Examiner Perceptions of Using Criteria in Music Performance Assessment

This article outlines an investigation of examiner perceptions of the effects of introducing criteria into music performance assessment procedures at a tertiary conservatorium of music. A qualitative analysis of transcripts of interviews with fifteen conservatorium staff identified key issues relating to the ways experienced examiners use criteria in music performance assessment. In discussing their music performance assessment strategies examiners described holistic and criteria-specific approaches. Some examiners felt using criteria helped them focus on important assessment issues and that criteria were useful for articulating desirable performance characteristics in feedback to students. Other examiners believed criteria-based assessment represented a narrow view which tended to interfere with their holistic assessments of music performance.