Scoring Guide

For Musical Theater

Creating / Performing: Musical Theatre
5 / 4 / 3 /

2

/ 1
Exemplary / Proficient /

Basic

/

In Progress

/ Needs Improvement
Vocal Qualities
Pitch / Consistently sings notes with accuracy / Intonation is strong but somewhat inconsistent / Intonation is not consistent / Poor intonation / Complete lack of intonation
Volume / Student can be heard consistently / Generally able to be heard / Rarely able to project vocally / Lack of ability to project voice / Actor was inaudible
Diction / Student can be clearly understood / Student can be mostly understood / Student had difficulty being understood / Great difficulty being understood / Incomprehensible
Breath support / Effective use of breath support / Fluctuation in control of supporting breath / Incomplete understanding of breathing / Pushed or strained vocal quality due to insufficient breath control / No demonstration of breath support
Inflection / The student expresses themselves vocally using a range of tonality and tempo / Vocal range is apparent but not used consistently / Vocal range is limited and expresses little emotion / Vocal range is extremely limited and expresses little emotion / The student’s vocal delivery is flat, void of expressivity
Phonation / Student consistently demonstrates proper voice placement / Vocal placement is occasionally mis-placed / Control of vocal placement is inconsistent / There is considerable vocal tension / The student lacks vocal control
Physicality
Coordination / Demonstrates full control over their body and kinesthetic awareness / Fairly agile / Limited physical control / Extremely limited physical control / Lack of bodily kinesthetic awareness
Direction of Focus / Consistently controls point of attention / Generally able to steer attention of audience / Limited ability to orient audiences point of attention / Totally diffused focus / Distracts focus
Use of Space / Complete understanding of spatial awareness / Moderate understanding of spatial awareness / Inaccurate perception of spatial relationships / Vague idea of spatial relationships / No awareness of spatial relationships
Movement Quality / Highly refined capability to express the character physically / Fundament-ally sound ability to move with quality of the character / Rudimentary physical expression of character / Stilted in their ability to express themselves physically / No personal or character physical expression
Movement Skills
Technical Proficiency / High degree of rhythmic acuity and ability to move accurately within the musical phrase alone or in a group / Frequently demonstrates accuracy in movement / Mistaken perception of movement tasks / Little understanding of movement fundamentals / No understanding of movement fundamentals
Rhythmic Acuity / Innate ability to accurately and consistently fulfill the musical phrase / Somewhat consistent physicalized musical phrase / Inconsistent execution of movement in relation to music / False perception of musicality and beat / No perception of musicality and beat
Musicality / Extraordinary ability to sequence phrases with a consistency of style corresponding to music / Fair ability to perform movements correlating to the music / Absence of clear ability to respond accurately to the music / Haphazard physical response to music / No physical response to music
Ensemble skill / spatial awareness / Sophisticated sensitivity to group interactions in space / Occasional deviation from choral movement / Mistaken physical awareness of members of core / Erratic movement behavior out of sync with group / Is distracting to overall ensemble work
Consistency of style / Persistent appearance of cohesiveness in performance / Generally coherent presentation of choreography / Some coherent presentation of choreography / Little apparent grounding in technique / No apparent grounding in technique
Sequencing ability / Absolute ability to process movement information / Skillful replication of movement motif’s / Meager ability to retain and perform movements / Indeterminate ability to connect movement phrases / No ability to connect movement phrases
Dynamic range / Extraordinary ability to express emotional context in movement / Sufficient understanding of connection between movement & emotion / Insufficient demonstration of qualitative variety in movement / Oblique understanding of movement possibility / No obvious display of movement range
Lighting Design
Execution / Use of color, timing, and luminosity greatly enhanced overall feel of show. Well lit. / Use of color, timing, and luminosity mostly enhanced overall feel of show. Mostly well lit. / Lighting detracted from several moments in the show. / Lighting detracted from much of the show. / Lighting was distractingand failed to serve the show
Setting / Creative and excellent use of lighting to suggest mood, time and location throughout show / Several uses of lighting to suggest mood and setting / Some use of lighting to suggest mood and setting / Lighting was incongruent with mood or setting / No thought was paid to mood or setting
Originality / Consistent use of various aspects of lighting create visual interest. / Lighting used to create visual interest in many moments in the show. / Some lighting used to create visual interest. / Little lighting used to create visual interest. / No understanding of light to create visual interest.
Sound Design
Volume / Balanced audio volume in accordance with stage action / Mostly adjusts volume to enhance stage action / Attempts to adjust volume to enhance stage action / Rarely balanced to stage action / Consistently imbalanced volume in relation to action
