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Assessments, 1994-2009How Can Elementary Teachers Measure Singing Voice Achievement? A Critical Review of

  

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How Can Elementary Teachers Measure Singing Voice Achievement? A Critical Review of Assessments, 1994-2009

Karen Salvador1

Abstract

The first content standard of the National Standards for Music Education requires that students sing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music. Although state and district elementary music curricula vary widely, many are based on the National Standards for Music Education and therefore include singing as a primary content area and method of teaching and learning music. However, classroom assessments of singing voice achievement and development vary widely, and information about reliability and validity of these assessments is rarely reported. The purpose of this article was to identify and discuss measurements of singing voice achievement for elementary aged students that have been used in research studies from dissertations and refereed music education journals since the publication of the National Standards for Music Education in 1994. The author describes each measurement tool, discusses its validity and reliability, and evaluates the practicality of each measure for classroom use by elementary general music teachers. Finally, recommendations for how one of these measures might be used to improve instruction in an elementary music classroom have been made.

Keywords

elementary music, singing voice, assessment, music education, literature review, classroom practicality

From the time when Lowell Mason convinced the Boston School Board to offer vocal music, singing has been a cornerstone of public school music curricula (Mark & Gary, 1992). The first content standard of the National Standards for Music Education requires that students sing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music. The elementary achievement standard states that by fourth grade, students should be able to “sing independently, on pitch and in rhythm, with appropriate timbre, diction, and posture, and maintain a steady tempo” (Consortium of National Arts Education Associations, 1994). Although state and district elementary music curricula vary widely, many are based on the National Standards for Music Edu-cation and therefore include singing as a primary content area and method of teaching and learning music.

According to MENC: the National Association for Music Education’s Performance Standards for Music Grades PreK–12: Strategies and Benchmarks for Assessing Prog-ress Toward the National Standards (1996), the purpose of assessment is to improve learning. Furthermore, reliable, valid assessment in music is not only possible but also nec-essary. When discussing assessments, reliability refers to the consistency of results, whereas validity is the degree to which an assessment measures the skill or ability it was designed to measure. If an assessment is reliable, the same child would score nearly the same if the test was given again or if another judge evaluated her performance. Reliability is necessary for an assessment to be considered valid. For a

test of singing voice achievement to be deemed valid, it must actually measure the child’s ability to sing. Given the importance of singing in elementary music curricula, one may expect widespread reliable, valid assessment of stu-dents’ vocal development and singing achievement.

In a survey of 200 elementary music teachers in Michigan, the 36 responding teachers reported low rates of singing assessment—from 40% in kindergarten to 13% in fourth grade (Talley, 2005). Those who assessed singing reported measuring singing voice development and pitch matching, and used teacher-designed rating scales or rubrics. Talley’s survey asked what areas teach-ers assessed at which grade levels and the methods they used, but did not address the reliability or validity of the measurements. Shih (1997) undertook a similar survey of fifth grade general music teachers in Texas. Of 59 respon-dents, approximately 63% reported “always” or “often” teaching singing objectives, and 33% “sometimes” or “rarely” addressed singing in the music classroom. Approx-imately 93% of respondents stated they assessed singing voice achievement. However, 65.17% of these assess-ments were “checking group performance,” which did not seem sufficient to provide diagnostic information for

1Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA

Corresponding Author:Karen Salvador, 612 S. Dorchester Avenue, Royal Oak, MI 48067, USAEmail: huberkar@msu.edu

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teachers to help individual students increase their singing achievement (Shih, 1997). Although 26.6% of teachers in this study reported “checking individual performance,” Shih did not ask what measures teachers used to “check” the individual performances.

Hepworth-Osiowy (2004) surveyed 190 elementary music teachers in Winnipeg, Canada, concerning assess-ment in their classrooms. Her 88 respondents indicated widespread use of a variety of assessment tools, and stated that assessment was most valuable when it informed instruc-tion. The data did not present assessments by content area. Hepworth-Osiowy (2004) concluded,

In order to assess music students successfully, teachers can utilize a variety of tools ranging from traditional testing, checklists, and rating scales to alternative assessment techniques including self and peer assessments, portfolios, and many teacher-created assessments. To experience effective assess-ment, music teachers need to find a balance of strategies that they can incorporate into their indi-vidual programs, which reflect student achievement of curricular goals and objectives. (p. 115)

Information concerning the reliability and validity of classroom assessments was noticeably absent from the above studies. The purpose of this article was to identify and discuss measurements of singing voice achievement for elementary aged students that have been used in res-earch studies from dissertations and refereed music education journals since the publication of the National Standards for Music Education in 1994. I described each measurement tool, discussed its validity and reliability, and evaluated the practicality of each measure for classroom use by elementary general music teachers. To conclude, I made recommendations for how one of these measures might be used to improve instruction in an elementary music classroom.

