One player performs a single piece on an instrument of their own choice, judged on their own against others in the same age or school-grade band, with time limits from three to twelve minutes depending on the festival.
Instrumental Solo is the open class for a single player. One entrant walks on, plays one prepared piece on the instrument they have chosen, and walks off; there is no accompanying team, no choir and no group score. In the festival data behind our templates the class is always an individual entry open to boys and girls together, and it is usually set up as an own-choice class, which means piano, guitar, violin, flute, recorder, drums and many other instruments can all appear in the same session.
How a round runs depends on the festival, but the shape is the same. Entrants are grouped by age or school grade so a seven-year-old is never compared with a seventeen-year-old. The adjudicator sits in the hall, each player is called in programme order, plays within the time limit, and the adjudicator writes comments and, at most festivals, awards marks. The printed limits in our data range from three minutes for the youngest bands up to twelve minutes for an open adult band, so the same class can mean a short rhyme-length piece or a full movement.
An entry looks like a rehearsed, memorised or well-prepared piece of music with a confident start and a clear end. Because the instrument is the entrant's own, the organiser's practical questions are about the room rather than the music: whether a piano or keyboard is provided, whether amplified instruments are allowed, whether a backing track or accompanist is permitted, and how long the changeover between players takes. Those details sit in the festival's own syllabus, so confirm them before you publish rules.
Organisers run an instrumental solo class because it is the simplest, most flexible music class to staff: one adjudicator, one stage, one timetable, and room for every instrument without writing a separate class for each. It is also where most young musicians have their first public performance, so a fair, friendly class with honest comments does more for them than a large prize list.
Where Instrumental Solo is run
In eTalenter's data this class appears in five templates: a district arts festival in Ontario, Canada (six bands from Grade 3 and under to Adult, 8-minute limit); a Welsh-language eisteddfod on the island of Anglesey in Wales (four bands from Year 6 and under to Open, 3 to 12 minutes); a city eisteddfod in New South Wales, Australia (five age bands from 9 and under to Open Age, 5 minutes); a youth talent expo in the United States (three divisions by age, 5 minutes); and an online Sunday-school competition (four bands, 3 minutes). Instrumental solo classes of this kind are common at eisteddfodau, music festivals and talent contests across the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States, but the age cut-offs and time limits vary, so check the organiser's own syllabus before assuming the same numbers.
- Canada (Ontario)
- Wales
- Australia (New South Wales)
- United States
Key facts
- Individual entry, open to boys and girls together; the language setting is "any" except at the Welsh-language festival, where the stage language is Welsh
- Age or school-grade bands differ by festival: six bands from Grade 3 and under to Adult in Ontario, four bands in Wales, five age bands in New South Wales, three age divisions in the US talent expo and four named brackets in the online Sunday-school contest
- Printed time limits in the data: 3, 5, 8, 10 and 12 minutes depending on the band and festival (8 minutes for every band in Ontario, 5 minutes for every band in New South Wales and the US expo, 3 minutes in the online contest)
- Marks are out of 100 at four of the five festivals; the Ontario festival prints no numeric points, so its template uses a nominal 10-point scale
- One festival's printed instrumental sheet splits 100 marks into five areas of 20: Accuracy, Tone, Technique, Interpretation and Presentation
- Idea starters, not rules: a graded exam piece played from memory, a folk tune with a slow section and a fast section, a short piece that shows two contrasting moods, a school-band part rewritten as a solo
On eTalenter, Instrumental Solo is filed under Music and typically scored with Marks. It appears in 5 ready-made event templates — each one can adjust its time limit, age-group assignment and scoring setup independently.
Across the templates that use it, Instrumental Solo is most often entered as an Individual competition, typically scored out of 100, commonly time-limited to 3–12 minutes where a limit is set.
What judges look at in Instrumental Solo
What a Instrumental Solo panel is actually weighing up, and where the marks are usually won or lost:
- Accuracy (printed on one sheet): the right notes at the right time, including pitch where the instrument allows it; a clean, steady performance of an easier piece usually beats a hurried attempt at a hard one
- Tone (printed on one sheet): the quality, control and balance of the sound; a clear, even tone across the whole range of the instrument earns more than loud playing
- Technique (printed on one sheet): rhythmic accuracy, articulation and steadiness of tempo; slowing down for the difficult bar is where many entrants lose marks
- Interpretation (printed on one sheet): understanding of the music, expressive marks and style; dynamics and phrasing show the judge the player has thought about the piece
- Presentation (printed on one sheet): posture, poise and stage manner; a calm entry, a clear start and a tidy finish count even before the first note
- Time discipline (general advice): every festival prints a limit and some deduct marks for going over, so a piece that finishes inside the limit with room to spare is safer than one that is cut off
Treat these as the judging focus, not a fixed rubric: publish your own weighted criteria for Instrumental Solo under Scoring Setup, or start from the full instrumental music competition judging criteria guide.
How to prepare for Instrumental Solo
How entrants and their teachers usually get Instrumental Solo right on the day:
- Confirm the band and the time limit with the organiser first: the same class is 3 minutes at one festival and 12 at another, and the piece must fit the printed limit
- Choose a piece the entrant can play cleanly at the right tempo, not one that only works at half speed; most judges reward a secure performance of an easier piece
- Work backwards from the date: learn the notes in the first weeks, shape dynamics and phrasing in the middle weeks, and run through the whole piece without stopping in the final fortnight
- Practise slowly with a metronome or a steady beat, then bring the tempo up in small steps, because steady tempo is a printed criterion on some sheets
- Rehearse the walk-on: tune or check the instrument before the session, settle posture, take a breath and start; a shaky first bar is usually nerves, not skill
- Play the piece to an audience at least twice before the day, even a family audience, so the first performance in front of people is not the real one
- If the festival allows an accompanist or a backing track, agree the arrangement and the starting cue in advance; if not, practise playing alone with no support
- After the day, read the written comments and pick one target for the next festival: tone, tempo or interpretation
Frequently asked questions
Is Instrumental Solo judged individually or as a team?
Across eTalenter's templates it's most often run as an Individual entry, though an organiser can set either participation type when assigning the item to an age group.
Can any instrument be used in an Instrumental Solo class?
In the festivals behind our templates the class is own-choice, so any instrument can be entered. The organiser may set limits on what is provided in the hall, such as a piano or keyboard, so ask what equipment is supplied and whether amplified instruments are allowed.
How long can the performance be?
It depends on the festival and the band. The printed limits in our data are 3, 5, 8, 10 and 12 minutes, so the Ontario festival allows 8 minutes in every band while the Welsh festival runs 3 minutes for the youngest players and 12 for the open band. Always use the limit printed for your own event.
Is the class judged out of 100 marks?
Four of the five festivals use marks out of 100, and one of them prints five areas of 20 marks each: accuracy, tone, technique, interpretation and presentation. The Ontario festival prints no numeric points, so the template uses a nominal 10-point scale and the written comments are the real feedback.
Is this the same as the Instrumental Small Ensemble or Large Ensemble classes?
No. Instrumental Solo is a single player judged alone. The small and large ensemble classes are for groups, with their own size rules and time limits, and they appear as separate pages and classes.
Want the full judging picture? Read the full instrumental music competition judging criteria guide, or browse every music competition item.
Try Instrumental Solo in eTalenter
See every ready-made template that runs Instrumental Solo, and install one as a live event — age groups, rules and scoring included.
