Choices in a Choral Rehearsal

Every music teacher must answer the questions: what should be taught? how should something be taught? to whom should something be taught?  and why should something be taught? When responding to these questions, individualized assessment can play a key role in determining the answers.

            What? Every choral teacher must decide what musical skills are important to ensure student success.  Some choral directors believe that the performance of choral repertoire is the most important learning outcome of the choral ensemble, while others believe that learning to read music should be the goal of every music teacher.  Some teachers encourage experience of a variety of musical repertoire from many historical periods and cultures, while others believe that students work to their best potential when they have integrated experiences that cross disciplinary boundaries.  Whatever personal philosophy is espoused, it is possible to reinforce those beliefs through individualized assessment of the musical skills deemed to be important.

            How? Determining best instructional practices should be the goal of every educator at every level. Assessment not only provides extrinsic validation of student and teacher performance, but has intrinsic value to students and conductors as an instructional tool. When determining how something should be taught, assessment of individual music students can help to find superior instructional strategies in order to teach musical content. 

            To Whom? Whether a choral director believes music should be a voluntary subject or mandated throughout the curriculum, individual assessment stresses the importance of a musical education. If a teacher is focused on individualized assessment, it demonstrates to students that they are intrinsically valuable to the ensemble, and must “pull their own weight” in the ensemble rehearsal and performance.  It also provides extrinsic motivation for students to participate in the musical classroom, as assessment can and should lead to earned grades for musical skills acquisition. 

            Why? Whether the belief is that students should learn music because it helps them to develop skills important to being a member of society, or that music is intrinsically valuable as an important part of our cultural understanding, assessment can validate and strengthen these arguments.   Students who are held responsible for musical knowledge maintain and reach higher expectations of academic performance, leading to amplified motivation and individual practice of performance and musical skills.

 

(From the interest session “Individualized Assessment in the Choral Ensemble,” by Victoria J. Furby. Presented during the 2012 Eastern Division Conferene)