Project History

The Department of Music at Salford recognised that the assessment practices in place for assessing Western European Classical performance may not be appropriate for the assessment of popular music performance.

It may appear that a classical approach to music is one based on the notion of universal standards of excellence. What counts as 'good' within the classical style may not be regarded as being so in popular music, and vice versa. The 'classical voice', for example, can be related to instrumental techniques and standards of beauty of tone production within that style. However, popular music performance has its own range of assorted techniques, some of which are not found in the classical style, e.g. scatting, growling, speaking, whistling, whispering and smearing or bending notes. In addition, the diversity of performance styles in popular music further brings into question the appropriateness of current assessment practices.

Five key themes informed the development of the Assessment Strategies for Popular Music Performance CD-ROM.

1. There is disparity between what students are taught and how they are assessed.
2. The central difficulty in assessing popular music performance is that the assessor lacks the necessary stylistic knowledge to place emphasis in assessment solely on the final performance.
3. There is a tension between staff and student perceptions of performances appropriate for the 'real world' and performances appropriate for assessment, e.g. a survey conducted in the early stages of the project indicated that students were 'assessment led' in their learning and would often choose to perform pieces that they were aware the assessors had a preference for.
4. There are a range of approaches to teaching and learning, each equally valid and that it was the role of the project to demonstrate the range of approaches and appropriate assessment strategies for each.
5. There are common assessment themes and difficulties across the creative arts.