Review of AssessmentsIn the music education literature, tools for assessment of singing voice achievement fell into the following catego-ries: (a) acoustic measurements, (b) researcher-as-acoustic measurement tool, (c) researcher-designed measures, and (d) previously published scales. Acoustic measurements evaluated singing voice achievement—specifically pitch accuracy—based on the physical properties of sung res-ponses (i.e., the frequency in hertz). Researcher-as-acoustic measurement tool referred to studies in which researchers measured pitch accuracy by using their perceptual skills as trained music teachers. Researcher-designed measures were used in a number of studies with regard to a variety

of aspects of singing voice development. Finally, several researchers used previously published measures of sing-ing voice achievement.

Acoustic MeasurementsIn studies based on acoustic measurements, researchers relied on computers to assess the accuracy of children’s singing. Most of these studies used hardware and software manufactured by Kay Elemetrics for use in speech-language therapy (Cooper, 1995; Martinez-Castillo & Sotillo, 2008; Western, 2002). In Cooper (1995), 169 first- to fifth-grade children echo-sang patterns in response to a stimu-lus tape of a child’s voice. Singing was recorded with a throat-contact microphone and analyzed with a Visi-pitch (Kay Elemetrics, model 6087PC, Pine Brook, NJ), yield-ing a vocal pitch accuracy (VPA) score. Although com-puterized measurements are inherently reliable, VPA scores may not be a valid measure of singing achieve-ment, because they only revealed an absolute value of how far the sung pitches differed from the criterion pitch. VPA scores represent an average amount of pitch diver-gence, so this method would not differentiate between a child who sang the same pitch in the middle of the range of a pattern and a child who replicated a pattern exactly but on different pitches. Western (2002) used a real-time pitch program, model 5121 of the Computer Speech Lab-oratory 4100 (Kay Elemetrics) to measure pitch accuracy in singing. This software package allowed children to see the contour of their singing and speaking, although their performance was still recorded as a single accuracy score, which measured absolute difference from criterion pitches.

Price, Yarbrough, Jones, and Moore (1994) also used computerized methods to assess pitch accuracy as a mea-sure of singing achievement. In this study, inaccurate singers echo-sang pairs of pitches and single pitches into a MacRecorder. To control for differences of pitch on attack and decay, the researchers looped the most stable or sustained part of each sung response (typically the middle third). This looped pitch was measured with a Korg Model AT-12 chromatic tuner. Using this method, one experimenter analyzed all stimuli and responses, and an independent interreliability observer analyzed 25%. The judges agreed on 76% of responses, and were within an eighth-step increment on 97% of pitches. This method of recording children on a computer, looping the most stable part of the pitch response, and then confirming the accuracy of the looped sample with a tuner was reliable but lacked validity as a measure of singing achievement. This approach also lacked practicality for the classroom setting: It would be too time consuming for teachers, and did not represent an authentic or holistic measure of how well a child actually matched pitch or sang. Looping the

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most stable portion of a child’s response masked inac-curacies that occurred on attack and decay, which are important to a teacher’s evaluation of singing voice achievement.

Assessment using computerized measurement of pitch accuracy may not be optimal for classroom use by a gen-eral music teacher. On initial inspection, a computerized system seemed viable—accurate and convenient. Children could go sing one at a time in response to stimulus record-ings, and the computer would impartially record the student’s pitch accuracy. In addition, associated game packages that provided immediate visual feedback—enabling a child to see the contour of his or her vocaliza-tions in real time—presented exciting potential for the remediation of inaccurate singing. However, these pack-ages were expensive. More important, although the com-puters were highly reliable, VPA scores may not be valid measures of singing achievement because they did not reveal more information than an absolute measure of dif-ference from a set of criterion pitches. VPA did not report important information concerning transposition, contour, register, breathing, tone quality, and so on. To improve instruction, music teachers would benefit from more diag-nostic information than computerized methods provided.

