When a new school year starts, many teachers want to begin making music right away, and actively exploring musical concepts from last year and moving toward new musical understandings.
When we start the school year, where might we begin musically? How will we know what students remember from last year? How will we keep music class active, while reviewing previously learned concepts?
Let’s look at a few ways to review and assess at the beginning of the year. We’ll clarify what assessment is (and isn’t) in this context, we’ll talk about choosing what to assess, the assessment process, and documentation options.
Let’s jump in!
Assessments, Grades, & Documentation
Many of us come to conversations about assessment with some baggage from undergraduate or graduate degree programs or administration.
When I discuss these terms, here are my definitions:
Assessments: How we know what students need from us next
Grades: Markings meant to show achievement
Documentation: Preserving data through video, audio, or written text
For the purposes of this conversation, we probably don’t care about grades. We do care about assessments because that’s the mechanism we’ll use to plan the next class. The assessments might be documented a number of ways, depending on what works best for each unique teaching situation.
Ensemble Context
It’s also helpful to point out that not all assessments need to be individual. In fact, most of us care about how our students perform in an ensemble setting more than an individual solo setting. The assessment context we’re talking about today is within an ensemble.
Assessing What We Care About
For many of us, we don’t actually care if students have memorized a symbol and assigned it a Standard Western Notation name.
What’s actually more valuable is how students embody and interact with the musical material.
Since that’s what we care about more than rote memorization, that’s where we’ll start the assessment process.
The Review & Assessment Process: Do, Describe, Label, Use
This review and assessment process moves from singing and playing games (do), to noticing the musical characteristics of the material (describe), to aligning vocabulary to discuss the musical element (label), and to extending our use of the element in a creative way (use).
There are examples of the individual steps below. However, in the classroom, these steps might not happen in a neat, isolated way. For some groups we might condense the process as a whole, shortening each activity so it takes place in a single lesson. For other groups it will be more appropriate to extend the activities through several weeks, depending on how much review students need.
The data we gather from students during the activities will inform pacing.
These review experiences will likely be the core activities in the first weeks of school, but they certainly won’t be the only activities. We’ll combine them with other songs, games, and activities that move us toward future learning.
Do: Making Music
The first step of our process is to actually do the skill we’re assessing!
This is the fun part, and this is actually the core assessment step. Everything else we do comes from these experiences.
Here are a few examples:
Example 1: Catchy Song
This is the circle game from last year’s 3rd Grade concept plan for taka-di inside The Planning Binder, and part of the review process for 4th and 5th grade this year.
The form of the song is Chorus, Verse 1, Chorus, Verse 2, Chorus.
The movements for the chorus and the verses stay the same throughout the song. (Note: it can be helpful to slow the playback speed when introducing the song.)
Assessment Question: Do students play the rhythm accurately in the game?
Example 2: Plainsies Clapsies
Students love this game! This is part of the 2nd Grade Melody Review concept plan.
Consider using a scarf, cotton ball, napkin, or tissue. When students are ready, they can advance to using a bean bag or a small ball.
Sing and play game
Sing on a neutral syllable and use your scarf to show the melodic contour
Assessment Questions: Do students match pitch in the game? Do they show the melodic contour accurately?
Example 3: Tortillitas para Mamá
This popular rhyme is well-known and well-loved in many places! We’re using this inside the 1st grade Steady Beat Review concept plan inside The Planning Binder.
Speak the rhyme and pat tortillitas.
Replace “mama” and “papa” with students’ names
What will we put inside the tortilliats when they’re done? Students suggest foods between rounds of the rhyme.
Assessment Question: Do students pat a consistent and accurate steady beat in time with the rhyme?
What Materials to Use
Because we’re using this as a baseline assessment, we want to be sure students are familiar with the song. This helps ensure the validity and reliability of the assessment results.
With validity and reliability as a consideration, we’ll probably want to start our musicing with songs students already know and enjoy. Consider singing and playing games from last year as review, then adding in new repertoire.
