The following contribution is a part of the Journal of Popular Music Education’s special issue on Modern Band. For this special issue, JPME and APME are collaborating to publish some of the practitioner-based articles on the APME website so that these articles are open access and available to practicing teachers. You can check my blog for more information.
By Jon Keefner and Jen Rafferty
The Cortland Modern Band program has been in existence in various forms since 2014. Each year the program has evolved to best meet the needs of our students. What once started as a guitar class based on a method book is now a vibrant, student-centered program that at any given time consists of roughly 10-15 bands, directed largely by the students themselves with teachers as facilitators. Students consistently perform throughout the year within the school and greater community, gaining valuable experience along the way. Community members are a fully integrated component of the program as well, with guest performers, lecturers, teachers, and financial supporters lending their expertise and financial assistance to a shared vision.
At Cortland we believe students should have the opportunity to discover their sound in any modality, whether it be as the tuba player in concert band, second violin in orchestra, section leader in choir, rhythm guitar in a modern band, or a beatmaker in Logic. All of our ensembles co-mingle and build upon each other. Some students have found a place in concert band or choir by being welcomed into the music department through modern band. Other students have found their voice in modern band because of their involvement in our established large ensembles. The binary view of ‘one or the other’ has been intentionally shed at Cortland in service to the needs of our students. Music does not exclusively consist of simple ‘either/or’ moments and neither does our music program.
In September 2018 the Cortland City School District invited teachers to create a curriculum based on the student-centered teaching method of Project Based Learning (PBL). PBL provides students with learning experiences that emphasize deep understanding through solving real-world problems. The structure encourages a completely student-led experience and has the potential to have a positive effect on the greater community while teaching 21st century skills along the way. As music teachers, PBL isn’t a far leap, and a perfect pairing for modern band.
Informal Learning Practices
We at Cortland embrace the use of informal learning practices in nearly all of our ensembles and classes. Using popular music as a central part of a music classroom is a great start but there also has to be recognition of the learning practices associated with the music being played. Lucy Green (2006) has spent much of her career studying the way popular musicians learn and has been a strong advocate for the informal learning practices of these musicians in schools. She states that formalizing music learning, even with popular music, can create negative delineated meanings in the classroom (Green, 2002). By using formal, traditional learning practices to teach popular music, educators create the appearance of popular music learning without the substance, and risk alienating kids who are on the cusp of joining a school music ensemble or class. In order to combat this risk teachers need to adhere to the five characteristics of informal learning: (1) students choosing music themselves; (2) copying recordings by ear; (3) self-selected peer-groups; (4) haphazard learning; and (5) an emphasis on creativity (Lill, 2014). In the day to day setting this often results in a rather lengthy ‘messy phase,’ which can be quite stressful for educators who are not accustomed to the process. Allowing for the ‘messy middle’ is a critical learning step when it comes to music and PBL, and should be embraced rather than avoided.
Modern band and popular music education are relatively new and are somewhat still in their infancy compared to the traditional music education practices that have been serving kids for decades. The large ensembles in Cortland have been very successful for a subset of the school population in part because the pedagogical practices that traditionally accompany the large ensemble structure works for most of the students who are drawn to them. We have found that many of these practices do not always translate well to modern band and have thus developed a different set of pedagogical guidelines that work well for our students and engage them in different ways. The key components of our informal learning practices are facilitation, student-driven curriculum, approximation, and accessibility.
Facilitation
This refers to the removal of the teacher from the center of attention in a classroom by creating learning experiences which students must be self-guided with the assistance of the teacher (Cremata, 2017). Students often spend much of their day in school following along with a teacher directed activity in which they are asked to follow a very structured series of assignments that will likely end up with what is essentially a duplicate of the teachers intended product. In a facilitated classroom, students are given a direction and a general goal, but are in charge of critically thinking their way to a flexible outcome. The reality of this pedagogical component on a day to day basis can look a bit messy. Students who are not familiar with working this way can feel uncomfortable at first and sometimes become frustrated as the quality of work can dip for some time before they figure out how to work effectively on their own. For teachers who feel the pressure of concerts and teacher assessments, which most of us do, letting their students fail, even in small ways, can also be quite uncomfortable. Knowing when to jump in and when to let them struggle with a task is a difficult skill to develop for teachers and is one that can shift from day to day. Embracing the discomfort by both parties is crucial as discomfort is often a sign of a deeper learning process.
