Roundtable: Assessing student learning: Using interdisciplinary synergies to develop good teaching and assessment practice

Sydney Masonic Centre

Tuesday September 4, 2007

Title: Performance assessment of classical woodwind instruments in the Australian tertiary sector.

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Author: Heather Monkhouse

Conservatorium of Music, University of Tasmania

How does current assessment work? Does it provide students with a useful learning experience and effective feedback or can we do better?

The assessment of instrumental performance is most usually done using one of three methods: a teacher’s report, a technical exam or a recital performance. Apart from the teacher’s report, a panel is formed to assess performance, and it is not always the case that the instructor will sit on the assessment panel. Not all three types of assessment may occur in any one semester; indeed predominantly there is usually one or two only.

When do these assessments occur? What is their purpose? In the weekly one-on-one instrumental lesson the focus is predominantly formative: immediate, personal and directed feedback designed to improve performance. So should we assess learning, or do we evaluate mastery, or should we do both? Does our assessment encourage professionalism? In professional life a performer is judged on the performance on the day, and only on the impression so made.

Finally: panel assessment? The performance is authentic; what about the marking? How do we teach students to understand it is impossible to control audience reaction?

Keywords: instrumental performance assessment, authentic assessment, panel assessment.