ABSTRACT
This chapter explores some of the tacit assumptions in music assessment and focuses on the importance of making assessment tangible and visible such that it benefits both the learner and the teacher more explicitly. It also focuses on how assessment can commence in various ways, be it as part of a singing lesson or throughout an extended listening task. To underplay the role of assessment in music teaching is to undermine the many dimensions of teaching and learning that form part of creative music making. The combination of portfolios, assessment rubrics constructed in dialogue with the pupils and the judicious use of feedback can provide the basis for very formative learning for the child. All musical experience is culture-specific and in contemporary classrooms the range of differences among children is vast and includes, differences among children in multicultural communities as well as differences in monocultural communities from different backgrounds.