Student-Driven Curriculum
The second key component of modern band at Cortland, and maybe the most important, is a student-driven curriculum. Student engagement is crucial to authentic learning and can only truly come from the students’ interests. Starting with material that is interesting to the young people we teach, ideally that which they brought to the table in the first place, is a crucial step towards engagement. For many educators it can feel uncomfortable letting go of the reins in this way but the results are noticeable almost immediately. Classwork won’t feel like work when the students are invested in what they are working towards. However, embracing this autonomy is only one step towards a student-driven environment. Choices can also be made within student groupings, musical arrangement decisions, instrumentation, writing processes, as well as many other situations. This requires some understanding of the students’ developmental needs. For example, teenagers in particular crave this autonomy and a sense of control in their lives. They can be notorious for wanting to do things their way, even if it means taking the long road. Giving them the opportunity to experiment with incremental decision making in a safe and supported environment is not only important for the growth as a musician, but their personal growth as well.
Approximation
A successful modern band at any level must embrace and encourage approximation as a norm in the classroom. This term refers to a “close enough” approach to learning music that values the process of learning over the perfection of a product. New students often come to the table expecting to sound like their favorite artist, which is not a realistic or healthy goal for anyone. To be clear, approximation is not the end goal, but instead a stepping stone to the student’s success. ‘Close enough’ should not be what they strive for, however understanding that the practice of approximating a song is not only important for building students confidence, but is also a deeply musical exercise. When students copy a song note for note they are demonstrating that they can replicate a product with exactitude and precision. When students approximate they are demonstrating both a clear understanding of their own ability level and an opportunity for a deeper understanding of the musical components of a song. Before they can adapt the original they have to figure out the fundamental components that make the music what it is and all the while maintaining musical integrity. This process involves a significant amount of reflection on their own musicality as well as the music itself, leading to something that may sound less musically preferable at first, but deeply understood.
Accessibility
Music in school should provide an access point for every student. While modern band is certainly not a catch-all, it does allow an avenue for those who do not participate in a large ensemble, particularly for those who are turned-off by the idea of large ensemble pedagogy. Since many instrumental programs begin in third grade, some students may feel that they missed their chance and therefore exclude themselves from music all together. Giving students a continual access point to music classes is critical for the type of inclusive program Cortland is striving to create. Additionally, Cortland has taken up several initiatives to make all instruments more affordable and, therefore, make the ensembles in which they are played more accessible for the students who need it most. Some examples of these initiatives include instrument donation campaigns, local business sponsors, and connections with local music venues to promote the effort. We have noticed through the years that the students who gravitate towards modern band are often the ‘outsiders’ in school. Our students sometimes come into our class with a laundry list of behavior concerns that would classify them as at-risk. Over the years we have had numerous students who were on the brink of dropping out of school but ended up graduating because they found a home in our class. These students are often, but not always, musically inclined and have found a way they can express themselves within the school day. We have a saying in Cortland that modern band adheres to quite well: All Means All. Our mission is to provide opportunities for music making in school that allow every student to access making music in their own way.
Call to action
When we were asked to participate in the Project Based Learning initiative, we immediately noticed the similarities between PBL and our modern band practices. The informal learning strategies that we use daily lended themselves nicely to the PBL guidelines. PBL takes the student-centered classroom a step further by focusing on deeper learning objectives and very specific outcomes that have real world applications.
Following the PBL guidelines was extremely helpful for creating the best outline for students to follow. The reality of our Project Based Learning experiment yielded both beautiful and frustrating surprises every step of the way. Finding the line between the rigidity of our plan and the reality of learning required constant reflection between the two of us, often on a day to day level. When things got messy we would adapt and then they would get messy again, and we’d have to continue to change. Very few aspects of this project were set in stone and much of it was adjusted along the way to accommodate the best interests of our students. In reality, with no standardized music test on the horizon, the flame that we hold our teaching and planning to is our students’ interest and ability level. They are who we are held accountable to and who determine our path.
The teachers participating in the PBL initiative were advised to reference Setting the Standard for Project Based Learning: A Proven Approach to Rigorous Classroom Instruction by John Larmer, John Mergendoller and Suzie Boss. According to this source there are three main components of a Gold Standard Project Based Learning curriculum:
- Student Learning Goals – These learning goals are made so the students develop skills that require deep understanding of essential concepts and standards. These skills include collaboration, creative problem solving, and time management. With this component the students are frequently reminded about the purpose of the project in relation to their greater community.
