Musical Understandings

This chapter addresses assessment of students as musical learners, rather than merely as performers. Ensemble music teachers often conceive of each class as a rehearsal, the focus of which is to improve the group’s performance of concert repertoire. The assumption is that individual skills will inherently improve in this paradigm, but too often the resulting individual skills are uneven or lacking. Individual instruction and assessment of musical foundations is a path to better ensembles. Students can build musical independence through deepening their knowledge base and assisting with interpretation. Improving their ability to critique musical performances facilitates other self and peer assessment activities. Assessment of knowledge, reasoning, creative products, and dispositions facilitates transfer and students’ ability to understand what they are performing and why they are performing it.