Assessment that Feels like Play
This is the part of the process that feels like play. At this point in the assessment process, we’re mainly working on remembering what it’s like to be in the music class and interact with each other.
Assessment questions:
At this point in the assessment process, we’re primarily interested in how students actualize the musical material. That is, how they music. These assessment questions have a lot to do with the accuracy of the performance.
Do students match pitch? Do students sing the target element in the context of the repertoire? Do students keep a steady beat? Do students play body percussion to the rhythm of the song?
This information sets us up well to move on to the next step of the process.
Describe: Noticing Music
In the next class, the same class, or several classes later, students might be ready to notice the musical features of the song material.
With the target element in an extracted phrase, students can notice its characteristics. Is it high or low? How many times do they hear the high note? Is the rhythm from the extracted phrase long or short? Where is the longest word? What’s the form of the song?
Example 1: Catchy Song
Play the circle game.
Notice that the rhythmic form is aaab (same same same different).
Speak and point to steady beat strips on the board.
With a partner, students figure out where each of the words go over the steady beat strips as the teacher walks around the room.
Notice a “short short long” pattern on the second beat.
As a class, transfer text notation to graphic notation.
Assessment Questions: In their partner conversations, do students accurately identify the text placement of the words? Are there any points of friction in the process of moving from playing the rhythm, to moving text, to showing graphic notation? How much teacher input does the process take?
Example 2: Plainsies Clapsies
Play the game.
Isolate the phrase, “right hand, left hand” and aurally identify sol and mi in “left hand”
What do you notice about the “right hand” part? Is it the same melody or different? (different)
Sing the same phrase with sol and mi in the last two beats (“right hand, sol mi”)
Sing the phrase again. Students throw their scarf on the highest pitch they hear.
Aurally identify that “hand” is the high pitch and that it’s higher than sol.
Assessment Questions: Do students aurally identify the descending minor third pattern as “sol mi”? Do they aurally identify the highest word in the phrase? Do they identify that it’s higher than sol? How much teacher input does the process take?
Example 3: Tortillitas para Mamá
Speak the rhyme and pat the tortillitas
As we pat these tortillitas, do our hands stay steady or unsteady? Let’s check. (steady)
Do they stay steady the whole time? Let’s check. (the whole time)
Assessment Question: Do students identify that the motions of the rhyme stay steady?
Assessment Questions:
These assessment questions are geared toward seeing what students notice about the new element. In this stage of the process, we’re interested in how students aurally zoom in on the musical characteristics of the material. Is the element we’re discussing long or short? Even or uneven? High or low? How much higher? How much lower?
The Review and Assessment Process:
This part of the process will have many variables! It’s entirely possible that in a single lesson, this step of noticing and describing an element will blend directly into the labeling step. This will depend on how familiar students are with the material and aural identification process from last year. If students are ready to move ahead, great! If not, we can stay in this step as long as we need.
Label: Assigning Vocabulary
After students have sung songs and played games, and after they’ve articulated what they notice about the music, we might be ready to move on to labeling.
When we label an element, we assign it a common classroom vocabulary.
Real musicians call these elements many things and write them many different ways! Sometimes real musicians don’t label these elements at all, and they don’t write them down. They just use them to make music.
Because real musicians can use so many different terms to describe music, it can be helpful to have a common classroom vocabulary so we can communicate visually and aurally more effectively.
Example 1: Catchy Song:
Review ta-di and taka-di. Compare those rhythms to other previously learned rhythmic elements, like ta, takadimi, and ta-dimi.
Example 2: Plainsies Clapsies:
Review the hand signs for sol, la, and mi. Review where these pitches live on the staff.
Example 3: Tortillitas para Mama:
Review the term, “beat.” Practice tracking beat icons of tortillas on the board.
Students as Teachers
This is a beautiful time for students to be the teacher!
Sometimes this happens seamlessly in the moment - one student remembers and can share the information with the class, or several students remember and talk to each other.
Other times it might need a bit more structuring.
Facilitating Students as Teachers
There are many different ways we might approach asking students to teach the class! Here’s a process to consider if you’re looking for a way to facilitate student-led review.