- Essential Project Design Elements- There are seven elements of Project Based Learning that need to be thought out to reach the Gold Standard of this type of curriculum: Challenging problem or question, sustained inquiry, authenticity, student voice and choice, reflection, critique and revision and public product. These elements must also address real world problems. Each element is outlined below.
- Project Based Teaching Practices – The role of the teacher is that of a facilitator or coach, guiding students along the way.
These components are aligned to our modern band philosophy. We used the book as a guide to determine what the students would learn and do throughout the semester based on the PBL design elements.
PBL Element 1: Challenging Problem or Question
We wanted our students to discover how music can be used to inspire social change. They needed to understand the importance of feeling empowered and informed citizens within their community about topics that they really cared about. We wanted them to understand that their music and their voices could literally change the world.
The project had to be driven by a question that would guide every decision we made. Additionally, a Gold Standard PBL project needs to put students in different roles other than “student.’ They should identify with a role that is active; something they can not only visualize themselves doing in the future, but actually participate in that role throughout the project. Our question was simple: ‘How can we as composers, producters, lyricists and performers create music to inspire social change?’
We started our project by brainstorming about what was great and not so great about our community. The students were really reflective about the things that they loved about their hometown, citing the low crime rate, rich art and music culture, and the proximity to universities and state parks. They were equally reflective about the things they did not like. They identified poverty, racism, cyberbullying, mental illness, depression, and addiction as widespread concerns. It was really powerful to have these conversations as a class and we could see them thinking about how they could potentially have an impact on their community through this project. Once they established this list our role as facilitators was to help them identify how these local issues connect to the broader social issues across the country.
PBL Element 2: Sustained Inquiry
Once the topics were chosen we moved into the second phase of the project that largely consisted of gathering information. While the answer to the guiding question was the mission of this project, there needed to be a reason for sustained inquiry throughout the semester. To help guide students through the research process we provided them with a note catcher (see figure 1). We realized that the students had a lot of ideas of what they thought they knew regarding these social issues; facts which may or may not have been true. It was important for them to differentiate what they thought they knew from what they actually knew, and then fill in the blanks for what they needed to know. Part of this process included reaching out to local organizations that support people who deal with these issues to find facts and anecdotes.
For several students this was a challenge for a variety of reasons. Modern band has largely been a performance-based class in the past which has usually been a big incentive for many of our students who join precisely so that they won’t have to do the types of paperwork we were having them do. We also asked several questions that required some higher-level thinking skills that many students were glazing over. Because we were met with a lot of resistance, we were close to determining this as a failed component of the project and moving on from it. However, we decided to persevere because we knew how valuable it was. Some students were not actually doing the research to answer the questions at all. Others chose to do their research without a guided focus but, interestingly, they all eventually came back to the note catcher that we had created. They recognized the need for direction and ended up ‘figuring out’ the same process we had asked them to go through in the first place. This is the perfect example of the ‘mess.’ It was extremely difficult to watch students struggle when we knew we could jump in and just tell them what to do. We stood strong and remained in our facilitator role. Facilitation is a necessary pillar in informal learning practices. The results were worth the wait and the temporary discomfort.
We frequently reminded them to keep going back to the note catcher document. It was easy to get caught in the songwriting process and forget about the bigger picture. Many of them just wanted to jump in and write a song. We prompted them to refer to their note catcher often to stay focused on the purpose of the project. The task was not about writing and creating music for music’s sake. It was designed to be about writing music for an important cause, to raise awareness, and potentially inspire change.
The sustained inquiry was also about filling the roles of composers, producers, lyricists and performers. Consequently this process included learning about the songwriting process from the song’s inception to recording and performing. We were fortunate enough to have a local singer/songwriter join us multiple times throughout the semester as an Artist-in-Residence funded through a county grant. He often worked with the students on their lyrics, form, and arrangement of their tune, making sure they were able to express themselves so the listener understood the song’s message.
PBL Element 3: Authenticity
It is extremely necessary for students to make explicit relationships between the content they learn in school and its relevance to the greater community. The more authentic the learning is to real-work applications, the greater the connection will be for the student. Music in schools tends to lend itself to an authentic experience naturally because of the expectation for public performances throughout the school year. PBL takes this a step further because of the intention for an authentic public impact in some way. We wanted this project to connect to the local issues in the community so the students could understand the social context for the subjects they were writing about. PBL is about creating an authentic frame of reference and leading the students to develop skills that they can actually use in the greater community. The potential impact of this project allowed the students to realize the power of their voice and created a platform for them to be heard.