Researcher-as-Acoustic Measurement ToolSome researchers used their perceptual skills to test pitch accuracy as a measure of singing voice achievement (Brophy, 1997; Green, 1994; Klinger, Campbell, & Goolsby, 1998; Moore, 1994; Moore, Fyk, Frega, & Brotons, 1995; Muse, 1994; Phillips & Aitchison, 1997a, 1997b; Phillips, Aitchison, & Nompula, 2002). In these studies, pitch accuracy was among the criteria or the sole criterion for the assessment of singing voice achievement, and humans were used as the measurement tool. Responses were not rated with a scale (as in the section “Researcher-Devel-oped Measures”), but were simply marked as accurate or inaccurate. The reliability and validity of these percep-tual measurements were dependant on research design. Studies in which multiple, trained judges blindly scored randomized recordings of student performances were more reliable and valid than studies in which a child sang for or with a single researcher who wrote perceptions in real time. For example, Moore et al. (1995) recorded 120 children echo-singing intervals with a stimulus CD. Two judges listened to the recordings and notated responses—not merely whether a response was correct or incorrect but also what pitches were actually sung. Accurate inter-vals were judged as accurate regardless of pitch. One judge scored all responses, and another scored 25%. The judges agreed 85% of the time on the accuracy of sung responses. This method seemed rigorous and reliable as a

method of measuring interval-singing achievement. In contrast, Phillips and Aitchison (1997a) measured the pitch accuracy of 269 children singing four tonal patterns (5-3-1, 5-8-7, 6-4-2, 3-5-1) echoing an electric keyboard. The researcher marked correct pitch or incorrect pitch as kids sang (possible score of 12). The method did not specify if a response would be correct or incorrect if a child started on the wrong pitch but still sang 5-3-1. The article did not indicate that examples were recorded for blind review, and the design did not incorporate intra-judge reliability testing or include other judges for inter-judge reliability.

Informal assessment of singing achievement in elemen-tary general music classes may frequently involve “teacher-as-acoustic measurement.” This is the case anytime a teacher uses a game song with a solo part (like Doggie, Doggie, Where’s Your Bone) and marks a plus (+) or a minus (-) in the gradebook if a child sings accurate pitches on the solo portion. Learning sequence activities (LSAs) in music learning theory are also evaluated using the teacher’s perceptual skills. LSAs are sets of tonal and rhythm instructional materials, which children either imi-tate or respond to in other ways, such as singing the rest-ing tone, adding solfège, or creating a related sung or chanted answer. Although Brophy (1997) found that sing-ing games were a fairly reliable measure of pitch accu-racy (interjudge reliability of .73), he concluded that they are best used as part of a larger, multiple context assess-ment scheme. Teachers who listen to a student in context and attempt to record in the moment (or later) if singing was accurate are vulnerable to biases that reduce the reli-ability of these assessments. Although teachers are encour-aged to find authentic methods of assessment, they must also ensure that assessments are as reliable and valid as possible. Perhaps, as Brophy suggested, teachers should combine perceptual evaluation of pitch accuracy in game songs (and LSAs) with other measures such as using rat-ing scales on longer recorded examples of individual singing. Teachers could even experiment with blind rat-ings. Teachers could increase the validity of their testing methods by rating recordings once, letting them sit for a week, and rating them again to see how consistent the ratings were. Teachers could also swap recordings with another teacher to test for reliability in ratings.

Researcher-Developed MeasuresSeveral researchers designed their own rating scales to measure singing voice achievement (Gault, 2000; Guilbaut, 2004; Hornbach & Taggart, 2005; Marshall, 2002; Newlin, 2004; Phillips & Aitchison, 1997a, 1997b; Welch, Sergeant, & White, 1995/1996, 1997). These scales differed from “researcher-as-acoustic measurement tool” because they

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assessed more than simple pitch accuracy. These rating scales were usually continuous scales, such the scale in Table 1.

In the study, this scale was used by three judges, and attained reliabilities ranging from .76 to .92. These reli-abilities were not surprising, because the scale seemed constructed in a way that would be difficult to misinter-pret. This scale seemed valid and could be used in the classroom in an authentic manner to evaluate any inde-pendent singing. Newlin’s Tonal Rating Scale (2004; see Table 2) seemed more vulnerable to disagreements on how to rate a given response. For example, how could a student sing every pitch “correctly” but “lack precise intonation (4)?” Where exactly is the line between “lack[ing] precise intonation” and an incorrect pitch?

Newlin’s scale is also problematic for classroom use because rating “1” groups together singers with different needs, rendering the scale less useful as a diagnostic instrument for the improvement of instruction. That is, a student who “sings few pitches correctly” is ready for dif-ferent modes of singing instruction than a child who “uses a speaking voice.” However, in the study, the scale achieved acceptable interjudge reliabilities (.785 to .878).

