Contest Rules and Regulations

1. The Contest is open to all Minnesota public and private high school students as well as independent teams comprised of high school aged students.

2. Each team will be comprised of three members. Teams may designate an alternate if needed. Only one team per school will be eligible to advance to the state contest.

3. The format will consist of five (5) rounds.

  • Round One Identification of music samples by title and composer.
  • Round Two Answering stylistic, formal and historical questions about music samples (identification and multiple-choice questions).
  • Round Three Lightning round. Identification of music by composer and title.
  • Round Four Multiple-choice questions based on information from the study guide.
  • Round Five Mystery round. Identification of music not included on the study guide CDs but written by the same composers.

    • Music in rounds 1, 2 and 3 will be from the study guide CDs. The multiple choice questions in round four will be taken from the study guide. Samples in round 5 will have stylistic or formal traits similar to the compositions on the CDs.

    Regional Level Scoring

    The competition will be scored like this at the regional level:

  • Round One 10 listening samples/ 20 questions (composer & title) 20 points
  • Round Two 5 or 6 listening samples/ 20 questions 20 points
  • Round Three 20 listening samples/ 40 questions (composer & title) 20 points
  • Round Four 20 multiple choice questions 20 points
  • Round Five 10 Mystery samples/ 20 questions (composer & period) 20 points

    • State Competition Scoring

    The state competition will have 20 Mystery samples/40 questions in Round Five 20 points

    Ties for first and second are broken through a separate tie-breaker round consisting of 10 mystery samples.

    Teams will be asked to identify styles, periods and composers.

    Adjudication process.

    A. All answers will be objective. Answers should contain only information found in the study guide.

    B. Any question or disputes will be resolved by the judges. Teams and coaches have 15 minutes from the end of round five to raise questions regarding scoring. After this period, all scores will be given anonymously.

    C. The decisions of the judges will be final.