Do you ever think there is bad examiner/adjudicator don't match the title

[CURIOUSMIND]

I never thought there is any.I thought they are all from top music college, had all sorts of performance experience, and went through all sorts of training to get this hugely respected job title.I met 20 examiners/ adjudicator in varies competition, exam, never had any major concern about any of them.
Now I witnessed one adjudicator 'A' in a competition. Weird comments, no real value you would expect,( what you have done the right thing, or what you are expected to improve), didn't know the composer (who is famous for his style ,expression of deep meaning), didn't read the music either to learn it now, hence, not able to comment on the right ground. For example, if you don't know Chopin, you don't know his cantabile melody,detailed expressive feeling, natural rubato, etc, you don't see this is brilliant to bring out the beautiful top line or see it as a weak point if you played in time 1,2,3 . Sometimes, this guy is using some musical terms, but not on the right level, for example, you will praise a grade 3, your crescendo, diminuendo shaping is good, but for grade 8+, you will more talk about advanced thingy, like the structure, style, the whole atmosphere, mood, character, although I am not saying you can't talk about crescendo. But if you only know the lower grade stuff, you don't appreciate the difficulty, don't get the deep meaning of an advanced piece, don't understand, do you? Like somebody show you a beautiful literacy work in Japanese, you can only say your handwriting is neat! This guy seems only know (does he really know???)some thing about one particular styling period, feel the beauty of a special feature of that styling period, so very funny, the finalist are all playing that sort of music across the category(all instrument included), happened some didn't play that was because nobody in that category played that sort of music in their heats.

The competition turned into a lottery draw, we just had no idea what would happen next. The only person who watched the whole program happened finally won the lottery prize, so wouldn't reveal the truth, although I heard lots of complain from this person 'B' about adjudicator's strange comments throughout the heats. Other people did their heats, in the final or out, all left.

The competition is done, and not important any more, whatever, it's a one off thingy.

Unfortunately this guy is an ABRSM examiner!!!
How unlucky if you met him! You worked, you get a high or low mark, you get what you deserve, being judged by this weirdo may ruin many children.
I reported ABRSM already. But, because I only witnessed his poor performance in an competition nothing to do with the board, they are not going to take it further.
So the exam, you don't have a witness, parents, or teachers, you can't comment on what you didn't see. What can you do???

[Picturesinthefirelight]

ABRSM examiners are moderated on a frequent basis. They are working against a specific set if criteria.

Music festivals on the other hand are much more subjective.

[noteventhebestdrummer]

If your festival adjudicator comes from the British Federation of Festivals please feedback your experience to them. Most of them are excellent but it's helpful to report the ones who fall below the desired standard.

[CURIOUSMIND]

It's not a festival, it's a open age competition, across all the instruments. Usually it's a 'hard' one, pretty competitive. The adjudicator we met is not in the BFOF adjudicator list.

[DeWe]

I had an examiner for one of my grades when I was little who was struck off for not passing anyone in a year. He apparently had been notorious in previous years for marking harshly too. He was ABRSM.

Dd1 also had one examiner for singing (again ABRSM) for whom her teacher felt all the pupils scored lower than she expected. To put in a rough guide, dd1 got 118 Grade 2 and grade 3, and 105 for grade 4, and 117 for grade 5-teacher felt that her grade 4 should have got similar marks.

In ballet, (RAD) dd1's first examiner, her teacher felt that the marks were roughly 10 marks below what they should be. This was pretty much proved the next grade when, almost to a man, they scored around 10 marks better.

Otoh dd2 got an examiner who seemed to be generous-she gave her 30 on one of the pieces, which was definitely generous.

There is going to be a aspect of examiner's preference and personality coming in.

Dh did a piano competition when he was little where he (via his teacher) interpretted the piece differently to all the others. (put a lot more dynamics, when the others rattled through at huge speed). When he got his marks you could see the judges were divided between those who thought his interpretation was the best, and those for whom it was the worst. He either had the top mark that judge gave or the bottom, no middle marks.

[Lonecatwithkitten]

If you play an instrument you will have a witness in the exam your accompanist (often your teacher).

[DeWe]

Lone not for piano!

[Theas18]

Examiners may be moderated but they are still very variable....dh holds exam sessions at school, and blimey they can be odd!

Also higher grades are so tricky - interpretation being so individual and vital to the performance but if you disagree with what they think.... Or, by grade 8 know a lot more about your instrument than they do , it is ...interesting!

[Theas18]

At least with AS/A2 you get to talk about interpreting your pieces and why you do what you do - certainly for the recorder performances the kids have been through historical context/ read them from facsimile , chucked out the editorial junk etc etc ....so the examiner knows why you do what you do- not that you've taken all the slurs out cos it's easier for instance!

[CURIOUSMIND]

We had experience of playing same piece for different competitions, exam in close time period, didn't see the obvious difference of comments from different background examiners/adjudicators. Just this year, this guy has no idea about piano, his only tractable education history related to instruments is piano accompaniment , no any other instrument either. He is known as an self employed opera conductor, singing coach.
Many times, I want to reveal his name, but, but ,but, you know, then he survived...Hate it with passion absolutely.