I will not describe or evaluate every researcher-designed scale. The above scales were representative of most studies, in which the researchers designed a single scale of some kind to measure singing voice achievement.

Researcher-designed scales could be adapted for class-room use, and may in fact be similar to the self-designed rating scales and rubrics that some teachers already use to assess singing achievement (Talley, 2005). However, in designing or adapting a scale for use in the classroom, teachers must carefully ensure (a) that the scale is valid for the measurement of singing achievement, (b) that the researchers achieved acceptable reliability using the scale and/or that they achieve acceptable reliability in their classroom, (c) that the criteria are unambiguous, (d) that the scale could be incorporated into the classroom setting in the most authentic way possible, and (e) that the scale provides sufficient diagnostic information to show what each child needs to learn next on the path to increased singing achievement.

Previously Published ScalesResearchers also used rating scales developed and pub-lished by other researchers, including those by Boardman (1964; cited in Mathias 1997), Wurgler (1990), and Rutkowski (1990). Mathias (1997) rated singing excerpts from 78 first, third, and fifth graders using a scale devel-oped by Boardman (Table 3).

Among three judges rating unlabeled, randomized tapes of pre-, post-, and repeated posttests, 48% of ratings were in perfect agreement, and 80% of ratings were within one point. Although it was not discussed in Mathias’s (1997) article, some of the disagreement may have resulted from confusion about how to rate a child who exactly transposed the pattern (rating 5) but also slid into a pitch, or how much the child needed to “slide” to fall from a (7) to a (6). Furthermore, judges may have struggled to decide between “maintaining the general contour” (rating 4) and singing the correct direction (rating 3). Although the interrater reliabilities indicated that this scale was not as reliable as computerized acoustic measures of pitch-matching, it may be a more valid measure of singing achievement because it provided diagnostic information,

Table 1. Researcher-Designed Scale (Hornbach & Taggart, 2005)

5 Child is nearly or totally accurate singer4 Child sings with some accuracy, beginning in the

established key3 Child sings song with some accuracy, starting in a different

key than established, or modulates within the song2 Child sings/chants melodic shape at significantly different

pitch1 Child sings/chants song with a different melodic contour

than the song

Table 2. Researcher-Designed Scale (Newlin, 2004)

5 Sings every pitch correctly, maintaining the given tonal center with precise intonation

4 Sings every pitch correctly, maintaining the given tonal center, but lacks precise intonation

3 Sings most pitches correctly, maintaining the given tonal center, but lacks precise intonation

2 Sings most or all pitches correctly, but not within the given tonal center

1 sings few pitches correctly OR sings with an inconsistent of changing tonal center OR uses a speaking voice

Table 3. Boardman Scale (in Mathias, 1997)

7 Accurate matching of all tones in the pattern without hesitation

6 The child slid into one or more of the pitches in the pattern

5 Exact transposition of the pattern4 Maintained general contour of pattern, but sang

incorrect intervals3 Maintained general direction of the pattern, but not the

exact contour2 Responses that ignored the contour of pitches1 Child spoke rather than sang or did not respond at all

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based on an authentic sample of singing, that would help a teacher know what a child needed to learn in order to become a better singer. Despite this, classroom teachers may wish to use other scales with clearer criteria and higher reliabilities.

McGraw (1996) used a rating scale devised by Wurgler in 1990 to assess children’s ability to negotiate register changes as a measurement of singing voice achievement. Wurgler’s register transition categories (cited in McGraw, 1996) are shown in Table 4.

It was difficult to determine the reliability of this scale. McGraw (1996) rated students using Wurgler’s scale but did not perform intrajudge reliability calculations or have any other judges rate the performances for interjudge reli-ability. In her dissertation, Wurgler (1990) reported .70 interjudge reliabilities on “a representative sample of items” (p. 75). Wurgler’s scale provided unusually detailed infor-mation about the vocal abilities of children. However, the scale seemed designed for use by private voice teachers, with the expertise and the time to coach individuals dur-ing the assessment (see Categories 2 and 4 in Table 4). Wurgler seemed to presume an awareness of vocal peda-gogy that may be absent in some elementary music teach-ers, who may not have studied singing enough to recognize register shifts or to evaluate ease of vocal production without additional training. To a teacher with the requi-site training and enough time to coach individual students through the test songs and scales, this assessment could provide valuable diagnostic information to help increase singing voice achievement in individual students.