Together we created a list of community organizations that students could contact for more information. We noticed that students struggled with making these contacts and were especially resistant to doing so, mostly because they felt uncomfortable talking to people on the phone. As a response, we created a scaffold for them in the form of a script to help them make their phone calls. However even with this, most students vigorously avoided doing it. In the future we will likely encourage bands to assign the task of making these calls. A designated member to act in somewhat of a “managerial” role would be helpful so that the flow of information can be consolidated and students who thrive in communicating can leverage their skill set.
PBL Element 4: Student Voice & Choice
Student questioning and autonomy is the way the student-driven curriculum of modern band is always structured. For this project, students had complete control over the decisions about their creative process. As teachers we guided them through a few ways to write a song and gave feedback at the checkpoints, but ultimately the students determined how they would write and arrange their songs. They chose their own topic, created their own bands, chose their own instruments, decided on their own arrangements, rehearsed themselves, and made all of the musical decisions. This may have been the most powerful component of this project. By empowering them to make their own choices about their learning, it created authentic student engagement on a daily basis.
While student voice and choice should happen as often as possible, there were some obstacles that we came across. In theory, student autonomy should increase motivation, however some of the students needed support in maintaining focus. We discovered that there needs to be a balance between independence and appropriate scaffolding and coaching. This was challenging, and was a point of conversation between us after each class. How often should we leave them to figure something out, and when should we intervene? This balance would change from student to student over the course of the semester, creating a very personalized experience for each of them.
It is important to clarify that not all students in this class come in or end up at the same ability level. This year we had an extremely academically and musically diverse group of students. We wanted to create a class that was as accessible as possible regardless of previous experience, however the large spectrum of ability was challenging. Some students had been playing for years on their own or in our class, while others had never picked up an instrument before. This made approximation and a student-directed mindset all the more important. Being in this type of environment allowed the students the space they needed to produce some remarkably empowering experiences.
Giving students the autonomy to make daily decisions about their work is a natural form of differentiated instruction that allowed authentic growth from every student, regardless of ability level. Since students were able to choose their own groups, differentiation happened on its own. Using this model, peer coaches and leaders emerged, creating an environment of shared learning and multi-tiered understanding on the part of the learner and student expert alike. It was not uncommon for the peer leaders to shift as the material and expertise changed throughout the process. Differentiation was an integral part of daily class activity, largely due to student voice and choice and the understanding of their own strengths as learners.
A good example of this student choice component was one of our bands, Fox Hollow. They were a group of four senior boys, three of which were brand new to music in school and one who had very clear aspirations for a musical career after high school. They chose to work with each other at the beginning of the year and determined their instrumentation early on. From the start there were some conflicts between the newer students and the veteran student, Sam, who felt they weren’t moving along as a band quickly enough. Sam expressed numerous concerns that were largely a byproduct of the inexperience of the newer guys. Our role as facilitators was to guide Sam into a leadership role within his group, which not only gave the group a clearer direction, but provided him with valuable lessons in management and patience. They ended up being one of our most productive bands and grew significantly throughout the year. They even continued playing together long after graduating.
PBL Element 5: Reflection
Formal and informal reflections were consistently part of the students’ experience throughout the entire process. At first these were written reflections with well thought out questions that were created for them. However we noticed that many of our students were not strong writers. We knew that they had a lot to say, but it seemed that writing was not the best method to get the responses we wanted. Instead, we began having recorded conversations, asking the reflection questions verbally. The results were incredible. Students who would have typically written one or two sentences on a written reflection would speak for up to 20 minutes talking about their experiences. We began to embrace this alternative reflection noting that the students in our modern band program often do not excel in other areas at school. This is even more justification to embrace informal learning practices and the values of PBL. Although some of these students did not thrive in a traditional school environment, they created music and filled in the roles of student, composer, producer, arranger and performer seamlessly.
Regular reflection for students was a way to give them perspective on their work but was also a useful tool for us as their teachers. We were reflective and talked with each other about the effectiveness of daily lessons and the larger scale models of our curriculum in an attempt to make the class as student-centered as possible. We consistently asked our students for their thoughts on how class is going. Sometimes this resulted in a plan from the beginning of the month changing by the end of the month. There was only so much we could predict when it came to what our students would enjoy and need, and it was our professional responsibility as their teachers to be as responsive as possible. We reminded ourselves often that we teach students, not content.
