“We keep data on students, not because we need to measure if they good enough. It’s how we as teachers measure if WE are good enough.” If I can’t show you what they have learned, how can I be sure I am doing a good job?
In many educational settings, choral music exists as a unique loophole where students can easily secure an “A” simply through passive compliance—showing up, sitting down, and miming the words. This issue persists because directors often avoid assessing individual skills, hiding behind the excuse of protecting students from the anxiety of solo singing when, in reality, it is a form of structural laziness. Camouflaging individual deficiencies within a collective wall of sound is not true teaching; if a student cannot demonstrate a musical skill independently, they may not have not actually learned it. And you wouldn’t know.
Tune in, and have your thinking stimulated and challenged. Then, weigh in yourself with your related ideas and experiences on Facebook in the Choralosophers group or over on choralosophy.substack.com Also, don’t forget to grab a reading rope for your classroom wall from the shop! Music Reading Rope
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