Rutkowski’s Singing Voice Development Measure (SVDM) was the most frequently used published scale (Guerrini, 2002; Jaffurs, 2000; Lange, 1999; Levinowitz et al., 1998; Rutkowski, 1996; Rutkowski & Miller, 1994;

Rutkowski & Miller, 2002; Rutkowski & Miller, 2003). The SVDM was more standardized than other measures identified in this article. Specific test patterns, details con-cerning test administration, and information concerning the development of the test were described in Rutkows-ki’s work (e.g., Rutkowski & Miller, 2002) and repli-cated in the work of others (e.g., Jaffurs, 2000). SVDM consisted of the ratings found in Table 5, although some researchers chose to include only the whole-number ratings.

Reliabilities in Rutkowski’s studies ranged from .80 to .99 (e.g., Rutkowski, 1996; Rutkowski & Miller, 1994, 2003). In 1998, Levinowitz et al. investigated the reli-ability of the SVDM for children in first to sixth grades, and reported composite reliabilities from six judges rang-ing from .950 to .984. As shown by the citations above, the SVDM was deemed valid to measure singing voice achievement by a number of researchers. SVDM was designed for use with a specific set of tonal material (a song in harmonic minor that is divided into tonal patterns for children to echo) but could also be used to evaluate singing achievement on intact songs (Guerrini, 2002). This scale may be well suited to classroom use for a gen-eral music teacher who wants to improve instruction. SVDM was practical and clear, and its reliability has been firmly established. In addition, it could be used to mea-sure performance of any song with sufficient range (from D3-B3 and above). Furthermore, it provided diagnostic

Table 4. Register Transition Categories (Wurgler, 1990)

1 Sings only in one register; range is limited (no register transition on test songs or scales)

2 Independently chooses only one register but can find pitches in second register with help (no register transition on test songs or scales)

3 Uses two (or more) registers with marked breaks in production (can find pitches using a second register, but subject unable to sing continuously throughout the tested range on songs, C1 to E2. Thus, can make a register transition but the “lowest” level of transition skill on the scale)

4 Uses two (or more) registers with ease, but must be reminded to change production (inconsistent performance, but register transition on some test songs and scales)

5 Independently uses two (or more) registers with ease; no production problems related to range

Table 5. Singing Voice Development Measure (SVDM)

1 “Presinger” does not sing but chants the text1.5 “Inconsistent Speaking-Range Singer” sometimes

chants, sometimes sustains tones, and exhibits some sensitivity to pitch but remains in the speaking voice range (usually A2 to C3)

2 “Speaking-Range Singer” sustains tones and exhibits some sensitivity to pitch but remains in the speaking-voice range (usually A2 to C3)

2.5 “Inconsistent Limited-Range Singer” wavers between speaking and singing voice and uses a limited range when in singing voice (usually up to F3).

3 “Limited Range Singer” exhibits used of limited singing range (usually D3 to F3)

3.5 “Inconsistent Initial Range Singer” sometimes only exhibits use of limited singing range, but other times exhibits use of initial singing range (usually D3 to A3)

4 “Initial Range Singer” exhibits used of initial singing range (usually D3 to A3)

4.5 “Inconsistent Singer” sometimes only exhibits use of initial singing range, but other times exhibits use of extended singing range (sings beyond the register lift—B3 flat and above)

5 “Singer” exhibits use of extended singing range (sings beyond the register lift—B3 flat and above)

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information within a developmental framework that indi-cated what a child needed to learn next in order to increase singing achievement.

DiscussionThe purpose of this article was to review the literature on the measurement of singing voice achievement in ele-mentary music settings to help music teachers find and/or design reliable, valid singing voice assessments for use in the classroom. This review revealed several types of sing-ing voice assessments, including acoustic measurements, researcher-as-acoustic measurement tool, researcher-designed measures, and previously published scales. Some measurements focused exclusively (and sometimes acon-textually) on pitch-matching, whereas others used more holistic methods that described developmental stage, reg-istration, or other features of a child’s singing voice.

