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Performance Reviews and Grades

Performance Review Requirements

  • All Music Majors and Music Minors who are taking lessons are required to perform Performance Reviews on their primary instrument at the end of each semester. ​
  • Performance Reviews are normally (but not always) held on Study Days. Please contact the Music Department Coordinator for details.
  • No Performance Reviews on secondary instruments are given. (Keyboard Skills lessons, however, do have special exams at the end of each semester, also generally held on Study Days.)
  • The reviews are in 15-minute blocks, consisting of approximately 10 minutes of prepared music, followed by a few minutes for the judges to write comments.
  • Students are expected to prepare three pieces in contrasting styles. ​Excerpts are acceptable for longer pieces.
  • Unless a piece was composed as unaccompanied, students are expected to perform with accompaniment. (Contact the Department Coordinator for contact information for the Staff accompanists.)
  • Sign-up sheets for Performance Reviews will be outside the Music Department Office (M201) one week prior to the reviews.
  • Students who give Senior Capstone Recitals are exempt from this requirement during the semester of the recital. Those who give non-required recitals (typically senior Music minors or junior Music majors) are also exempt from this requirement as long as they arrange for two full-time faculty members to attend their recitals to serve as jurors. Majors who complete an alternative capstone (non-recital) still have to complete the performance review.
  • A jury of the Music Department’s full-time faculty will hear these reviews.
  • Studio instructors are required to fill out grade/comment sheets and return them to the Department Coordinator prior to Performance Reviews. Faculty jurors will have the grade/comment sheets on hand for the performance reviews; they will also fill out their own comment sheet during the Performance Review. Students will be emailed copies of all grade and comment sheets.
  • Studio instructors are invited (but not expected) to attend Performance Reviews. Should an instructor wish to attend their students’ reviews, they should ask their students to sign up for times when they are available to attend.

Studio Instruction Grading Requirements

  • Final grades for general students (i.e., those not doing an end-of-semester Performance Review) are determined wholly by the studio instructor, and are indicated on the grade sheets.
  • Final grades for majors and minors are determined as follows: the studio instructor’s final grade for the semester of lessons counts as 80% of the final course grade; the grade assigned by the faculty jury for the Performance Review itself counts as 20% of the final course grade. This is to ensure that the Performance Review is seen as an important part of the experience for Music majors and minors.
  • Music Department faculty present at the Performance Review reserve the right to alter the final grade provided by the instructor, should any of the general requirements for studio instruction above (repertoire, memorization, public performance) not be met.