Ranking system?

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EGHS_DM
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Ranking system?

Post by EGHS_DM » Sat Jun 06, 2009 10:19 pm

I noticed that there haven't been a lot of new posts, so i thought i might just through this idea out there. Do you think it would be a good idea to have ranking systems in solo drum major competitions? Drum majors i think would be ranked in their respective organizations. I think this would be a fun and new idea to add, maybe something for the future maybe not, what are your thoughts?

ZJH
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Re: Ranking system?

Post by ZJH » Sun Jun 07, 2009 1:13 am

Are you talking about a ranking system per event, or a ranking system for the duration of an entire season? If you're referring to the first scenario, there are organizations that do that as opposed to scores out of 100 points. For drum major competitions adjudicated by the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association in the UK, they rank the drum majors in the areas of Marching and Deportment, Flourishing, and I think Execution.

But if you're thinking about the latter scenario, ranking throughout the season, I think there are some important factors to consider. Judging will be different from event to event, and while in an ideal world judging is uniform and consistent, it's unfortunately not the case. Plus, not everyone goes to the same events, so it would be really hard to make a ranking system that is fair and adjusted for everyone. It's a pretty fun concept to think about though, definitely.

I think another reason it would concern me is that it might cause some biases going into a competition; for example, competitors and maybe even the judge will sort of (subconsciously) develop a mindset that the higher ranked competitors will do better, or maybe even conversely expect more out of them. It's just a bit of human psychology that you can try your best to circumvent, but it's not always completely possible.
"To think idly is to think for the sake of doing nothing, or to think too much on what one has done and not on what there is to do." - San Manuel Bueno, mártir

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