Instrument Playing Competition: What It Is, Where It’s Run and How It’s Judged

A talent class in which a pupil plays any instrument alone or as part of a group, judged by a jury within a five-minute limit.

Instrument playing is the open instrumental class of a school talent contest. Instead of naming a violin class, a piano class and a recorder class, the organiser simply says: bring an instrument and play. A child may choose a keyboard, a guitar, a flute, a drum, a harmonica or anything else that can be carried into the hall and played live, and the same class takes a solo player or a small group of friends playing together.

In eTalenter’s data the class is carried by one template, a primary school talent contest in Poland, where it is one of ten talent forms. It is open to pupils of classes 1 to 3, in two entry types: a solo entry and a group entry, both genders, with each performance limited to five minutes. The rules we hold do not list which instruments are accepted or what level of piece is expected, so the organiser’s notice decides that.

An entry is one performance: a player or a group walks on, plays one piece or a short medley, and leaves inside the time limit. Because the class is open to every instrument, a jury is comparing very different things on the same day, such as a first-year recorder tune next to a confident piano piece, so the performance itself tends to count for more than the difficulty of the instrument.

Organisers like an open instrument class because it welcomes children who have lessons outside school and children who have only learned a tune at home, with no need to run separate classes per instrument. For the people running the day it is a single slot with a single mark per performance.

Where Instrument Playing is run

In eTalenter’s data the class is carried by a single template: a school talent contest for primary pupils in Poland, where instrument playing sits alongside singing, dance, storytelling, recitation, acting, cabaret, small theatre forms, acrobatic performance and an open ‘other’ form. Many festivals run instrumental classes, but those are catalogued separately as solo, small-ensemble or large-ensemble items because their age bands, time limits and scoring differ.

• Poland (primary school talent contest)

Key facts

• Open to solo players and to groups, entered by pupils of classes 1 to 3, both genders, any language.
• Each performance may last at most 5 minutes.
• Marking is a single jury mark on a scale of 1 to 6 for each participant; the rules print no per-criterion marks, so none are assumed here.
• The contest asks for any music backing tracks to be handed in before the day, and content that is vulgar, discriminatory, dangerous or provocative is not allowed.
• Which instruments are accepted is not printed in the rules we hold, so confirm with the organiser before choosing an unusual or amplified instrument.
• Idea starters, not rules: a familiar folk tune played slowly and cleanly, a recorder duet, a short piece on a keyboard with a steady left hand, a small percussion group playing one rhythm built up in layers.

On eTalenter, Instrument Playing is filed under On Stage 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, Instrument Playing is most often entered as an Team competition, typically scored out of 6, commonly time-limited to around 5 minutes where a limit is set.

What judges look at in Instrument Playing

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

• Steady pulse: the piece keeps a regular beat from start to finish and does not rush the easy parts or stall on the hard ones. With one mark per entry, a wobbling tempo is the first thing a jury hears.
• Accurate notes and clean sound: the player hits the notes they mean to and produces a pleasant tone for their instrument, which matters more than choosing a harder piece they cannot yet play securely.
• Confidence and stage presence: walking on calmly, sitting or standing properly, starting when ready and finishing with a short bow tells the jury the child has prepared, whatever the instrument.
• Group balance: in a group entry every player can be heard, nobody drowns the others and the group starts and stops together.
• Suitability for the age and the time: a piece that fits within five minutes and suits a class 1 to 3 pupil will score better than one that is cut off. This list is general advice, since the contest prints a single 1 to 6 mark and no scoring table.

Treat these as the judging focus, not a fixed rubric: publish your own weighted criteria for Instrument Playing under Scoring Setup, or start from the full instrumental music judging criteria guide.

How to prepare for Instrument Playing

How entrants and their teachers usually get Instrument Playing right on the day:

• Choose a piece the player can play almost without thinking, then rehearse it until it can be played correctly even when nervous.
• Time a full run with a stopwatch, including walking on, getting settled and the bow, and make sure it finishes comfortably inside five minutes.
• Learn the beginning and the ending especially well, because a clean start and a clear final note are what the jury remembers.
• For a group, decide who gives the starting signal, who sets the tempo and where everyone stops, and practise those moments more than the middle.
• Play in the biggest room you can find, with the instrument tuned and any stand, chair or amplifier you need, so the school hall holds no surprises.
• If a backing track is used, hand it in in the format the organiser asks for, well before the day, and keep a spare copy with you.
• Practise a calm walk-on and a bow; for young children these small steps help nerves as much as extra practice.
• Teachers: check the notice for instrument rules and for how the organiser wants group entries and class lists submitted.

Frequently asked questions

Is Instrument Playing judged individually or as a team?

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

Which instruments can be played in an instrument playing class?

The rules we hold for the contest that carries it do not list accepted instruments, so the organiser’s notice decides. In an open class like this one, children typically bring whatever they play, but unusual or amplified instruments should be agreed in advance.

How long can an instrument playing performance be?

In the contest that carries it, a performance may last up to 5 minutes. Always stay inside the limit set by the event you enter.

Is instrument playing judged individually or as a group?

Both are allowed. The school contest accepts solo pupils and groups from classes 1 to 3, and each performance receives one jury mark on a scale of 1 to 6.

Is it the same as an instrumental solo class?

They are related but different items. An instrumental solo class is a solo-only item with its own age bands and grade levels, while instrument playing here is an open talent form that takes both solo and group entries from the youngest classes in a single slot. eTalenter keeps them on separate pages because they are set up and scored differently.

Can we use a recorded backing track?

The school contest asks for music backing tracks to be handed in before the day, so recorded sound is expected there. Read the rules of the event you enter for the accepted format.

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