Reflecting on the Music Performance Assessment.
Singularity:
1.The state, fact, quality, or condition of being singular.
Seeking singularity is the ultimate goal of musicians performing in concert. We aim to collectively perform with musical intent. We strive to play every note with characteristic tone blended as one throughout each section. We attempt to place every note in balance not only in regard to melody and accompaniment but within the constructs of harmonies to create a sonorous sound. We endeavor to set in motion each rhythm as articulate, deliberately weighted and synchronized precisely in time. We make concerted effort to design and shape each phrase with the rise and fall of intensity to transfer emotion to our listener. We constantly strive to express music passionately, ever stretching our range of abilities spanning from tender subtlety to great power. We desire to accomplish this with the discipline, care and poise of a highly skilled artist. We focus to listen intently while playing to constantly evaluate our performance to steer our refinement of technique to more effectively communicate music.
This is what a Superior at Music Performance Assessment aims to signify for an ensemble. Not a badge or prize of perfection, but a remarkable level of consistency in achieving singularity in music performance. It is an affirmation that the direction we are headed in with this collaborative journey is one that is true to the intrinsic beauty of music.
An Excellent rating is evidence of this. It means that an ensemble wavers some from this singularity during the performance.
A Good rating may show glimpse of this while the performers generally play elements on the page, yet without a unified approach=lacking singularity.
Fair=no perceivable singularity and obvious errors.
Poor=unrecognizable.
I wrote this to help explain the MPA rubric to my students. It is meant to show where we are and that we will continue to capitalize on the efforts made to achieve at MPA. These concepts do not end with MPA or a rating, this is always the new beginning…
Vision Realized 