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BMERG: the role and types of assessment in instrumental music lessons

Prof. Martin Fautley (Birmingham City University) and Drs Luan Shaw and Adam Whittaker (Royal Birmingham Conservatoire) – all part of the Birmingham Music Education Research Group – share their thoughts on assessment in instrumental lessons and the multiple understandings of assessment in different contexts.
Adobe Stock /Antonio Diaz

The place and role of assessment in instrumental music lessons can be problematic, and this is particularly so for lessons that take place in schools. As set out in A Common Approach (2002, rev. 2022):

‘Musical judgements of a qualitative nature cannot always be captured neatly in marks and grades, and caution should be exercised. Assessing performances by a particular set of criteria may not necessarily convey the whole picture. Sometimes performances go beyond criteria and are more than the sum of the individual parts.’

So, what is the purpose of the assessment then? This might seem an obvious question, with an equally obvious answer, but scratch the surface and you'll find various issues. In classroom music lessons, there has long been a discussion concerning the different roles of assessment in attainment, progression, and prediction of future grades. School teachers have addressed these matters in various ways. But when visiting instrumental teachers are required to follow the same structures and systems as the classroom teachers, there can be misunderstandings.

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