In 2013 the World Champion title in female barbershop singing was awarded the Swedish chorus Rönninge Show Chorus. This achievement was historical not only because the winning score was the highest ever in the history of the competition, but foremost because it was made by a non-American chorus. How did this become possible? All participating choruses are assessed by a standard, which among other criteria includes being in command of American English in order to perfect formants, and thereby the united sound of the Chorus. This event has triggered our interest in researching the assessment protocol of the competition, and how such criteria guide the pedagogical work of the chorus – work that has led to mastery and scoring a new world record.
In our presentation we will describe the atomistic standard used in the assessment of musical qualities of the female barbershop singing competition environment: Music, Sound, Expression and Showmanship. These four categories are in turn divided into a number of assessment units. In relation to music education we will focus on the first three categories, which we find to be relevant in any musical work. In addition to this, our presentation will describe the underlying choral work based on interviews with the two conductors of the Rönninge Show Chorus. Finally, we will discuss the barbershop learning practice in relation to a musical educational context: What can we learn from this explicit, atomistic judgement practice in the ongoing discussion regarding atomistic and holistic assessment in music education?