Rutkowski’s (1990) SVDM was studied most fre-quently by researchers. It is interesting to note that SVDM does not include measurement of pitch accuracy. Rut-kowski developed her scale to identify the steps children go through on the path to achieving singing accuracy because she viewed singing to be a developmental skill that required time, context, and maturity. This viewpoint has been supported by additional research since 1990 that indicates singing accurately may be a matter of physical skill related to vocal production in addition to tonal awareness (Pfordresher & Brown, 2007; Phillips & Aitchison, 1997a; 1997b). That is, a child may “hear” the correct pitch but lack the singing skill to produce it. Sing-ing pitches accurately is the endpoint of a developmental progression. Therefore, simply measuring pitch accuracy is not a sufficient measure of singing achievement to allow a teacher to improve instruction, which is the goal of assessment. Furthermore, a child’s ability to match single pitches or acontextual pairs of pitches may not be a valid indicator of singing voice achievement for singing songs or contextual tonal patterns. Research also indi-cated that any test of singing achievement must be a suf-ficiently wide range of pitches (at least D3 to B4) to show if a child can sing accurately in multiple registers to more accurately reflect singing voice development (e.g., Rutkowski, 1990; Wurgler, 1990).

According to this review of literature, many elemen-tary music teachers consider singing to be an important curricular area (Shih, 1997) and some teachers assess singing voice achievement or pitch matching (Shih, 1997; Talley, 2005). The National Standards for Music Educa-tion require not only that children would sing on pitch (and in rhythm) but also that they would sing with “appro-priate timbre, diction, and posture” (Consortium of National Arts Education Associations, 1994). These aspects of singing were not measured by the researchers in any of

the literature reviewed for this article. Perhaps research-ers considered “appropriate” timbre, diction, and posture too subjective, or thought that these goals were secondary to the primary goal of singing accurately.

This review was conceived under the premise that consistent use of valid assessment tools could be an important step toward helping students to sing accurately. However, the research revealed that many elementary music teachers do not assess singing voice achievement (Talley, 2005) and/or have negative feelings about assess-ment (Shih, 1997; Talley, 2005). In contrast, Hepworth-Osiowy (2004) reported that elementary music teachers in her study:

. . . felt assessment is critical for giving direction to one’s teaching and helps teachers to establish direc-tion for instructional planning. They said that assessment provides students with valuable feed-back, that it is a way to track individual progress, and that it often motivates student learning. The fact that assessment provides teachers with an opportunity to identify the skills and concepts that need to be addressed was an issue of primary importance to most respondents, as was the idea that assessment was a bona fide method of evalua-tion programs and the effectiveness of individual teaching practices. (p. 94)

To show how formal assessment could be used to improve singing instruction in an elementary music classroom, I have constructed the following fictional vignette. In it, I chose to use SVDM for two reasons: (a) based on my review, SVDM is the scale with the most research to support its use in the classroom (both in terms of the amount of the research as well as the strength of the research support for the reliability and validity of the measure) and (b) SVDM provides a developmental framework that guides instruction. A score on the SVDM essentially tells a teacher what the student needs to learn next.

Last week, Mrs. Smith administered the SVDM to all her first grade general music students. Individ-ual students came over to the piano to sing for her while other students worked at music centers. Mrs. Smith marked the SVDM scores in green next to each child’s name in her gradebook. Now, Mrs. Smith is preparing to teach each of these classes after lunch. While she eats, she reviews the SVDM scores. Because most children scored between 2.5 and 4,1 she plans to continue her daily use of vocal play (sirens, ghosts, etc.) to help children access their singing voices. The songs she has chosen for movement activities and rhythm concepts are

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primarily within initial range (D3-A3) for the next month or so, to help those who are still singing in a limited range. Two of the songs she has selected have descants that the students who scored 4.5 or 5 could sing. Once a week, during music centers time, one of the centers will be “voice lessons” at the piano with Mrs. Smith. Based on SVDM scores, Mrs. Smith has created heterogeneous groups for centers time so that students can learn from singing with one another during voice lessons. She plans to use this small-group instruction time to give indi-vidualized feedback and help to each student, guided in part by scores on the SVDM. At the end of the year, Mrs. Smith will administer SVDM again as a measure of individual growth in singing achievement.

This article was intended to provide researchers and practicing music teachers with research-based information about the measurement of singing voice achievement. The preceding fictional vignette described only one of many possible approaches to implementing assessment of singing voice achievement in order to improve instruction for individual students in the elementary music classroom. Regardless of what measure is used, it is important that music teachers consistently use some valid measurement of singing voice achievement on individual students, not only as a form of summative assessment but also to inform their instruction. Although new studies are always helpful, the current research literature provided excellent information on this important topic. In addition to adding to this alre-ady rich store of research into how we can assess singing voice achievement, new research concerning practicing teachers’ design, implementation and applications of singing voice measurements would be most helpful.

Note

1. See Table 5.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research and/or authorship of this article.

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