Week 5 Homework: Audition and Assessment

1. Create a rubric for the assessment of the lesson plan that you last
wrote. (BT 5-4 p.84)
Rubric for Siyahamba lesson:
Beginning

Basic

Proficient

Advanced

Lacks steady beat

throughout song
No understanding
and application of
historical and
language context
of the piece

Inconsistent beat
throughout song
Some
understanding of
historical and
language context
of piece with no
application to the
piece
Singing is
somewhat in tune
Incorporation of
dance with music
is somewhat in
sync with some
errors

Consistent beat
throughout song
Good
understanding of
historical and
language context
of the piece with
some application
of the knowledge
Singing is in tune
with some errors
Dance is in sync
with music with
some mistakes

Strong pulse/beat
throughout song
Excellent
understanding
and application of
historical and
language content
of the piece

Singing is not in
tune
Dance with music
was not in sync
with piece

Singing is in tune
with no errors
No mistakes in
incorporating
dance with the
music

2. Create a grading plan for your future middle school choir. Specify
important specific skills, knowledge, and participation, and the
associated percentages.
I.
Performance (40%)
a. Concerts held at the end of every semester
II.
Participation (20%)
a. Come to class prepared to sing and eager to learn
b. Participates in class activities and exercises
III.
Assignments (20%)
a. Weekly listening assignments
b. Music theory assignments
IV.
Tests/ Evaluations (15%)
a. Concert critiques
b. Basic sight reading
c. Basic music theory
d. Demonstration of good vocal technique
e. Self- assessment packets

V.

Attendance/ Behavior (5%)

a. Arriving to class on time and ready to sing
b. Cooperation during rehearsals and concerts
c. No disrupting of others

3. Discuss the pros and cons of the 12 criteria for evaluation described by
kotora (2001) on p.142. Then decide on the criteria for grading your
future high school students and assign percentages for grading each.
(BT 9-8 p.143)
Overall, the 12 criteria for evaluation described by Kotora (2001) is a really
good starting point but I would argue against some of them both in their
ranking and in including them in this list. For starters, it is more beneficial to
use video recordings than audio for the simple fact that you can observe
their voice and posture to give more specific feedback than with audio alone.
In the end, nothing can substitute giving immediate feedback but I also think
these should fall under the category of student portfolios as video and audio
recordings are usually included in them. I do agree that concert performance
is one of the most important factors to consider in evaluation as it helps sum
everything they have learned all quarter but in terms of showing parents
their childs individual grade, it is not as important. Individual performances,
singing tests, and student portfolios are some of the best ways to show the
progress of any child to school administrators and parents. That is not to say
that grades are very important but if a music teacher wishes to establish its
validity among other academic courses, it is important to be able to show
how and what the student is learning. I do agree that student attendance is
very important as this usually helps determine how successful a student will
be in the class. As the book mentions, some of these skills are hard to grade
as sometimes time does not permit the teacher to focus on it but an effort
should be made to include as many of these as possible to give students
many opportunities to succeed.

High school Criteria

I.

II.

Performance (40%)
a. Concert
b. Individual
c. Group (in-class and concert)
Participation/ Behavior (20%)
a. Comes to class prepared and ready
b. Shows enthusiasm for singing on a daily basis

III.

IV.

V.

c. Actively participates in class activities

d. Cooperates in rehearsals and concert performance
Assignments (20%)
a. Listening assignments
b. Music theory homework
c. Observing a professional choir rehearsal
Test/ Evaluations (20%)
a. Musicianship skills
i. Sight reading
ii. Scales
iii. Rhythm dictation
iv. Harmonic dictation
v. Melodic Dictation
b. Self- critique of performances
c. Vocal technique
Attendance (10%)
a. Absents
b. Tardiness
c. Punctual