Number 3

Discuss how technology might help in assessing musical performances. Do you think that the presence of technological apparatus in the general music classroom threatens the authenticity of assessment tasks? Why or why not?
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Back in the day when I was a student, I would look forward to the day after concerts. Most of the time, this was when we really understood what the mistakes were in the concert and other times there were even good parts. It's hard not to be critical with technological apparatus around the performance area. From an educator's standpoint, it shows you EXACTLY how you taught something. Does it differentiate from class to class? Did you leave something out of one class that you meant to tell another? Did you miss a topic or an important question that was posed in an alternate class? Was your conducting technique clear in a certain section? Did emotion captivate or separate the students from you? How was the portrayal and work observed in former classes different from class to class or year to year? Obviously, video taping and recordings can be very useful if the students are unaware. If the students are aware, sometimes nerves kick in. When judging occurs, nerves can always play an issue. I can remember that last solo in high school when I screwed up the words at the end because I was so focused on singing the hell out of the song that I got too caught up in the emotion. The tape that was played for the next two days was extremely embarrassing. I can also think of times when a free improv was recorded within a gen. music classroom. It definitely hurried the thinking of the students around the camera because it seemed as though they were forced to produce great results. Sometimes it just can't happen. As far as assessment is concerned, I feel a student cannot be judged truly on a recording. General notes can be taken, but things occur during tapings that sometimes psychologically fool with a child's ability to think. The live performance outside of the recording room is definitely where the best stuff is made.