The Yellow Board

The Yellow Board
[ The Yellow Board ]

Tuners on the UIL stage?

Posted by Spit Valve 123 on 3/15/2026, 7:32 pm

1. Are tuners with pick-up mic allowed during the stage portion of UIL and
2. Can you warm-up, tune, or play between pieces on stage at UIL?

Re: Tuners on the UIL stage?

Posted by Nick on 4/1/2026, 6:14 pm, in reply to "Tuners on the UIL stage? "

Use them. The only thing judges really care about is how good your band sounds.

Re: Tuners on the UIL stage?

Posted by Hsdb on 3/21/2026, 11:00 am, in reply to "Tuners on the UIL stage? "

Tune in between is fine,.. playing between tunes—not forbidden, but not the best thing. Check pitch is fine, but playing between tunes? Do you really want the judges to hear that, or think you are rehearsing.

Re: Tuners on the UIL stage?

Posted by Me on 3/17/2026, 5:52 pm, in reply to "Tuners on the UIL stage? "

Last did this in 2020.

1. Yes, we practiced with them daily.
2. Also yes. Did a couple of measures of a warm up so kids could hear the room. Tuned after the march and everyone said good work on doing that.

Re: Tuners on the UIL stage?

Posted by DesertJazz on 3/17/2026, 5:45 am, in reply to "Tuners on the UIL stage? "

1. Absolutely! Highly encourage it personally as it can help take some of the load off you in a very stressful day if they have them. The only people who tend to be truly against this philosophically are those who grew up with strobe tunes at the front of the band hall, or are just so 'they must use their ears only.' There are NO UIL rules against this!

2. I would not spend long on a warmup on stage - that's what your warmup time is for. Playing very briefly (like 20-30 seconds max) can be understandable. Play between pieces can mean a lot of things. Personally I have tuned between my march and a lyrical piece that's second to really dial things in (stage is a different temp, kids are going sharper, etc.). Please do not sit and PRACTICE pieces between pieces. That should be obvious, but I was judging with someone who had a school do that recently. If they don't know the music before they get to UIL, they sure ain't learning it that day!

Just keep in mind, if you take time to tune between pieces, that should not be you as the director tuning 5-10 kids individually. That only makes it more apparent where a judge needs to listen to. Also, if you spend time tuning on stage/between pieces, you'd better make certain it's getting better! Nothing worse than watching someone just flounder and make even more of a mess of tuning. (Individual tuners make this more plausible in my opinion as long as kids are taught to use them)

Re: Tuners on the UIL stage?

Posted by Yes on 3/16/2026, 7:21 pm, in reply to "Tuners on the UIL stage? "

1 - Yes. If you do this daily at school, there's no reason not to do it on stage. I've seen Honor Band concerts with tuners on stage.

2 - Yes. It's not a concert. However, the longer you give in between pieces, the longer the judges have to think and write about your performance. Check what needs to be checked - if you notice something is off, kids are switching instruments, tune timpani, etc. You don't need to rehash your entire lip slur routine.

Get most of this done before you start. Before the announcement, do a quick chorale or something to get a feel for the room. Sometimes I'll send another director into the hall, do a section of the music with tricky balance, and make adjustments based on their ears. I know that for our UIL site compared to our home auditorium, tubas need to play out (probably something about stage curtains) and flutes/1st clarinets need to back off. Often the warmup room is cold, then we walk outside to the stage door, then the stage is hot, so we recheck tuning notes.

Re: Tuners on the UIL stage?

Posted by Mithrandir on 3/16/2026, 1:23 pm, in reply to "Tuners on the UIL stage? "

1. Yes
2. Yes, but do you really want to? If anything keep it to a minimum. (e.g. flutes tune after first piece)

« Back to index

[ The Yellow Board ]