The evaluation of teaching in choral rehearsals (Music education, vocal)

Seven rehearsal excerpts demonstrating research-identified teaching skills were presented to university music majors (N = 89) for ratings and comments. The excerpts focused on the conductor/teacher and were selected from previously taped choral rehearsals of two contrasting pieces across one complete semester. Numerical ratings from 1 to 10 were assigned by subjects to 10 categories of student and teacher behavior: time use, musicianship, accuracy of presentation, student attentiveness, student performance quality, enthusiasm, intensity, pacing, personality, and overall effectiveness. Comparisons of the characteristics of the highest-rated excerpt with the highest-rated showed that the highest-rated excerpt contained less off-task student behavior, a higher percentage of approvals, more eye contact, more activity changes, and that the average length of both teacher and student activities was from 5-6 seconds. Subjects' comments revealed that the highest-rated excerpt received the most positive comments and the lowest-rated received the most negative comments. For the highest-rated excerpt, the most positive comments were for student attentiveness, enthusiasm, pacing, and overall teaching effectiveness; and for the lowest-rated, the most negative comments were for student attentiveness, pacing, and overall teaching effectiveness. © 1998 by MENC-The National Association for Music Education.