Rockygrass Instrument Contests
Rockygrass Instrument Contests
Rockygrass Instrument Contests
The RockyGrass Music Competitions are traditional bluegrass competitions that began at the 1st Annual Rocky Mountain Bluegrass Festival in 1973. Instrumentalists compete on flatpick guitar, mandolin, banjo, dobro, and fiddle to receive cash prizes.
The preliminary round is held in the Wildflower Pavilion on Friday and the final rounds are held on the RockyGrass main stage on Saturday morning for all to enjoy — with many of the finalists’ performances broadcast live on KGNU Boulder-Denver.
2021 Winners
This year’s instrument contest showcased another dazzling display of virtuosity in the Wildflower Pavilion and the finals on the main stage. Congrats to all the 2021 finalists:
Banjo
- 1st place: Ricky Mier (San Rafael, CA)
- 2nd place: Liam Purcell (Boone, NC)
- 3rd place: Colton Kerchner (Boone, NC)
Flatpick Guitar
- 1st place: Greg Schochet (Boulder, CO)
- 2nd place: Eli Slocumb (Fort Collins, CO)
- 3rd place: Charlie Stevens (Fort Collins, CO)
Mandolin
- 1st place: Eli Slocumb (Fort Collins, CO)
- 2nd place: Liam Purcell (Boone, NC)
- 3rd place: Jean-Baptiste Cardineau (Boulder, CO)
Fiddle
- 1st place: Sam Stage (Raleigh, NC)
- 2nd place: Jackson Earles (Boulder, CO)
- 3rd place: Liam Purcell (Boone, NC)
Dobro
- Due to last-minute cancellations, we were not able to hold the Dobro contest
Prizes
$1,000
$100
$50
Schedule
The preliminary round is held on Friday, July 23 in the Wildflower Pavilion (inside the Festival grounds). The 3 top contestants on each instrument will advance to the contest finals on the Festival main stage on Saturday, July 24. Here are the schedules for each instrument:
- Banjo
- Prelims: Friday, 11:30am, Wildflower
- Finals: Saturday, 10:30am, Main Stage
- Flatpick Guitar
- Prelims: Friday, 1:00pm, Wildflower
- Finals: Saturday, 10:15am, Main Stage
- Mandolin
- Prelims: Friday, 2:30pm, Wildflower
- Finals: Saturday, 10:00am, Main Stage
- Fiddle
- Prelims: Friday, 4:00pm, Wildflower
- Finals: Saturday, 9:45am, Main Stage
- Dobro
- Prelims: Friday, 5:30pm, Wildflower
- Finals: Saturday, 9:30am, Main Stage
Rules & Guidelines
- Each competition is limited to 12 registered contestants.
- On the day of the preliminary round (Friday, July 23), contestants must check-in with the contest staff in the Wildflower Pavilion at least 1 hour before their contest is scheduled to begin.
- Time limit is 3 minutes per song. The judges will mark you down if selections significantly exceed the time limit.
- Contestants plays 2 songs in the preliminary round and 2 songs in the final round if finishing in the top three.
- Repeats of preliminary songs are not allowed in the finals.
- One backup musician allowed. No electric instruments or pickups allowed. Performers at the Festival or RockyGrass Academy instructors may not perform as backup musicians.
- The Picking contest is judged ”in the blind”; i.e. judges will not be in the audience.
- Contestants who have previously won a contest may not enter that contest again.
- The contestant order will be randomly assigned prior to each round.
- In the event of a tie or virtual tie, the judges as a group will be allowed discretion to come to a consensus regarding the winner(s). A virtual tie is defined as total scores within 5 points of each other. Judges may need to confer to ensure fairness and consistency in the rating process.
Scoring
- 50% Overall Ability (includes difficulty, expression, material selection, taste, execution)
- 25% Rhythm
- 25% Tone