The Purpose of University of Victoria BandFest
BandFest is an encouraging, non-competitive music festival that provides an opportunity for students and directors to play for experienced adjudicators and learn from informative feedback by way of an on-stage clinic, written and spoken commentary, and an audio track of the band’s performance.
History of BandFest
UVic BandFest will celebrate its 37th Anniversary in 2022. Founded in 1984 by Professor Jesse Read (Conductor of the UVic Wind Symphony), he coordinated the festival until 1987 when Professor Louis Ranger (Professor of Trumpet) became the coordinator. In 1988, Dr. Gerald King was appointed to UVic as Prof. of Music Education and Conductor of the UVic Wind Symphony, and assisted Professor Ranger with coordinating the festival until 1991. Dr. King coordinated the University of Victoria BandFest from 1992 to 2018. In 2019, Dr. Michael Keddy (Conductor of the UVic Don Wright Symphonic Winds) coordinated the event following Dr. King’s retirement. Since 2020, Dr. Steven Capaldo (Associate Professor of Music Education and Conductor of the UVic Wind Symphony) has been the Director of the University of Victoria BandFest, overseeing a large and dedicated team of Music Education students who coordinate and provide volunteer assistance who contribute to the event’s success.
Since its inception, UVic BandFest has attracted over 1,200 Elementary, Middle School, Junior and Senior Secondary Schools representing over 72,000 performing young musicians from throughout Canada and the United States. In addition, over 60 of the finest wind band conductor/adjudicators from British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Washington, Oregon, North Dakota, Montana, Kansas, Maryland, Wisconsin and South Carolina have participated in the adjudication process at UVic BandFest.
The Adjudication Process
In addition to the adjudicator commentary, each band is given a rating of Superior, Excellent, Good, Fair, or Poor. These ratings are determined using the standardized and updated newly UVic BandFest Adjudication form.
The form contains a number of descriptors dealing with various aspects of the performance (e.g. tone, balance, tuning, etc.). The adjudicator, after listening carefully to the performance, selects those descriptors which best describe the group. Those descriptors are linked to a sliding scale that gives a numerical value and, ultimately, the group’s rating. The sliding scale allows for the same set of descriptors to be used regardless of the band’s ability.
For example, if a B100 band’s descriptors all lie in the middle of the sheet, it might result in a rating of Superior. However, if a B600 band merits the same score, their rating is only a Good.
The Venue
BandFest takes place in The Farquhar at the University of Victoria. This beautiful auditorium hosts performances of UVic choral and instrumental ensembles, as well as professionals ranging from great musicians such as Wynton Marsalis to comedians such as Martin Short and everything in-between. The space is a beautiful acoustic and we look forward to welcoming young musicians to perform on our stage during BandFest each year!
uvicbandfest.ca 