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RICK BJELLA is the artistic director of the did this around five times/semester—with the option
San Antonio Chamber Choir and profes- of failing one gratis. I felt this process was frustrating for
sor emeritus at Texas Tech University. the students.
Then we moved from octets to section assessments,
even though I preferred octets. A large part of this

GARY PACKWOOD is a conductor and change was due to scheduling. The longer I have been
music educator. teaching, the more I have been able to add to the as-
sessments, so they are no longer just about notes and
rhythms, but now also about dynamics, phrasing, etc.
Over the years, a culture of positive assessment has
been built, and I have eased up on assessing. I might as-
BETSY COOK WEBER is the director of sign a section to be learned by a specific date, then hear
choral studies at the University of Hous- the choir as a whole sing it, and if it sounded good I
ton (UH). will not assess, because they met or exceeded my expec-

tations. Occasionally I will have soloists sing assigned
measures and have students give comments. Then I
will add more students to the soloist group that began. I
In what ways do you focus on assessing the growth might do this three to four times, then the students have
of the ensemble? heard it correctly that many times. I believe that hear-
ing something performed correctly (audiating) multiple
times is better than performing it multiple times. In
BJELLA: I assessed quartets on assigned music in my terms of building assessment culture, most students just
office. The students had to do an initial pass with the learn that is what we do.
section leader, before singing for me. If they did not
pass for me, then they had an individual session with WEBER: The following assessment is informal and
me. This also served as an assessment of how well I had largely subjective: I look for smiles, laughter, and volun-
been teaching. During dress rehearsals, I assigned 1/5 teering for the schlepping business of a choir. I gauge
of the choir to sit out in the hall and comment on what how successful we are in terms of learning music quick-
they were hearing from their section. This was so help- ly and without drama. How beautifully are the students
ful for them to perceive what was really happening in singing? How much do they appear to enjoy rehearsing
their section and the choir by hearing from a different and performing?
perspective. There was a double benefit of: 1) engaging I pay attention to how quickly the students are learn-
their ears to work overtime and 2) encouraging vocal ing repertoire. One of my concerns about collegiate
rest during the dress rehearsal. It made the ensemble choral music in the United States is that it takes col-
better. As an ensemble, they always did a written post- legiate singers so long to learn rep. I think that may
concert assessment. be the result of the number of concerts we schedule,
which in many cases consists of two concerts or par-
PACKWOOD: When I first started teaching, I assigned tial concerts a semester. The great collegiate choirs of
students to octets. They had to meet for an hour per the U.K. and the great “youth” choruses throughout
week. I assigned specific measures for them to learn Europe appear to learn music much more quickly, per-
their notes and rhythms. I did not assign leaders, but haps because they perform so much more frequently.
instead trusted that they would naturally emerge. I I also consider, how independently are singers able
would grade these pass/fail as an octet (not individu- to learn repertoire? Another concern I have is passivity
als)—stressing that they are a unit. Students come to in the choral rehearsal. Too often, singers wait to be
choir to sing as a unit, so I assessed them as such. I told that they are singing incorrect pitches, and then,

CHORAL JOURNAL February 2024 Volume 64 Number 6 35