While verbal reflections were a big part of the process, we gave the students rubrics every step of the way (see Figure 2). The rubric was used as a guiding document for the whole process. It was handed out at the beginning of the semester and we frequently referred to it . The students had to understand their expectations if we wanted them to perform up to our standards. By using this rubric often, the students were able to track their progress. It was also a tool for us to hold them accountable when they were falling short. When there is a concrete agreement of what the final product will be at the end of the process, it can always be referenced to find a way to get back on track.
PBL Element 6: Critique and Revision
This element is also known as formative evaluation which was a continual process as the students worked through the project. We set up frequent checkpoints throughout the semester to make sure the students were on target with the timeline and gave appropriate feedback. Evaluation didn’t only happen between the teacher and students, but more often students evaluated each other based on the rubric.
Students were constantly critiqueing and revising their own work and gave feedback for others in the class. We had a routine of regular showcases in class to demonstrate works-in-progress. It was important for us to emphasize that these showcases were not and should not be considered final performances of their material. Instead the goal was twofold: for students to learn how to critically listen and give constructive feedback, and for the performers to learn how to receive feedback in an appropriate way. We spent a lot of time practicing language for peer feedback. Rather than using phrases such as “I liked” or “I didn’t like,” we asked them to use the phrases “I notice,” “I wonder” and “I wish.” The latter phrases do not have the same inherent judgement of “I liked” or “I didn’t like.” Instead, they leave room for a more open, objective conversation. The phrase “I notice” was used for positive comments they wanted to share, as in “I noticed how well I understood your words as you sang.” “I wonder” was for a place for growth. For example, “I wonder what would happen if you expanded that guitar solo.” The third phrase “I wish” was for constructive criticism: “I wish you were more together in that verse.”
With our ‘I notice,’ ‘I wonder,’ ‘I wish,’ ground rules, students were required to think beyond the qualifying ‘good’ or ‘bad’ of a performance. We have found that without these guidelines student comments were often unhelpful in lacking clarity and specificity, or students might have unintentionally said something offensive. ‘That was cool,’ and ‘You guys sounded really good,’ was common feedback prior to using the guidelines. Although it may feel affirming in the moment, unless specificities are given, no progress can be made. Some comments were also unintentionally rude in that the students didn’t take into account their tone of voice or didn’t fully think through what they were going to say before saying it. Asking students to write down some notes about their comments as they thought of them and then verbally sharing them made them slow down and consider what they wanted to communicate instead of blurting out what first came to their mind.
One student in particular had a difficult time receiving and giving feedback. Daniel was known by his peers for being somewhat tone deaf when it came to social awareness. His comments to his classmates were sometimes crass and he often came across as self-interested, especially in the context of musical feedback. When students were on the receiving end of his constructive comments they were often defensive and created excuses in an apparent attempt to save face. This is not good for student growth as it can create an emotionally unsafe learning space. With the guidelines we provided, Daniel made a noticeable difference regarding his feedback. He learned to construct his feedback for others in a way that was conscious of their feelings and worked hard to receive feedback in a less personal manner.
PBL Element 7: Public Product
In a music class, the public product is always a part of what we do. For this project, the public product went slightly deeper than perhaps the typical musical performance. Once the students recorded their original songs they were compiled onto an album. The album release date coincided with Jamfest, the annual end of the year show featuring Cortland’s Modern Band program. We had the pleasure of working beside a wonderful visual art department to develop album art as a part of the release. Although it’s an important element of a Gold Standard PBL, interdisciplinary collaboration was logistically challenging. Moving forward we would like to incorporate those opportunities throughout the project. In the future, we hope that the art students will be responsible for creating the artwork within a similar facilitation framework that we embrace in class.
While Jamfest is a relatively new component of the modern band program, it has been an overwhelming success. We have been fortunate enough to be supported by a local performing arts center, which has in recent years become a destination venue for touring artists coming through the Northeast. The center has three isolated performing spaces that are used for Jamfest with upwards of 15-20 bands playing throughout the night simultaneously. Guests walk through the spaces at their leisure, similar in structure to a show night at an art gallery. While Jamfest is always the culminating event of modern band, this year students raised awareness of the issues they wrote about. Students invited the local agencies to the show to set up a booth to speak with the community about their organization and the support they provide. This was a truly special evening of performances, social awareness, and joy. More people showed up to support the evening than ever before and students left feeling like they did something deeply meaningful.
