You're gonna love this...

So, this is a classic. Jess forwarded this to me. She got this e mail from her Visual/Performing Arts Supervisor of her district (below). WHAT THE HELL ARE WE TEACHING KIDS? That mediocrity is sufficient? God, help us!

ML

Concert Critique To be used as an Artifact for grading and/or for inclusion in Student NotebookChoose one grade level Potential Critique Questions to ask students

1. What family of instruments is in an orchestra but not a band? Did you see a band or an orchestra in your school concert?

2. What is the name of this person directing a band, orchestra or chorus? Did some students lead the band/orchestra or chorus? Were students reading music in the chorus or were the songs memorized? How could you tell if the lyrics of the song were memorized?

3. Were some of the songs in the concert repertoire in another language? What language were they sung in?

4. What is the name of the person who writes the musical score? Were some of these people listed on the concert program? If so, who were they?

5. What is harmony? Did you hear harmonious singing? Which song had particularly good harmony?

6. Did you recognize the lyrics to some of the songs in the concert? Which songs' lyrics did you recognize?

7. Which song had the greatest amount of dynamics in the concert? Why do you think so?

8. Did the instrumental and/or vocal music teacher explain to the audience what they were going to hear in the concert? Describe what a teacher said about one of the songs in the concert.

9. Did the chorus sing in unison and what does that mean? Did any of the songs in the band/ orchestra or chorus have a soloist?

10. Did the chorus sing and add body movements to match the rhythm of the song? How did the body movements assist you in understanding the lyrics of the songs?

11. Did the band/orchestra or chorus begin and end together? How did you know when a song was over?