Well I agree with the one before me. Dr. Smith, if I recall correctly, was one of the founders of this festival and he should be able to sit wherever he wishes. But neither he or Mr. Thomas were judges. I greatly respect Jazz Fest as a competition. I have never seen a more different competition. They offer sight reading to analyze the musical talents off the stage. I find that this is very important. People cannot get mad if their props and choreography don't get them a trophy. The groups that could sing AND dance as a combo won, and I respect the Judges' decisions.
first off, according to my knowledge..this has been the first time auburn has placed at jazz fest since an 06 graduate was a junior..so whatever year that makes it. we have no advantage over anybody there. two, just because dr smith and mr thomas were sitting at the judges table means nothing. the judges will choose who they like and i am sure they dont care too much for others opinions. if we did have a "conspiracy", i think we would have won, dont you? three, we nailed our sightreading, so honestly, it doesnt matter if mrs smith was the judge or not; nobody could argue that we didnt deserve a 1.
but regardless, it has been tough having three choir directors in the past two years..as someone said. auburn had never been too heavily into competing before, but now we have decided to step it up. our new choir director is young, but he brings something completely unique to the table (if you havent seen it for yourself). i was a dancer for fourteen years, and i have NEVER had choreography this hard before..ever.
Okie doke... I'm going to clarify something and then not post anymore in this thread. I certainly didn't mean for this thread to make this turn for the worst.
First and foremost, I have NOTHING against the Auburn High School "Varsity Singers". I have liked several of your shows in the past, and I agree that you guys do bring something to the table. My beef with you guys used to be that you hardly competed anywhere (usually only the Jazz Fest). That has changed, and any of the stuff that I said above should have been taken as negatives towards the Jazz Fest... NOT the Varsity Singers.
Secondly, I love Auburn University... WAR EAGLE. It breaks my heart when I have to criticize it or any of its parts. Unfortunately, show choir is also something that I really enjoy, so when the two butt heads I have to look at the situation with less bias. I am only so hard on the Jazz Fest because it is an established competition that has been going on for years. I hate the fact that I hate it... because we only have a few competitions in the South each year, so it sucks when one of them isn't working.
I have to say, I'm very impressed with everyone's thoughtful and well written responses to this thread. Keep up the good grammar, and practice, practice, practice. I look forward to seeing many of your shows in the weeks to come.
The competition as a whole is not as good as others. The changing areas aren't as good... much like homewoods, only worse. No good place to eat. Stage is too small. No backdrops. Extremely small wings. So I know a lot of groups always feel cheated. But A lot of groups just don't like the logistics of the comp.
If you want my honest opinion, I think Jazz Fest is a good competition to start off your season as a show choir. While you are being judged, its not as strict as Opelika, Homewood, or any other competitions. If you place congrats, if not it was your first show so it gives you a chance to see the choirs you will be competing with in the upcoming weeks so you know how hard your should work. If its not your first show, oh well, it gives you one more chance to practice before the bigger competitions. So honestly who cares who places and who really cares where Dr. Smith sits? And if you want more "conspiracy" Mr. Thomas (One of AHS's old directors) was at the judges table as well sitting right next to Dr. Smith. So if you want to believe that ruling was part of a conspiracy, go ahead, but I'm pretty positive Varsity Singers have something to offer this year.
Oh and good call MalloryLauren, Spain Park's show was amazing keep up the good work!
I agree. JazzFest ISN'T judged like other competitions. Whether you think it's for better or worse is strictly personal opinion. Obviously, many directors have decided that they don't like it.
i think if you see auburn's show this year you won't so much believe it was conspiracy... this show is different that any show auburn has ever done and i think it's far better than any others of the past. although i don't think that dr. smith has the right to sit on the risers, i do think that if he wants to sit at the judges table then he certainly has a deserved to do so. jazz fest is judged differently than any other competition because they focus more on the musical aspect rather than the dancing, but that's how it's always been at jazz fest. it's the same reason they have sight reading... to test your musical abilities. i did see spain park's show and it was very good as always and i was very surprised at their second place spot...
QUOTE(sarahc4worldpeace @ Feb 6 2008, 06:13 PM) [snapback]416896[/snapback]
Incase you didn't know, Auburn schools haven't gotten worse than superior on sight reading in at least 10 years. The fact that Mrs. Smith was a sight reading judge had absolutely NO effect on Auburn continuing their tradition of flawless sight reading.
Plus Dr. Smith has definitely earned his spot sitting WHEREVER he wants at Jazz Fest.
"Conspiracy?" It's just show choir. Chill.
Okay... so, my post shouldn't have been read agressively... more observatoraly (<-- new word). So, I am chilled.