Creativity (choices of sound effects, environmental sounds, or supplemental music) / Greatly enhanced the overall feel of the show and were appropriate to the time period and style / Mostly enhanced the show and were somewhat consistent with style / Attempts to enhance the show and were somewhat consistent with style / Rarely enhanced show or were mostly inconsistent with style / Sounds were distracting or inconsistent with style, or non existant.
Sound Quality / Balanced among bass/treble, actor’s voices had a natural quality / Mostly balanced in pitch and mics mostly supported the natural sound of the actors / Some moments of proper sound quality / Few moments of proper sound quality / Sound quality was distracting
Scenic Design
Execution / Overall design greatly enhanced feel of show. / Overall design enhanced overall feel of show. / Design did not have much effect on feel of show. / Little thought to design. / No thought to design or design was distracting.
Setting / Creative and excellent use of scenery to suggest mood and location throughout show / Several uses of scenery to suggest mood and location / Some use of scenery to suggest mood and location / Scenery was incongruent with mood or location / No attention was paid to setting
Originality / Consistent use of various aspects of scenic design create visual interest. / Scenic design mostly displayed visual interest. / Some scenic design used to create visual interest. / Little scenic design used to create visual interest. / No use of scenic design to create visual interest.
Costume Design
Execution / Overall design greatly enhanced feel of show. Costumes fit perfectly. / Overall design enhanced overall feel of show. Costumes fit well. / Design did not have much effect on feel of show. Some costumes fit well. / Little thought to design or. costumes fit poorly. / No thought to design or design was distracting
Setting / Creative and excellent use of costumes to suggest mood and time throughout show. / Several uses of scenery to suggest mood and time. / Some use of scenery to suggest mood and time. / Scenery was incongruent with mood or time. / No attention paid to setting.
Originality / Consistent use of various aspects of costume design create visual interest. / Attention to visual interest through costumes is apparent, but somewhat inconsistent / Some costume design used to create visual interest. / Little costume design used to create visual interest. / No use of costume design to create visual interest.
Choreography
Musicality / Extraordinary ability to sequence phrases with a consistency of style corresponding to music / Fair ability to sequence movements correlating to the music / Absence of clear ability to relate movements accurately to the music / Haphazard physical response to music / No physical response to music apparent
Technical Proficiency / Cast displays high degree of rhythmic acuity and ability to move accurately within the musical phrase alone or in a group / Cast frequently demonstrates accuracy in movement / Cast somewhat displays accuracy in movement / Cast displays mistaken perception of movement tasks / Cast demonstrates no understanding of choreography
Support of Action / Extraordinary ability to sequence phrases consistent with action of the story / Fair ability to sequence movements correlating to the action of the story / Absence of clear ability to relate movements accurately to the action of the story / Haphazard physical response to action of the story / No physical response to action of the story
Student Orchestra
Pitch / Consistently plays notes with accuracy / Occasional distortion of true musical tones/notes / Inconsistent use of correct frequencies / Lack of understanding of tonality / Pitch was distracting to overall enjoyment
Dynamics / Orchestra balances volume in accordance with stage action / Attempts to adjust volume to enhance stage action / Somewhat balanced to stage action / Rarely balanced to stage action / Consistently imbalanced volume in relation to action
Rate / Students consistently play tempo-rhythm in accordance with stage action / Occasional errors impacted by speed, or inconsistency with action / Some ability to express variety via tempo change / Limited ability to express variety via tempo change / Notes indecipherable due to inappropriate speed / diction
Musical Overall
Support of Action / Extraordinary ability to sequence staging consistent with action of the story / Fair ability to sequence staging correlating to the action of the story / Absence of clear ability to relate staging accurately to the action of the story / Haphazard staging response to action of the story / No apparent consideration to stage in response to plot
Overall Aesthetic / Consistent use of various aspects of design create visual interest. / Several moments of design used to create visual interest. / Some design used to create visual interest / Little design used to create visual interest / No use of design to create visual interest.
Cast Dynamics / Excellent display of appropriate casting choices, cast was engaging and exciting to watch / Many appropriate casting choices, cast was mostly enjoyable to watch. / Some display of appropriate casting, few engaging moments. / Little display of appropriate casting, few engaging moments. / Poor casting choices and cast was unengaged or pulled focus from action.
Script Choice / Challenging work perfectly suited to the talent of the available actors that enlightens the audience. / A work well-suited to the talent of the available actors that may enlighten some audience members. / A work somewhat suited to a small number of the available talents and may be overused. / A work suited to few of the available talents and may be overused. / A work that is both unsuited to the available talent and overused.
Pacing / Overall pace of production and transitions was excellent / Pacing was mostly strong with a few moments that lagged / Pacing was inconsistent / Pacing was generally off / No consideration of pacing

1