The Standard · Mark CV
How the Judge scores you.
Five dimensions, each scored 0-100. The same rubric a real audition panel uses, calibrated against actual feedback from professional orchestra members. No black box.
Tone
Core sound quality. The Judge listens for centered tone (bow finding the string consistently), weight without forcing, and how the sound holds through dynamic shifts.
Panel-grade (90+)
Sound has weight at quiet dynamics. C-string or G-string rings without pressing. The bow is invisible — the listener hears music, not technique.
Developing (65-79)
Sound thins at the frog or bows out at quiet dynamics. Quality of tone changes audibly across registers. Effort sometimes audible.
Practice direction to improve
Slow long-tones with a metronome at quarter = 60. Focus on bow weight from the elbow, not pressure from the shoulder. 5 minutes/day, every day.
Intonation
Pitch accuracy. On strings: left-hand placement, finger weight, vibrato shape, and bow-speed/pressure interactions all influence pitch. The Judge tracks center-of-pitch on every note plus drift over the course of the take.
Panel-grade (90+)
F-sharp pivots are reliable. Shifts land within 5 cents of target. Pitch holds under pressure (loud passages, fast tempi). Vibrato shape doesn't drift the center.
Developing (65-79)
Drift on descending scales (middle finger pulls flat). Sharps sometimes flat under upper-neighbor pressure. Pitch holds in slow passages but loosens in fast ones.
Practice direction to improve
Drone-against-scale practice. Set a long G drone, play a G-major scale very slowly, listen for which notes pull. Sevcik Op. 1 No. 9 for finger-seating reliability.
Rhythm
Inter-onset variance — how evenly your note attacks land relative to a steady pulse. Tracked on every onset across the take.
Panel-grade (90+)
Sub-7% inter-onset variance. Pulse is felt, not counted. Triplet groups land cleanly. Sub-divisions stay consistent across long bowed passages.
Developing (65-79)
10-15% variance. Triplets sometimes uneven. Subdivisions tighten in slow passages but loosen in fast. Tempo and rhythm get conflated under pressure.
Practice direction to improve
Metronome on every eighth-note for the passage in question, not just downbeats. Practice at 70% tempo with full subdivisions clicked, then drop the click and play.
Tempo
Pulse stability over time. Different from rhythm: rhythm is intra-beat consistency; tempo is whether the average pulse drifts over 30 seconds.
Panel-grade (90+)
Held marked tempo within ± 2 BPM across the take. Climaxes don't rush. Phrase ends don't drag. The pulse is felt as a single span, not a series of recoveries.
Developing (65-79)
Drift of 4-8 BPM across a take. Climaxes accelerate. Phrase ends sometimes pull back, sometimes don't. Pulse loses through complex passages.
Practice direction to improve
Record a take with metronome on through the whole thing. Listen to the playback without the click. Note where you pulled and why.
Musicality
Phrase shape, intent, dynamic arc, rubato choices. The Judge listens for whether the playing has direction — does the phrase from m. 13 to m. 17 actually go somewhere?
Panel-grade (90+)
Dynamics descend without losing tone. Rubato choices read as intentional, not nervous. Phrases have a clear apex and resolution. Style fits the period (Baroque sounds Baroque, Romantic sounds Romantic).
Developing (65-79)
Phrasing collapses into mp by mid-line. Rubato sometimes used to recover from technical difficulty. Style markers blur (Baroque played romantically, Romantic played metronomically).
Practice direction to improve
Sing the phrase without the instrument. The voice intuits the shape; the instrument just executes. If your singing has direction, your playing will too.
How the verdict is decided
The 5 dimensions roll up to an overall score 0-100 with instrument-specific weighting (e.g. bass weights tone + rhythm slightly higher than violin). The verdict — Advance, Callback, or Not Yet — is gated on the overall score crossing audition-tier-specific thresholds: advance typically requires 85+ for All-State, 90+ for conservatory.
Every report includes a confidence value (0-100%). When the Judge is less sure — uncommon repertoire, unusual recording conditions, ambiguous take — the confidence drops and the score becomes more provisional.
Get scored against the standard.
30 seconds of playing. Free first take. The rubric is applied; the verdict comes back.
Face the panelSee a sample report at /sample/report · Glossary of audition terms at /glossary