A.) However, Dr. Smith has not earned his spot sitting anywhere. He is a great music director... and I respect him for all the work he has done at Auburn University, the judges table is not a place for the father of a competing groups director to be sitting. Similarly, you would say that sitting on the 1 row of risers on stage would be another place that he shouldn't sit. lol.
B.) There is definitely a vibe around Jazz Fest unlike any other competition. It is ALWAYS considered the worst judged event year in and year out. This vibe has been around since I was in school (1997-2000) and before. Personally I should have no problems with Jazz Fest because when I was in Ovations we won Grand Champion (1999) and First Runner-Up (2000) the 2 times that I competed there. But, since I still have a problem with the competition should at least be some indicator.
The biggest question would be... why does everyone dislike the competition so much? Let's say that groups are ALWAYS disappointed when they don't place in the Top 3 in any competition (not just Jazz Fest). If they ALWAYS blamed the competition (not their performance), you'd hear similar stories about people hating Southern Showcase, South Central Classic, or Petal. But you rarely hear that. You consistently, however, hear complaints and protests against scheduling and results for AU Jazz Fest.
You can read into that what you will... as will I.
QUOTE(TreyAU21 @ Feb 3 2008, 01:33 PM) [snapback]415985[/snapback]
There's a reason that Homewood, Opelika, and Enterprise don't come to this competition very often anymore... and I don't remember Albertville ever going to the Jazz Fest (I'm betting they have though).
Incase you didn't know, Auburn schools haven't gotten worse than superior on sight reading in at least 10 years. The fact that Mrs. Smith was a sight reading judge had absolutely NO effect on Auburn continuing their tradition of flawless sight reading.
Plus Dr. Smith has definitely earned his spot sitting WHEREVER he wants at Jazz Fest.
Spain Park goes because our director was a former Auburn Singer and feels a great attachment to Dr. Smith and the University...although I was very impressed by DeKalb's show, I still feel like Spain Park got the shaft...although I may be biased...
QUOTE(TreyAU21 @ Feb 3 2008, 01:56 PM) [snapback]415972[/snapback]
GUESS WHO WAS SITTING AT THE JUDGES TABLE FOR THE ENTIRE COMPETITION... HIS DAD Dr. Smith... AND HIS MOM WAS THE SIGHT-READING JUDGE.
QUOTE(choirjock30 @ Feb 3 2008, 02:25 PM) [snapback]415982[/snapback]
actually his dad didn't judge,.... but his mom was the sight reading judge.
Yeah... I corrected that in my original post... I misread some of my intel. lol. However, I was told that Dr. Smith was sitting at the judges table all day long.
It's not the individual events at the Jazz Fest that are so blatant... it is the consistency with which they tend to run off quality groups and have the reputation as one of the worst judged competitions in the South. There's a reason that Homewood, Opelika, and Enterprise don't come to this competition very often anymore... and I don't remember Albertville ever going to the Jazz Fest (I'm betting they have though).
Personally, I don't understand why any quality groups (ex: Spain Park) travel to this competition consistently.
actually his dad didn't judge,.... but his mom was the sight reading judge. Dekalb sang better than any group i've heard in a long time. They didn't have intense choreo but they did enough to be effective. They also did what choreo they had with more natural enthusiasm and cleanliness than any group i've seen in a couple of years. So if you weight a show with 50% vocal, 40% choreo, and 10% showdesign, I would have given them a scoresheet close to this. 48V,28C,5S.... so they would have gotten an 81 on my score sheet... which is pretty good.
I saw all the groups durring the day. I was doing sound for a most of the groups.... Not for the group who had the scratched cd though haha.
My results looked like this.
Dekalb
Spain Park
Auburn
Oak MT.
Fitzgerald
I might also add that i thought it was interesting when auburn's director did a dance feature with 4 other students in the middle of the show. Didn't know what to think about that one. but who cares. I think the judges got it pretty right on that one. Plus their is sightreading in this comp. And I thnk that Dekalb probably gained a little on that.
A couple of side notes that I heard about this competition.
Dekalb School of the Arts apparently sang amazingly... and they did their entire show to track music (no live band). AND... they didn't use risers.
And to continue in the tradition of Auburn University Jazz Festival conspiracy theories... as you may or may not know, Eron Smith is the director for Auburn HS "Varsity Singers", GUESS WHO WAS SITTING AT THE JUDGES TABLE FOR THE ENTIRE COMPETITION... HIS DAD Dr. Smith... AND HIS MOM WAS THE SIGHT-READING JUDGE.
Hmmmmmmmmm. I'm not a lawyer or anything, but that sounds like a conflict of interests.
Auburn University Jazz Festival 2008
