of qualified people begging to be judges; I suspect they have a limited pool already that for whatever reason just happens to be mostly male.
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Post by ilikeguard on Nov 7, 2021 10:28:25 GMT -6
I keep thinking the same thing and never posting about it. For an activity that is easily 50/50 male and female performers I really feel like we need more female judges. There are surely an abundance of qualified women who would be able to fill those shoes. Especially with color guard being so female-heavy, I’d like to especially see a few more female GE judges (and just more women in adjudication in general). Gender has nothing to do with how well you can assess a band.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 7, 2021 10:37:42 GMT -6
While more diversity wouldn't be a bad thing, I struggle to see how the gender of the judges influences a single aspect of their job. Plus, Music for All is not a massive organization with thousands of qualified people begging to be judges; I suspect they have a limited pool already that for whatever reason just happens to be mostly male. This is a fair point and very much the status quo position: why does gender matter? Y’know, maybe it doesn’t. But in 2021 I just find it jarring that an activity with a 50/50 split in gender participation has a nearly 100% male judging perspective.
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Post by hewhowaits on Nov 7, 2021 11:23:30 GMT -6
Most of the judges in BOA and many other circuits are active or former music educators. This makes sense, especially for the music judges.
Inexplicably, in an activity where participation is gender-neutral, the pool of individuals who go into music education at the high school level is skewed fairly heavily to men. Since the adjudicator pool draws from the music educator pool, this explains the preponderance of males on judging panels, at least for music.
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Post by supersound on Nov 7, 2021 12:04:22 GMT -6
And when a woman does manage to become a regular on BOA panels it is frequent their opinions and scores are regarded as how do I put this, less valuable. See Marie Czapinski with her “Wild Card” scores. I’ve seen people being confused about them but never trying to understand them, and they make sense. Blue Springs in 1st for VGE at SA for example made sense.
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Post by ilikeguard on Nov 7, 2021 12:50:06 GMT -6
Most of the judges in BOA and many other circuits are active or former music educators. This makes sense, especially for the music judges. Inexplicably, in an activity where participation is gender-neutral, the pool of individuals who go into music education at the high school level is skewed fairly heavily to men. Since the adjudicator pool draws from the music educator pool, this explains the preponderance of males on judging panels, at least for music. So…this starts at schools hiring more female band directors, right? Or maybe even encouraging more girls to pursue music education. I’d love to see MFA/DCI back a campaign like that if they haven’t already.
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Post by cp823 on Nov 7, 2021 13:15:14 GMT -6
And when a woman does manage to become a regular on BOA panels it is frequent their opinions and scores are regarded as how do I put this, less valuable. See Marie Czapinski with her “Wild Card” scores. I’ve seen people being confused about them but never trying to understand them, and they make sense. Blue Springs in 1st for VGE at SA for example made sense. CTJ in 10th though? I remember that night well.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 7, 2021 13:22:01 GMT -6
And when a woman does manage to become a regular on BOA panels it is frequent their opinions and scores are regarded as how do I put this, less valuable. See Marie Czapinski with her “Wild Card” scores. I’ve seen people being confused about them but never trying to understand them, and they make sense. Blue Springs in 1st for VGE at SA for example made sense. CTJ in 10th though? I remember that night well. Looking back, she gave CTJ a 17.00 and their visual performance scores were 17.1 and 17.4. Pretty consistent actually.
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Post by boahistorybuff on Nov 7, 2021 13:42:39 GMT -6
In the 1990s, in addition to Marie Czapinksi, there was another regular female judge for visual, she was on the field; I can't remember her name but she judged GN Finals a lot.
It is surprising there are not more female head band directors.
As far as I know (I could be wrong) here are the firsts when it comes to woman band directors in BOA; and I am talking about a woman as head director, not assistant.
In 1980, Martha Stark (Gainesville HS, FL) was the first to direct a band to Grand National Finals.
1983 marked the first time two woman led bands to Grand National Finals: Teresa Elliot (Paoli HS, IN) and Cheryl Anne Graham (New Philadelphia HS, OH).
In 1987, Cheryl Anne Graham (New Philadelphia HS, OH) was the first to lead a band to a GN Class Title (Class A in this case).
In the 1980s, Cheryl Anne Graham was the first woman band director on the BOA advisory board.
In 2007, Amanda Drinkwater (Marcus HS, TX) was the first to lead a band to a regional title (this is the one I am least sure of).
In 2013, Joni Perez (The Woodlands HS, TX) was the first to lead a band to a Grand National title.
Also, on the topic of diversity, Alfred Watkins (Lassiter HS, GA) may have been the first African American to reach all of those milestones.
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Post by Shroom on Nov 7, 2021 14:03:43 GMT -6
I think likely as time goes on we'll see more women on the panels, which will definitely be a good thing. Like some other people have pointed out the judging panels are made up of former music educators, so right now BOA is pulling from an older generation that was highly male dominated. As time goes on I would expect that the newer, more diverse generations will take over, which is what happened with other activities.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 7, 2021 14:12:56 GMT -6
Marching band is inextricably linked to football culture, which is male dominated by nature. Maybe an oversimplification, but I’d love to see some active campaigns to raise awareness/funds for more education and opportunities for women in top roles in our activity. It starts with the wallet. More investments = more role models
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