Motivation and Discipline in Music Education

1. Motivation and Discipline in Music Education DEFINING EVALUATION IN MUSIC Good teaching that includes evaluation is illustrated by the private music lesson. The teacher continually evaluation evaluates the student’s performance, making suggestions, changes, and assignments based on his appraisal of the student’s progress.

2. Defining evaluation in Music Cont. The objectives of the private lesson may seldom be stated or carefully thought out, but they are made clear to the student by the teacher’s concern for specific strengths and weaknesses of pupil’s performance.

3. Defining evaluation in Music Cont. At the end of each lesson and, indeed, within the lesson, teacher and student know what the student can do well and what needs attention.

4. Defining evaluation in Music Cont. In the classroom, evaluation is facilitated by a precise definition of the objectives, stated in behavioral terms when possible. Good teaching can happen without stated objectives, but it is just that-a happening. Without objectives that can be verbalized, good music programs and the bands and orchestras come and go with the director.

5. PRINCIPLES FOR EVALUATION In one sense, all teaching can be looked upon as an experiment, a continual process of improving learning through more effective materials and instruction. Simple trial and error is neither good teaching nor good experimentation

6. Principles for Evaluation Cont. Evaluation is dependent upon objectives, and, similarly, objectives cannot function without evaluation. Objectives are still often considered by themselves. They serve little purpose when stated in such general terms that progress toward them cannot be evaluate A common objective in music circles is “awareness”, but it is like the pot at the end of the rainbow, vague and unattainable.

7. Principles for Evaluation Cont. Goals for the band or orchestra must primarily be those taught and reasonably attainable. Evaluation cannot begin after the learning process has started. It must be part of the curriculum planning, taking place at every stage.

8. Principles for Evaluation Cont. It has become educationally fashionable to compare students, schools, teachers, buildings, states, and even nations with respect to school achievement, and it is incumbent upon all teachers to have data indicating that students are learning what they should know and be able to do. The public seems to except football shows, exciting concerts, and contest wins as evidence of a solid music program. Most teachers and thoughtful school board members will require additional evidence if music teachers claimed to be teaching musical understanding, appreciation, ability to read music, and knowledge about music, in addition to those skills needed for a successful performance.

9. Principles for Evaluation Cont. Some schools have adopted a “gain score” or “value-added” approach to evaluation. The objective is to pre-evaluate all students and judge adequacy of the program on the year’s gain. Gain depends on one’s initial ability and achievement level. Students could show marked gain and remain below acceptable standards, or show little gain and the among the nation’s finest.

10. EVALUATING MUSIC AS AN ART The learning related to the understanding music as an art includes factual knowledge; discernment; understanding of style, orchestration, and structure; and perceptual listening skills.

11. Evaluating Music as an Art Cont. Factual Knowledge – the more the students know about the way music is put together, the people who put it together, the way “putting together” differs in various historical periods and countries, and the reasons for those differences, the greater will be his musical understanding. Musical Discernment – discernment is more than recognition of tunes or moods. It indicates the ability to follow the music as it unfolds, to distinguish great music from good music, to recognize the style of the composition, to understand the composer’s message as reflected in the structure and style of the work, and to evaluate accurately the quality of the performance.

12. Evaluating Music as an Art Cont. Recognition of Style and Structure – this is part of both factual knowledge and discernment. It is important to know the style and form of music to be able to listen to a variety of music. By understanding this, one can appreciate a larger variety of music. Auditory Skills – listening skills are a necessary part of music participation. The relationship between seeing and hearing music is close; to mentally hear what is seen in the score and to visualize what is being heard are usually the marks of the skillful listener.

13. EVALUATING MUSICAL SKILLS In the majority of public schools, music was for many years thought of primarily as a skill and usually in narrow sense of performance skill. Other skills must also be developed if performance is to lead to a lifelong interest in music. Chiefly, the other skills fall into two categories: reading skills and auditory-visual skills.

