Singing Choir Competition: What It Is, Where It’s Run and How It’s Judged

A team of sixteen girls singing one English piece together to keyboard accompaniment, in the one eTalenter template that carries it, marked out of 100 with 35 for technique and 30 for interpretation.

A singing choir is a group of voices judged as one instrument. In the provincial scouting talent contest for registered girl scouts in Bohol, in the Philippines, that carries it in eTalenter, the class belongs to the Cadet level and is a team entry for girls only. The rules print a choir of sixteen Cadet girl scouts, with a conductor and an accompanist alongside them, who sing in English to keyboard only. The panel is therefore listening for what the sixteen voices achieve together, not for any one singer.

The mark scheme shows what that means in practice. Technique carries 35 of the 100 marks, so pitch, blend, balance, diction and breathing together decide more than a third of the result. Musical and artistic interpretation carries 30, which rewards a choir that shapes the phrases and moods of the piece with its conductor. Difficulty of the piece is worth 15, so a choir is rewarded for choosing music that stretches it, provided it can still sing that music cleanly. Choreography and overall performance are worth 10 each.

The word choreography is the unusual part. Most choral classes mark the sound alone, but this one gives a tenth of the score to how the group moves and presents itself, so a choir that stands still and sings well can still lose marks that a choir with simple, tidy movement keeps. The printed rules give no further detail on what counts as choreography, so teams should read their own notice and keep movement small enough that it never damages the singing.

A round is short and fixed. Each choir gets a window of three to five minutes, the template sets five minutes as the maximum, and the accompaniment is a keyboard played live, not a recorded track. The class sits in a programme where the other Cadet entry is the individual spoken word class, and each girl may enter one category only at a level, so a girl in the choir does not also perform that solo piece in the same edition.

Where Singing Choir is run

The title appears in one eTalenter template, a provincial talent contest for registered girl scouts in Bohol, in the Philippines, where it is a Cadet-level English-language class open to girls only and entered by a team of sixteen. Choir classes are among the most widely run items in school festivals, eisteddfods and youth music competitions in many countries, and eTalenter carries separate pages for those, but this page does not describe any other event as running a class called Singing Choir.

• Philippines (Bohol)

Key facts

• A Team item in the one template that carries it, open to girls only
• Run at the Cadet level only, entered as a separate Cadet Choir group in the template; the Cadet age band (13 to 15) is a placeholder the coordinator should set
• Printed team size is sixteen Cadet girl scouts plus a conductor and an accompanist; the platform has no field for the headcount, so it stays a registration rule
• Sung in English with live keyboard accompaniment only
• Marked out of 100 in five headings: Technique 35, Musical and Artistic Interpretation 30, Difficulty of Piece 15, Choreography 10, Overall Performance 10
• The rules give three to five minutes; the template sets five minutes as the maximum

On eTalenter, Singing Choir is filed under Music and typically scored with Marks. It appears in 1 ready-made event templates — each one can adjust its time limit, age-group assignment and scoring setup independently.

Across the templates that use it, Singing Choir is most often entered as an Team competition, commonly run for Female, typically scored out of 100, commonly time-limited to around 5 minutes where a limit is set.

What judges look at in Singing Choir

What a Singing Choir panel is actually weighing up, and where the marks are usually won or lost:

• Technique (35 marks): pitch accuracy, blend between voices, balance between parts, clear diction and sound breathing; the largest block of marks, so a choir that is slightly under pitch loses more here than it can win back anywhere else
• Musical and artistic interpretation (30 marks): phrasing, dynamics, the mood of the words and the way the choir follows its conductor; a correct but flat reading of the piece scores well below one with shape and contrast
• Difficulty of the piece (15 marks): the choice of music is part of the contest, so a more demanding arrangement earns more, but only if it is sung cleanly. A hard piece sung badly gives up Technique marks to gain a few here
• Choreography (10 marks): how the group moves and is presented on stage. The rules print the heading without detail, so treat tidy entrances, even spacing and small, shared movements as the safe reading, and never let movement disturb breathing or tuning. This is general advice, not a printed rule
• Overall performance (10 marks): the impression of the whole item from walk-on to last note, including confidence, expression and unity; it rewards a choir that looks and sounds like one group
• Time discipline: the window is three to five minutes with five as the template maximum, so choose a piece, or a cut of one, that fits comfortably. This point is general advice, not a printed heading

Treat these as the judging focus, not a fixed rubric: publish your own weighted criteria for Singing Choir under Scoring Setup, or start from the full singing competition judging criteria guide.

How to prepare for Singing Choir

How entrants and their teachers usually get Singing Choir right on the day:

• Choose the piece first, with the weights in mind: 15 marks reward difficulty and 35 reward technique, so pick music that stretches the choir a little but that all sixteen voices can sing in tune from memory
• Rehearse in sections before the full piece: first each voice part alone with the keyboard, then pairs of parts, then the whole choir, so that blend is built up and not hoped for on the day
• Work on the opening note. With a live keyboard the accompanist gives the starting pitch; practise taking it together on the first beat and holding it, because a ragged start sets the panel against the rest of the item
• Mark the breaths in every score. Choirs lose marks for gaps in the middle of phrases; agree where everyone breathes and where staggered breathing hides a break, and rehearse it until it is automatic
• Keep choreography simple and rehearsed with the singing, not added afterwards. A few shared gestures or a clean entrance and exit are safer than complicated movement that costs the choir its breath control
• Rehearse with the real accompanist and the real conductor at the real tempo several times. A tempo that is too fast for the diction, or an accompanist who does not follow the conductor, damages the technique and interpretation marks together
• Time a full run with the entrance, the piece and the exit. Aim to finish inside five minutes, and fix a clear cut so a long run can be shortened without losing the ending
• Run one mock round in front of an audience and ask for comments on the three largest headings, technique, interpretation and difficulty, before spending any time on smaller ones

Frequently asked questions

Is Singing Choir judged individually or as a team?

Across eTalenter’s templates it’s most often run as an Team entry, commonly for Female, though an organiser can set either participation type when assigning the item to an age group.

How many singers are in a Singing Choir?

The printed rules for this class describe a choir of sixteen Cadet girl scouts, with a conductor and an accompanist in addition. The platform has no field for a headcount, so the coordinator keeps the number as a registration rule and checks entries against it.

Is the choir accompanied?

Yes, by keyboard only. The rules name a keyboard played live, so recorded backing tracks and other instruments are not part of this class as printed.

Why does a choir get marks for choreography?

Because the mark scheme for this class lists it as one of five headings, worth 10 out of 100. The rules do not explain it further, so teams should keep movement tidy and simple and ask the organiser for the detail in the contest notice.

Can a girl sing in the choir and enter another category?

The rules allow one category only at any level. A Cadet in the choir therefore cannot also enter the Cadet individual spoken word class in the same edition.

How long can the choir perform?

The rules give a window of three to five minutes, and the template sets five minutes as the maximum.

Want the full judging picture? Read the full singing competition judging criteria guide, or browse every music competition item.