Turn and Talk: Students turn to a partner and work together to describe the element and recall the vocabulary we use in this class.
As they talk, encourage students to think about how they would describe the element (higher than, lower than, longer than, shorter than, etc.), how they would show the element (either with a hand sign or something written), and what we call the element (either descriptive vocabulary or classroom vocabulary)
Partner Pair: Pairs of students join with another group, creating a group of four. In the group of four, students combine their information. Some students will recall things that others won’t! It can be helpful to join pieces of the musical puzzle together through small group work.
Share Out: One “spokesperson” from each group shares their group’s thoughts about how to describe, show, and label the element.
Check: Students have already come up with the important information about the element. The only missing piece might be what we call the element in this class. This is the time for the teacher to circle in and fill in any gaps, or decide to wait until next class to discuss.
This is also a great structure to consider for classes with combined grades, or new students who came from other programs.
In this process, students might recall the name, sign, or symbol of a new element, but perhaps not all three. In this case, remember that they’ve already done the most important work on their own by using the element musically and analyzing it critically.
Use: Creating Music
After we’ve had an active music experience, after we’ve described the characteristics of the target element, and after we have a common vocabulary for the element, we’re probably ready to start using it consciously in a creative way.
Students can certainly use the target element creatively without establishing a common vocabulary for it! Real musicians do this all the time. However, having a common vocabulary (such as “la” “takadimi” “half note”), and a common way to notate the element can help us communicate with each other more efficiently during the creative process.
Example 1: Catchy Song
Play the circle game.
Students sit.
Play the song again. During the verses, instead of walking around the circle, the teacher pats an improvised eight-beat rhythm pattern. Students improvise a rhythm response back. Continue improvising through the verses, then play the rhythm of the chorus like normal.
After the activity, students choose their favorite rhythm improvisation response and figure out how to speak it on rhythm syllables.
Assessment Questions: When they play their rhythm response, do you notice students improvising or imitating your pattern? Do you notice a variety of rhythms being used? Do students easily identify the rhythmic syllables of their rhythm? How much teacher assistance does this process take?
Example 2: Plainsies Clapsies
Play the game.
Sing the song on solfege while pointing to stairsteps and a barred instrument.
With a partner, students figure out how to play the first eight beats of the song by ear.
With a partner, students mix up the pitches to create a new version of the song. Students practice and then share out as time allows.
Assessment Questions: Do students identify where sol la mi are on the barred instrument in this context? Do they play the first eight beats accurately? And when they mix up the pitches to create their new song, are they still using sol la mi? How much teacher assistance does this whole process take?
Example 3: Tortillitas para Mamá
Speak the rhyme and pat the tortillitas.
Students help the teacher arrange the beat motions for each line of the rhyme using clap, pat, and stamp
Example:
Clap clap clap clap | stamp stamp stamp stamp | clap clap clap clap | stamp stamp stamp stamp
Pat pat pat pat | clap clap clap clap | pat pat pat pat | stamp stamp stamp stamp
Assessment Question: Do you notice that students have flexibility in how they keep the steady beat? Are some combinations of body percussion easier than others?
Assessment Documentation
You’ll notice that these assessment questions lend themselves to qualitative - not quantitative - data collection.
My opinion is that for many teaching situations, qualitative data are more useful at the beginning of the year when we just want to get a sense of where the class is musically.
That said, these assessment questions can easily be formulated into rubrics or other quantitative measurement systems.
If you choose to collect qualitative data, you might consider using a document like this:
Next Steps
Now that students have reviewed known musical elements in known material, a great next step is to see if they can transfer their understanding to new, unknown material.
Bringing in new songs, games, and activities, do students apply the same critical thinking process to identify known concepts in unknown material?
Students are active learners, so it makes sense that our assessment and review process should be active as well!
This is an approach that starts the year musically, while looking for evidence of learning that will inform the pacing of the next steps.
Throughout the process, we’re looking at how students embody and interact with the musical material. This sets us up well to continue actively musicing in community.