14. EVALUATING MUSICAL SKILLS Cont. Performance skills – any number of vehicles exist for evaluating performance skill. The most familiar of these are private lessons, section rehearsals, daily rehearsals, tryouts or challenges, concerts, contests, and festivals – in short, any type of student performance. Teachers should use a list of specific objectives in order to avoid a subjective judgment Production of good tone throughout the pitch range and the dynamic range The ability to change tone quality to suit the music Accurate intonation A pitch range sufficiently wide for the level of music played Dynamic range from pianissimo to fortissimo An accurate and rapid use of fingers

15. EVALUATING MUSICAL SKILLS Cont. Reading Skills – reading skills are the key to pleasure in musical participation. When the player can understand the musical page by himself without direction from the teacher, he can learn new music on his own, play in ensembles, enrich the family music circle, and in general enjoy a musical freedom. A good sight reading test will follow somewhat similar lines of construction as the Watkins-Farnum test. Insight reading the students should see more than the notes Evaluation should include awareness of the key signatures, all accidentals, dynamic markings, accents, phrase and tonguing (bowing) markings, and recognition of the phrase so that proper articulation is observed

16. EVALUATING MUSICAL SKILLS Cont. Auditory-Visual Skills – this skill depends basically on the ear and its relationship to the eye: the ability to visualize what is being heard and to hear inwardly what is seen on the musical page. Differing from sight reading in that an instrumentalist may successfully sight read by allowing the notation to indicate what fingers to put down rather than hearing inwardly what she reads-she may have to play a melody before she knows how it sounds.

17. EVALUATING MUSICAL SKILLS Cont. Auditory-Visual Skills cont. Auditory visual skill is what the singer uses, for he must hear the music inwardly before he can sing it accurately. Objectives for auditory visual skill: Visualize simple melodies heard Inwardly hear simple melodies seen in the score Ability to recognize the tonal center, modulations, commonly used chords, and unexpected harmonies Ability to remember melodies adequately for following simple formal structure Ability to follow parts other than the principal melody Ability to recognize timbre and texture

18. OBSERVATION Teachers who don’t observe miss a most valuable evaluation tool. Aural and visual observation are critical with ensembles, in which each member’s input affects the results. Most instructional objectives can best be assessed by listening and observing.

19. Observation Cont. Important objectives that can be evaluated by observation are: Posture – from head to toe Bowings Finger position Embouchure Percussion playing position Rehearsal decorum and procedures Behavior Fingerings and slide positions Attitude Cooperation Responsibility

20. Observation Cont. Important objectives Cont… Pencil availability Time on task Concentration (attentiveness) Care of instrument Uniform or concert attire Absence of instrument from school locker Breathing Punctuality Readiness

21. LISTENING Related to observation in his assessment through listening – undoubtedly the most important assessment tool for improving the quality of the ensemble and the learning of its members.

22. Listening Cont. 1. The most accurate listening assessment is when one student performs at a time. Assessment for blend, balance, matching pitch, maintaining one’s own part, and so forth must be done in a group situation, but ideally it should take place in small groups.

23. Listening Cont. 2. It is difficult to make sensible judgments about beginners who have little embouchure control. Timbral differences are easily mistaken for pitch and intonation problems; ear training of musicians seldom extends to sounds of crows, donkeys, and beginning oboists.

24. Listening Cont. 3. Again, listen for specifics to improve listening reliability – listen for tone quality, attacks and releases, centered tones, clarity of production, as well as the correct notes and correct (approximate) rhythms.

25. Listening Cont. 4. Hearing incorrect notes, rhythms or even harmonics in a large ensemble of beginners is not easy and cannot be expected of most beginning teachers. Sectional rehearsals provide the instructor with an opportunity to evaluate individual performers When sectionals are student led, the teacher has a better opportunity to observe and judge.

26. Listening Cont. Contemporary notebooks encourage assessment and included achievement charts that can be prominently posted. These method books at the size skills on an instrument, requiring visual and aural observations as an assessment technique

27. Listening Cont. Students should improvise, understand more than the music performed, improve their musical memories, discover how music is put together, and discriminate among the good and less good in music and performance.

28. PORTFOLIOS Much contemporary literature indicates that a portfolio is an assessment device. It is not. A portfolio is part of a students locker, a place to store important and trivial items of interest and a value.

29. Portfolio Cont. A major advantage of the portfolio occurs when students reflect on the substance of their accomplishments. A disadvantage to the portfolio is that delayed feedback lacks the power and importance of immediate feedback. The portfolio may include homework assignments, extended research projects, awards, trophies, newspaper articles, content sheets, practice cards, letters of appreciation for community service, CDs, mementos of trips, athletic event souvenirs, and any other document that shows their participation and competence in music and music ensembles.

30. Portfolio Cont. Closely related to the portfolio is the student log. The log is a record maintained by the student of his musical experiences and his reactions to them. The log should include both formal and informal encounters with music Concert attendance, recorded performances heard, musical participation in organize groups i.e. church or club ensembles, and on organize happenings 90 campfire singing, combos, family music making

31. Rubricks A rubrics book for the ensemble should be considered, one that describes as clearly as language can portray the established local standards of excellence, proficient, basic, and unsatisfactory. Students should assist in building this book – using their own terms that are sufficiently explicit that agreement among the students is possible. Descriptors need to be formulated for levels of pitch in rhythmic accuracy, tone, aural perception, air identification, and even musical understanding. The rubric accompanied by aural recording that provides a clear example is optimum.

