What is UIL?
UIL stands for University Interscholastic League, and is the organization that coordinates and legislates athletic, academic, and fine arts events in public schools in the state of Texas. The “University” part of the title comes from the organization’s home at the University of Texas in Austin. For orchestra students that have played at least a year, UIL is a very important event in the spring that consists of two components: Concert and Sightreading. The Concert portion of UIL consists of a program of three pieces of music the students prepare and perform for three judges. The judges are also orchestra directors in Texas. Based on the quality of the performance, the judges assign a rating on this scale: 1= Superior, 2=Excellent, 3=Good, 4=Fair, 5=Poor. Ratings of “1” receive an award; we strive for this goal. In Sightreading, the students have 7 or 8 minutes to learn and perform a NEW piece of music for three judges. They are not allowed to play out loud until the actual performance.
