M.T101

AB & ABA Form Identification and Composition

AB & ABA Form Identification and Composition

Students will listen to several pieces of music and identify the form of each. ABA and AB form should have been taught and discussed prior to this assessment. Students will then compose and perform a piece of music in groups that reflects one of the forms. Prior to the assessment, students also should have experience with composing in a group. These performances will be video or audio recorded.

After the compositions are complete, students will watch the videos or listen to the audio recording, and will reflect on their compositions and performances. This assessment probably would work best at the end of the school year when routines and classroom expectations are well established.

This assessment may be more successful if someone other than the teacher supervises audio or video recording of the performances. If this is not possible, the teacher should be careful to ensure that students who are performing stay in the video frame during the recording process.

This item has been voluntarily field-tested by Michigan teachers with a non-representative sample of students.


This is an analytic rubric. The column on the left shows the dimension that is being measured in the student’s performance. The levels across the top row indicate the performance level in the dimensions. Occasionally all dimensions and performance levels are exemplified by multiple students in a single recording.

TEACHER SCORING RUBRIC–PERFORMANCE

  • Dimension
  • Overall Form

  • Individual Performance

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • The piece does not have at least one A section and a B section.

    N/A at this time.
  • The piece has at least one A section and a B section, but these sections are quite similar, making them difficult to tell apart.

    N/A at this time.
  • The piece has at least one clear A section and a clear B section.

    View Exemplar
  • The piece has at least one clear A section and a clear B section. Sections are interesting and dramatically different. The overall form is obvious to the listener.

    N/A at this time.
  • Student does not perform his or her individual part.

    N/A at this time.
  • Student successfully performs his or her individual part some of the time.

    N/A at this time.
  • Student successfully performs his or her individual part most of the time.

    View Exemplar
  • Student successfully performs all of his or her individual part.

    View Exemplar
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