The KMEA Marching Band Committee meets several times each year to review the rules and regulations for KMEA sanctioned marching contests and the State Marching Band Championship. They discuss items such as approving the sanctioned contest hosts, selecting the regional quarterfinal locations, approval of judging sheets and many other relevant items. The 2021 Kentucky Music Educators Association Marching Band Performance Assessment Event Rules and Regulations Handbook contains 25 pages of information. This article covers some items that may be of interest to most spectators.
KMEA marching band competition season:
The KMEA season runs from the Saturday after Labor Day to the KMEA State Marching Band Championships. Bands that wish to qualify for the State Championship are limited to six marching band contests before the KMEA Regional contest. Non-sanctioned preview shows held before Labor Day do not count toward the six contest limit.
Qualifying for regional and state competition:
Bands that participate in a KMEA district level concert festival the preceding spring may become eligible to participate in the Regional Quarterfinals for the current year by attending at least two KMEA sanctioned events in the current marching season.
The Kentucky Music Educators Association has adopted the following ratings:
–Distinguished (superior) 80 – 100
–Proficient (excellent) 60 – 79.99
–Apprentice (good) 40 – 59.99
–Novice (fair) 0 – 39.99
A record of bands receiving a distinguished rating will be posted at kyband.com.
Band Classification:
A marching band’s classification will be dependent upon two components.
1. School size component
A. KMEA will determine the sizes of Kentucky high schools for the past two years as supplied by the Kentucky Department of Education, then calculate each school’s two-year average.
B. All bands that were enrolled in the State Marching Band Championships for either or both of the previous two years will be sorted by school size, and divided into five equal-number groups. If there is a remainder of one, it will be added one to the group containing the smallest schools; if there is a remainder of two, one band will be added to each of the two groups containing the smaller schools, and so forth.
C. 1 point will be awarded to bands in the group containing the smallest schools, 2 points to the bands in the group containing the next larger schools, and so forth.
2. Band size component
A. By August 15 KMEA will collect band sizes (number of student musicians) from band directors who wish to enroll their band for 2019, sort these bands by band size, and divide them into five
equal-number groups. If there is a remainder of one, it will be added to the group containing the smallest bands; if there is a remainder of two, one band will be added to each of the two groups
containing the smaller bands, and so forth. All bands must update their numbers if they change.
B. KMEA will provide a means to request an exception to policy if an increase in band size would change the band’s classification, such as verification from the principal that the student is new to
the school.
C. 1 point will be awarded to bands in the group containing the smallest bands, 2 points to the bands in the class containing the next larger bands, and so forth.
D. If it becomes necessary to equalize the groups by placing two bands with an equal number of students in adjacent classes, the band from the larger of the two schools will be assigned an
additional point for band size.
E. KMEA will add the points assigned to each band due to its school size group and its band-size group, and classify the band according to the following formula—
i. 2–3 points = 1A
ii. 4–5 points = 2A
iii. 6–7 points = 3A
iv. 8–9 points = 4A
v. 10 points = 5A (A 5A band will be one that accumulates 10 points, i.e., will be in the top 20% of bands by school size, and the top 20% of bands by band size.)
3. Each year this procedure will recur, and new classification boundaries will be established.
Band Evaluation
A six-person caption-style system must be used. The only official KMEA captions shall be:
Music Performance Ensemble (20%)
Music Performance Individual (20%)
Visual Performance Ensemble (10%)
Visual Performance Individual (10%)
Music General Effect(20%)
Visual General Effect (20%).
Each caption shall have one evaluator each.
Evaluators judging Music Performance Individual and Visual Performance Individual must be located on the performance field judge at sanctioned contests and the events on the championship weekends.
Other captions (guard, percussion, soloist, etc.) added by the host must be evaluated by separate evaluators. An evaluator evaluating an official KMEA caption must not evaluate any other caption.
Evaluation must begin immediately after the announcement, “(name of band), you may take the field.”
Evaluation must end with the final salute from the drum major.
Entering/Exiting the Field and Time Factors – Bands may enter the field from any point. Each band is permitted to be on the field for a total of 14 minutes. During this period all set-up of equipment and personnel, the actual performance and removal of equipment must occur. A band may not begin its performance until they are announced to enter the field at their allotted time.
2021 fall season only:
A. In the first 5 weeks of sanctioned contests, no showtime minimums will be enforced.
B. In the sixth week of sanctioned contests, each band must perform from a minimum of 5 minutes to a maximum of ten minutes during which time they will be evaluated.
Tabulation – All scores are then combined and any penalties are deducted to determine each band’s final ranking and rating.
Music Performance – 2 judges (2 x 200 x .1 = 40 possible points)
Visual Performance – 2 judges (2 x 200 x .05 = 20 possible points)
General Effect Music – 1 judge (1 x 200 x .1 = 20 possible points)
General Effect Visual – 1 judge (1 x 200 x .1 = 20 possible points)
Total Score (100 possible points)
Ties – Ties will be broken by comparing Music Performance scores. If there is still a tie it will be broken by comparing Visual Performance scores. If after comparing both scores a tie still exist, duplicate awards will be given.
Awards – Awards for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place and ratings will be given to bands in each competitive class. Other placement awards (4th, 5th, 6th) are at the discretion of the contest host. In case of a pre-lims/finals contest, placement awards will be given in each class in the finals competition. If the finals are not separated by class (as in open class), a placement award will be given to each band in finals.
Other Awards (Guard, Percussion) – Other awards (guard, percussion, soloist, etc.) may be given by the contest host. These additional awards are not endorsed or required by KMEA. Drum majors may be evaluated but not ranked or scored. Many contest hosts give these additional awards to reward these sections for the uniqueness and additional practice hours involved in these activities. These optional awards must be evaluated by separate judges.
Regional and State competition – Bands that participate in a KMEA district level concert festival the preceding spring may become eligible to participate in the Regional Quarterfinals for the current year by attending at least two KMEA sanctioned events in the current marching season.
For 2021 only, bands are exempt from the requirement to participate in a KMEA district level concert assessment
the preceding spring.
Regional competitions are held in two locations for each class in both the eastern and western parts of the State. The top six scoring bands from each of the “Regional Quarterfinals” are then combined for a total of 12 bands in each class to compete in the semi-final rounds.
The semi-final round of competition is held during the day in five different locations around the site of the final competition on the same weekend as the state finals. From the 12 bands that compete in the semi-finals, six in each class are chosen to compete in the finals that evening.
This information in much more detail is available to your band director from the “2021 KMEA Marching Band Performance Assessment Event Rules and Regulations Handbook”
Please Note: This information is correct to the best of our knowledge. Sources for this article include the KMEA Marching Band Performance Assessment Event Rules and Regulations Handbook and KMEA Marching Band Committee meeting minutes and the KMEA sanctioned contest judges sheets. You may reprint this article in a contest program or similar publication without permission of kyband.com. If you see any errors or know of any corrections we should make, please let us know. Also, if you have any questions about KMEA marching contest rules we will be glad to find the answer for you. kyband.com.Last update 8/22/2021