Posted by David Zerkel on February 11, 2000 at 00:40:15:
In Reply to: If you are a private teacher PleaseRead posted by A Student on February 09, 2000 at 21:41:48:
Hi there student.
The grading applied lessons is sometimes pretty ambiguous. In order for my students to understand what goes into my assessment, I have included these guidelines in my syllabus. I'd be interested to hear if you think that these guidelines are reasonable.
Assignments:
You will be given assignments for each lesson. They should be prepared as if you were performing them publicly at the time of your lesson. To take away some of the ambiguity of how lessons are graded, consider the following:
A lesson will be given the grade of A if:
It is obvious that you have prepared the music for the lesson. You are playing the material technically very well and it is obvious that you have given a good deal of thought into the artistic interpretation of the assignment. You exhibit an understanding of the material and can perform at near-performance level. Repeated material from the prior lesson has been more or less solved.
A lesson will be given the grade of B if:
It is obvious that you have prepared the music for the lesson. You are playing the material fairly well, but still have a few technical issues that need to be worked out. You show signs of artistic interpretation, but still need to develop the song a bit further. You know that you could play this better. Repeated material from the prior lesson shows improvement.
A lesson will be given the grade of C if:
It is not obvious that you have prepared adequately for the lesson. You cannot play the material without hesitation. Notes are missed. Your performance is void of artistic expression. You show signs of understanding the material, but cannot execute these ideas through your instrument. Repeated material from the prior lesson shows little improvement.
A lesson will be given the grade of D if:
It is obvious that you have not prepared the music for the lesson, yet somehow you are struggling through and improving during the course of the lesson. You don't know how things should sound. You have ignored key signatures, missed notes, and are embarrassed by your performance. Repeated material from the prior lesson shows no improvement.
A lesson will be given the grade of F if:
You didn't show up, or, it is obvious that you have not prepared for the lesson and no amount of struggling can improve your performance. You have probably offended me with your lack of self-discipline. You are wasting my time and your time in the studio. You failed to bring in the assigned material.
Too harsh? Not in my opinion if the student wants to be taken seriously.
DZ