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Extracurricular intelPublished 2026-10-17

79th Music Festival tightens the own choice rule: reuse across classes costs your marks

Rule 3.3.2.3 is withdrawn; repeat an own choice piece or use a set piece and you get comments only.

Gradepath@BeBuddiDigital editor

Official notice

The Hong Kong Schools Music and Speech Association posts on its homepage special announcement an update to the Rules and Regulations – Live Competition Mode for the 79th Hong Kong Schools Music Festival (2027): point 3.3.2.3, which provided that different movements of the same piece are considered as one Own Choice piece, is no longer in effect. The Association states that it is the responsibility of Members and Competitors to ensure that they do not repeat their Own Choice piece of one class in another class, and to ensure that their Own Choice piece is not a set piece of the same section or instrument in the current Festival — the current list of set pieces is posted on the Association website. Competitors who violate this rule will only be given comments; neither marks nor certificates will be awarded to them.

Gradepath analysis

This reads like an administrative detail but it changes the strategy of choosing repertoire. The old rule — different movements of the same piece count as one own choice piece — effectively let a competitor split one long work across several classes, so practising one piece covered three entries. With that withdrawn and cross-class repetition barred, every class you enter needs its own piece, which roughly doubles the preparation load. The second sentence is the dangerous one: your own choice piece must not be a set piece of the same section or instrument in the current Festival. Plenty of students, to save time, reuse the set piece they are already practising as their own choice in another class; that may have passed before, but now the stated consequence is comments only — you will have entered, paid, and performed, and receive neither marks nor a certificate. Before submitting, download the current set piece list from the Association website and check every entry against it, then confirm no own choice piece repeats across your classes. If your repertoire cannot stretch that far, drop a class rather than padding it, and concentrate on the two or three entries you can genuinely do well.

Gradepath@BeBuddi action step

Lock in a daily practice rhythm and get the piece performance-ready →

Official source：香港學校音樂及朗誦協會 ↗

Dates, quotas and admission arrangements follow official and school announcements; the analysis here is general information and is not individual admissions or professional advice.

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