32. Rubricks Cont. Measures of musical aptitude have value. The effectiveness of teaching can be best measured in terms of a student’s potential. Measures of music achievement, both standardized and teacher constructed, should be used. Achievement tests will reflect not only aptitude but also motivation, hard work, parental support, interest, good teaching, and a host of other known and unknown factors that contribute to success in instrumental music.

33. Rubricks Cont. Audio and video tape recorders, including interactive video, are evaluative tools. Used with rehearsals and classes as well as with concerts, recordings provide an opportunity for the teacher to examine and leisure at the strengths and weaknesses of any performance. Students can judge themselves and judge each other. Often, students set higher standards for themselves than those set by the instructor. Computers can judge performances in pitch and read them to whatever degree of precision is desired. The computer is patient, and there’s no opportunity for personal embarrassment when the machine judges and provides the feedback.

34. Rubricks Cont. The music contest or festival can furnish an ideal evaluation situation. To do so, however, both teacher and pupil must use it as an opportunity to learn rather than a glorification of a cause. The private lesson is a fine vehicle for evaluation. The private teacher’s opinion should be solicited and compared with other data on the student’s progress.

35. Rubricks Cont. Interviews with students can reveal special strengths, interests, background, and environment, as well as prejudices, weaknesses, and dislikes. The critical-incidents test is a successful tool for measuring a student’s perception in musical situations. The test consists of having the student describes the best and worst moments of yesterday’s concert or show.

36. Rubricks Cont. 10. Attitude scales are used in many areas of education to discover how students feel about something. The attitude scale is usually a list of statements, each reflecting a slightly different point of view, to which the individual responds with a “strongly agree,” “agree,” “no opinion,” “disagree,” “strongly disagree,” or a similar set of choices.

37. Rubricks Cont. 11. Preference scales are easier than attitude scales to construct and are of value but are seldom instructional and objective. In this scale the student ranks in order of preference such items and school classes, recreational activities, musical compositions, recording artist, tone quality, and others. 12. Practice cards on which the student records the amount of daily practice on her instrument to be useful. In well-run ensembles, students are surprisingly honest.

38. Rubricks Cont. 13. Student demonstrations, whether spontaneous or planned, afford opportunities to evaluate skill and understanding. Spontaneous demonstrations are occur when correct performance of some musical passage or pattern is requested of individuals or sections by the director or section leader. Planned demonstrations of technique, tone, or timbre, performed in public or rehearsal, are an effective device for motivation and learning. 14. Point systems are effective in motivation and evaluations. Cover as many aspects of the student’s development as possible.

39. Rubricks Cont. 15. Checklists ensure greater objectivity and coverage of the factors of musical performance. 16. Teacher-constructed tests are most successful when used to measure knowledge. Specific items that have been taught and emphasized in class or rehearsal are appropriate material for paper-and-pencil tests. 17. Collecting data on student achievement must always be made with reference to objectives.

40. Evaluation of Instrumental Objectives Music involves participation and participation fosters attitudes and habits. Good habits, attitudes, and values have always resulted from engaging in music, and these have their appropriate place in assessment.

41. Eval. of Inst. Obj. Cont. Participation Is the student dependable and punctual? Does the student participate wholeheartedly in rehearsal activities? Reading books, doing assignments, and gossiping during rehearsal are negative indications of participation? Does the student use in their music skills in leisure activities?

42. Eval. of Inst. Obj. Cont. Participation Cont… Do they participate in civic and or church music organizations? Do they take full advantage of school music offerings? Do the students attend concerts? Do the good habits of group participation carry over into their everyday life? Participation can be evaluated by student logs, checklists, interviews, critical incidents measures, practice cards, and point systems.

43. Eval. of Inst. Obj. Cont. Attitude Does the student participate fully and willingly? Do they act in a democratic and cooperative spirit? Where does music rank in the students preference for school subjects? In their preference for recreational activities? What selections and kinds of music does the student for? Attitude can be appraised using the questions under participation and by sophisticated attitude scales.

44. Eval. of Inst. Obj. Cont. Habits Does the student have a regular daily practice routine? Does the student consistently warm up or warm down properly? Does the student routinely take care of their instrument? Is concert attendance and record buying habitual within their means? Good habits do not spring automatically from a good music program. Like transfer of training, habits must be specifically taught by insistence on schedule and routine.