Music Assessment Techniques for Evaluating the Students’ Musical Learning and Performance in the Philippine K-12 Basic Education Curriculum

The primary objective of this study is to review and characterize research-based music assessments that might be used to guide and assist teachers and students in transforming their attitudes and perceptions, ability to express their ideas and concepts during the assessment process openly. This study employed descriptive and autoethnographic methods to elicit information about current conditions and practices through the library approach and literature review. The identified music assessment techniques were used to determine how well students comprehend important points in a session. It includes the Music Concept Memory Exercise and Instrumental and Vocal Schematic Processing for music lesson instructions and the Five-Letter Name Pitch Memory Test and Three-Chord Familiarization Assessment for basic instrumental music instructions. They are used as a core component deliberately designed to expose classroom teachers and prospective teachers to the essentials for effective instructional practices. Effective evaluation ensures that learners’ knowledge, understanding, and skills are transferred effectively in future contexts.

Neurology Telemusic Program at the Time of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Turning Hospital Time Into Aesthetic Time During Crisis

Strict precautions during the COVID-19 pandemic left patients isolated during already stressful hospital stays. Research indicates that listening to music recruits regions in the brain involved with social interaction and reduces feelings of loneliness. We formed a team of clinicians and clinical musicians to bring music to the bedside, as “psychological first aid.” Our goal was to reduce feelings of anxiety and isolation in patients admitted to the Northwestern Memorial Hospital's neurosciences unit. Participants were offered 30–40-min live music sessions over FaceTime by a violist in consultation with a music therapist and a certified music practitioner. Music used for the interventions was personalized. Participants were evaluated with the Music Assessment Tool where they indicated their musical preferences and music to which they objected. Following the intervention, participants answered a questionnaire assessing how music impacted their emotional state based on a 1–10 Likert scale. Scores were then averaged across all patients and were calculated as percentages. Eighty-seven sessions were completed during a 3-month period. Despite different degrees of disability, most patients engaged aesthetically with the music. The likelihood to recommend (LTR) for the program was 98%; participants tended to highly agree that the intervention improved their emotional state (92%); that it provided a pleasurable experience (92.4%); and that it reduced their stress and anxiety (89.5%). This pilot project showed that the telemusic intervention was feasible for our neurosciences patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our results are consistent with previous in-person hospital-based music interventions and highlight the importance of such programs when in-person interventions are not possible. This pilot project serves as a prelude to further investigate mechanisms by which music interventions can support admitted neurology patients.

“He Sings with Rhythm; He is from India”

This chapter provides a view of music assessment predicated on a belief that the what of assessment in P–12 music education should include understandings and attitudes about music and culture not typically ascertainable through traditional music assessment practices that focus on performing ability and knowledge of musical elements. Six vignettes show the various ways that children’s drawings, as a projective technique of visual representation, might be used to expose and discern (i.e., assess) children’s thinking, understandings, and attitudes about music and culture. It is argued that the multimodality of drawing and talking in response to musical prompts opens up rich potential to inform instruction that better accounts for the lifeworlds of children.

Assessing Music in Early Childhood

In this chapter, pros and cons of assessing young children’s music skills and content knowledge are explored. An integrative literature review is included as well as a thematic review lending support to core themes. Several reasons were identified as to the importance of promoting student assessment as children participate in early childhood music. Use of music assessments in the classroom and for research should consider practices consistent with musical age as well as chronological age. Increased recognition of the importance of music in total development of the child supports need for effective early childhood assessment systems especially by the music education research community as they continue to gather evidence regarding the utilitarian value of music in early childhood. Researchers need to be aware of environmental factors that may impact early music learning and cognizant of current best practices in music education for early childhood. Researcher-developed criterion measures often are not investigated for quality characteristics, and thus rigorous guidelines for such criterion measures are needed. It appears there are no definitive policy or ethics statements regarding early childhood music assessment but both should be considered vital priorities for the profession. Most likely only those scholars with profound interest in assessment and teachers with deep understanding of the role of assessment in teaching and learning will volunteer to respond. Everything developed in such a national network will be useful, providing we start with clearly defined, intended outcomes and then develop assessments to document student attainment of those musical outcomes.

