SURVIVOR: Chair & Placement Tests

We all know that Chair and Placement Test enable the instructor to place the student in right place within the program. They also allow a fair assessment to a students grade. Now just like those hideous math or chemistry test that we all thought were too hard and you couldn't survive through the class period, students feel the same way about chair tests. After all, they are putting themselves in a position where either everybody in the class or even individually with the instructor will see them either epic fail and get nervous, or ace it. A few ways to acknowledge the issue and mend this issue is give a bi-weekly chair test, especially within the first few months of school. What this is encouraging is a habit of perfect practice, enabling the group to go further in their musicality and their own experiences. Also, it will allow the instructor to get to know the students ability of music within the first month or so of school. Doing this in the beginning of the year will make students more relaxed during future tests, and able to create goals for the year as a group and as an individual. As the year progresses you can make the tests from bi weekly to monthly, but still make all test a part of the final grade. Students like incentives, acknowledgment, and praise. It motivates practice; not only of music, but of sportsmanship, and encourages the ensemble as a whole.