Title:
ADJUDICATION OF MUSIC PERFORMANCES IN THREE SELECTED MUNICIPALITY/ DISTRICT IN GHANA

Authors:
Augusta Arko-Mensah, Ghana

Abstract:
This paper presents an inquiry into the adjudication of music performances during cultural festivals within two municipalities and one district in the Central Region of Ghana. It examines the competence levels of adjudicators engaged in the process and elucidates the employed adjudication process, aiming to foster understanding and appreciation among all competition participants. Guided by Dworkin’s theory of interpretation, which delineates pre-interpretive, interpretive, and post-interpretive stages in adjudication, the research adopts a qualitative paradigm, utilizing interviews and document analysis as primary data collection instruments. Convenience and purposive sampling were employed to select both the geographical area and study participants respectively. The findings indicate that the selection of adjudicators is the prerogative of cultural coordinators, resulting in a less competitive process that may compromise competence in adjudication. Furthermore, although the cultural festival employs a scoring system across various disciplines to ensure precision and equity through expert adjudication, adjudicators struggle to provide comprehensive feedback that could aid participating groups in improving future performances. The paper suggests the establishment of strategies to introduce competitiveness in the engagement of adjudicators, coupled with plans to ensure their training as part of the preinterpretive stage before proceeding to the interpretive and post-interpretive stages. This approach aims to enhance the overall quality and effectiveness of the adjudication process.