Music Assessment in Higher Education

A major factor shaping educational assessment in higher education has been public and political demand for accountability, which often focuses on improving efficiency and effectiveness. This chapter provides a historical background of assessment in higher education; an international perspective of how expectations of accountability influenced assessment of music in higher education; a review of philosophical foundations of higher education music assessment, accreditor policies, assessment frameworks guiding curricular practice, alignment of policy to documentation of student learning, and barriers that hinder assessment in practice; and implications for future development of higher education music assessment.

Assessment in Music Classes in China

This chapter outlines the historical background and current development of music education assessment in China. Following the revision of the national curriculum guidelines in 2011, the chapter analyzes (1) the value of the national standards at different school levels, (2) how the national standards affect teachers and schools, and (3) how much the teachers read/follow the guidelines in China. This chapter investigates and examines how assessment policy and practice are used in Chinese music classrooms from elementary, middle, and high schools. Furthermore, it discusses how local music teachers assess their music students and the effectiveness of the national curriculum guidelines used in music classes. The author determines that the current practice of music assessment at all school levels in China is too basic and not diversified. Designing a valid assessment that allows students at all levels to demonstrate their learning outcomes seems to be necessary for music education in China.

Technical Issues Related to Computerized Music Performance Assessment

When technology is used for assessment in music, certain considerations can affect the validity, reliability, and depth of analysis. This chapter explores factors that are present in the three phases of the assessment process: recognition, analysis, and display of assessment of a musical performance. Each phase has inherent challenges embedded within internal and external factors. The goal here is not to provide an exhaustive analysis of any or all aspects of assessment but, rather, to present the rationale for and history of using technology in music assessment and to examine the philosophical and practical considerations. A discussion of possible future directions of product research and development concludes the chapter.

Assessment Policy in Music Education

The chapter describes the increasing role of assessment in music in a policy-driven accountability movement. As policy is related to politics and power, assessment has a major connecting role. The emphasis is on understanding the context in which music assessment is critical in providing the interpretive data from students, the curriculum, teacher education, and music programs. The context offered is historical and international, allowing for comparisons and trend analysis. Today’s accountability policies are well intentioned but inadequate as the United States lacks both an overall education and arts policy. In an effort to establish value in music education, policymakers have accepted a range of assessment indicators from regular tests to observations, performances, case studies, portfolios, and even speculations on needed resources for optimum opportunity to learn. Policymakers are receptive to outcomes other than skills to include “whole-child” assessments but less inclined to accept indicators of progress.

Kentucky Policies and Practices for Assessment in Music Education

The chapter provides a detailed account of the past, present, and future of Kentucky policies and practices for assessment in music education (1992–2016). Kentucky (Kentucky Department of Education, 1990) was a leader in systemic education reform and development of arts (dance, drama/theatre, music, visual arts) assessments. Three generations of music assessment models may provide direction in the design of a large-scale data-driven school-accountability arts assessment system. These are: first generation (1992–1998), Kentucky Instructional Results Information System (KIRIS); second generation (1998–2009), Commonwealth Accountability Testing System (CATS), focused on individualized student music assessments; and third generation (2009–2016), Unbridled Learning Accountability Model: Next-Generation Instructional Programs and Support with Program Reviews, addressing arts (music) assessments for the evaluation of quality programs. From 2002 to 2006, the Kentucky Music Education Association (KMEA) partnered with the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) in an experiment using listening prompts versus written prompts in CATS test items.

The Oxford Handbook of Assessment Policy and Practice in Music Education, Volume 2

This volume of the handbook addresses music education practice and technology in 37 chapters written by fifty three leading experts from across the world. The volume is divided into three sections and closes with an epilogue. Part 1, “Music Assessment in the United States,” presents a review of legislation and case law, national assessment trends, and state-level assessment programs in eight states. Part 2, “Assessment of Student Music Learning,” covers the practice of assessment in early childhood, special needs, primary, and secondary music classrooms and ensembles. Part 3, “Assessment and Music Technology,” covers policy and practice for technologically assisted music assessment, and details technical issues related to computerized assessment of music performance. The epilogue brings the handbook to a close with a review of the state of the art of music assessment, and introduces the International Principles of Assessment in Music Education.