Family Music Making Competition: What It Is, Where It's Run and How It's Judged

A mixed-ability group makes music together in one shared performance, judged as a single team on ensemble, musical effect and how well everyone is included.

Family music making is an ensemble class built around playing together rather than showing off a soloist. Several people perform one piece as a single group, and the idea is that players of different ages and different levels can share a stage: a confident older player alongside a beginner, a singer with a recorder and a ukulele, or a small mixed band of whatever instruments the group has to hand.

A round is a single performance of one piece inside the time limit. The group walks on, settles quickly, and plays or sings its piece once through. The adjudicator listens for whether the players start together, keep a steady pulse, balance their sound so that no one is lost, and finish as one. Because the players are unlikely to be equal, the piece itself matters: a well-chosen arrangement gives each person a part they can do well.

On paper an entry is one named group with a list of performers and one piece of music. The British template that carries this class puts it in a single open team group with a limit of 8 minutes, counted per head, marked out of 100, for boys and girls together. The source syllabus lists the class for performers aged 18 and under, so organisers should confirm how their own event defines who may take part before opening entries.

Organisers value the class because it widens a music festival beyond graded soloists. Friends, siblings and school or community groups who would never enter a graded solo class can still take part, and the class often becomes one of the warmest sessions of the day. It also asks the adjudicator to reward inclusion and teamwork, not only technical polish.

Where Family Music Making is run

Family Music Making appears on one eTalenter template, a British music, speech and drama eisteddfod, in its instrumental and ensemble section beside Classical Ensemble and Rock & Pop Group. Mixed-ability ensemble and community music classes are a familiar idea at music festivals generally, but this page records only the template listed here.

• United Kingdom

Key facts

• Team entry judged as one group, open to boys and girls together
• One open team group on the template, with no separate age bands
• Template time limit is 8 minutes, calculated per head
• Marked out of 100; the template prints no separate criteria
• Source syllabus lists the class for performers aged 18 and under
• Source syllabus: an entrant may enter a given class only once, so one person cannot appear in two entries in this class

On eTalenter, Family Music Making is filed under Music and typically scored with Marks. It appears in 1 ready-made event templates — each one can adjust its time limit, age-group assignment and scoring setup independently.

Across the templates that use it, Family Music Making is most often entered as an Team competition, typically scored out of 100, commonly time-limited to around 8 minutes where a limit is set.

What judges look at in Family Music Making

What a Family Music Making panel is actually weighing up, and where the marks are usually won or lost:

• Ensemble: everyone starts together, keeps the same pulse and finishes together
• Balance: stronger players support the others and no one part drowns the rest
• Inclusion: every member has a real, audible part rather than being a passenger
• Musical effect: the piece sounds shaped, with dynamics and a sense of purpose, not just notes played in order
• Choice and arrangement: a piece pitched so the least experienced player can succeed earns more than one that is too hard
• Presentation: a calm entrance, clear communication between players and a tidy exit

Treat these as the judging focus, not a fixed rubric: publish your own weighted criteria for Family Music Making under Scoring Setup, or start from how judge scoring and tabulation works in eTalenter.

How to prepare for Family Music Making

How entrants and their teachers usually get Family Music Making right on the day:

• Choose a piece that suits the least experienced player and then arrange the other parts around it
• Give each person a clear job, such as melody, rhythm, bass line or a simple percussion part, so nobody is left idle
• Rehearse together from the first week, because a mixed group needs time to listen to one another
• Agree who counts the group in and practise the start and the ending until they are the same every time
• Time the whole piece, including the count-in, and keep it inside the 8-minute limit
• Record a run-through and listen for any instrument that is too loud or too quiet
• Plan the stage layout and who carries which instrument, so the change-over is quick
• Perform to a small audience of friends or family beforehand to settle nerves

Frequently asked questions

Is Family Music Making judged individually or as a team?

Across eTalenter's templates it's most often run as an Team entry, though an organiser can set either participation type when assigning the item to an age group.

Does a family music making group have to be related?

The template does not print a rule about relationships. The source syllabus lists the class for performers aged 18 and under, so check with your own organiser how the class is defined before entering.

How long can the performance be?

On the template the limit is 8 minutes, calculated per head. Check how your event applies that to a larger group.

Is it judged individually or as a team?

As a team. The group receives one mark out of 100 for the whole performance.

Can someone play in more than one group?

The template source syllabus says no entrant may enter more than once in the same class, so each person can be in only one entry.

Want the full judging picture? Read how judge scoring and tabulation works in eTalenter, or browse every music competition item.

Try Family Music Making in eTalenter

See every ready-made template that runs Family Music Making, and install one as a live event — age groups, rules and scoring included.

See where Family Music Making is used