Student Assessment in the Music Classroom

Rocky Mountain High School, Singers

Hallelujah Beethoven -The students sing this piece at an advanced level. -They follow their teachers interpretation very well, staying in character of the style of the music. -The basses had some difficulty lining up words throughout the piece with some of the rhythms. -Some of the entrances were a little sloppy with individuals and sections of the choir. Country Dances Ward Swingle -In this piece, the students tend to drag and slow the tempo down. -At times the students had trouble matching the correct written pitches. -The bass section has some trouble coming in confidently with entrances throughout the piece. -Diction is not always clear within the ensemble making it unclear of what the text is at times. -The sopranos and altos tended to be the ones with the unclear diction the majority of the time. -The students seem to enjoy this piece more than any other piece they are working on currently even though it presents its challenges. -The students show wonderful enthusiasm in their faces and body motions when singing. Water Night Eric Whitacre -Sections of the choir did not always make their entrances at the appropriate times. -Individuals were sticking out of the texture concerning volume. -There seemed to be some question as to when words would a line with some rhythms. -The inner parts of the choir (Tenors and Altos) had difficulty fitting amongst parts of the chords that other members were singing.

-Intonation problems occurred because of the close harmonies and dissonances. -Extreme ranges of the voice are written in this piece and the choir had trouble comfortably hitting some of those pitches accurately and tended to get pitchy or off key. -Students expressed this piece beautifully. They went above and beyond what their teacher wanted at times and made this piece their own. The Storm is Passing Over Barbara W. Baker -Difficulty reading syncopating rhythms throughout the piece. -At times the dynamics were not read properly, but the ensemble would soon after catch on and change to the appropriate dynamic level. -Inner parts hard difficulty hearing their pitches as others were singing with them. -After some rehearsal, students did very well singing in the style of this piece. Articulation and note length were very accurate too at times.