Final Thoughts
Project Based Learning is still a relatively new initiative for our school district and has tremendous potential to grow into a fully integrated component of any classroom. With standards-based student engagement as a primary focus, a well designed project can create authentic meaning and deep learning for students, particularly those who might otherwise be disengaged or uninterested in school. The fundamental ideas behind the inception of the Cortland Modern Band program mirror the same values that PBL advocates for: student engagement, rigorous content, and real-world application. Developing this project felt natural and was a great exercise for us as music educators to refine our planning process while affirming the work we have been doing.
Students came into the semester with a hint of skepticism and fear over the different structure of the class when they heard they would be writing a song. Despite their initial concerns, as the semester wrapped up, every student fully embraced the work and seemed to have a deeper connection to the music they created. Not all students seized the challenge right out of the gate. Several were resistant at first, but once their work began to take shape we noticed their mindset shift from one of uncertainty to pride. Despite the occasional setbacks and several ‘messy middles’ for us as facilitators, the project was an overwhelming success and is one we plan to include as a staple of our curriculum. We began with the guiding question “How can music be used to inspire social change?” and the answer seemed to be clear: it inspires change by raising awareness and building empathy. To emphasize the effects of the project, here is a final testimonial told by one student in a conversation with the Cortland Board of Education:
“With the research I did, I found people who were going through the situation I was writing about [depression]. They were having problems related to the topic, so I talked to them and I got to actually meet new people, or learn about people more to understand them so I could get better write about my topic. I got to see a side of people you don’t normally get to see. It turned my writing into something people could understand and relate to. I’m even friends now with some of those people who I wouldn’t have probably connected with otherwise.
[The project] showed me it’s not just about the music, it’s about the connection between people. You can listen to a song, but you really can understand what the song’s about, not just on a musical level but on a lyric level too. I feel like I’ve learned how to do that better instead of just putting something down and not caring about it. Now there’s more feeling and emotion behind it because you’re connecting the music with the topic and the lyrics. I made this song. It’s mine. This is how I feel. This is the me I want to show to everybody.”
References and Resources
Green, Lucy. “How Popular Musicians Learn: a way ahead for music education.” Burlington: Ashgate, 2002.
Green, L. (2006). “Popular music education in and for itself, and for ‘other’ music: current research in the classroom.” International Journal of Music Education, vol. 24 (2), pp. 101-118.
Larmer, J., Mergendoller, J. R., & Boss, S. (2015). Setting the standard for project based learning: A proven approach to rigorous classroom instruction. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Lill, A. (2014). “An Analytical Lens for Studying Informal Learning in Music: Subversion, Embodied Learning and Participatory Performance.” Action, Criticism and Theory for Music Education, vol. 13 (1), pp. 223-247.
www.pblworks.org
Figure 1
NOTE CATCHER
- What issue did you research?
- Why is it important to you?
- Who does it affect?
| WHAT I KNOW | WHAT I THINK I KNOW | WHAT I NEED TO KNOW |
- Where can you find the answers to you “need to know” column?
- List at least 4 facts about your issue:
- What local organizations deal with this issue?
- Write an email or call someone from this organization. Use this script to help you:
- Who have you spoken with from this organization?
- In 2-3 sentences give your ‘elevator pitch’ about the issue. How would you explain it to someone who has never heard of it before?
FIGURE 2
| 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | |
| Musical Understanding | The band confidently knew the music they were performing | The band was familiar with the music they were performing | The band sort of knew the music they were performing | The band didn’t know the songs they were performing at all |
| Performance | The performance was engaging and the band had great stage presence | The performance was engaging but the band looked a little stoic or awkward | The performance was mildly engaging but the band didn’t show any signs of stage presence | The performance was boring and their stage presence was stylistically inappropriate |
| Context | The band had a clear and deep understanding of the culture surrounding the music they performed | The band seemed to have a surface level understanding of the culture surrounding the music they performed | The band seemed to have very little understanding of the culture surrounding the music they performed | The band had no understanding of the culture surrounding the music they performed |
| Presentation | The presentation of material was clear, concise, and thoughtful | The presentation of material was somewhat haphazard but the understanding was there | The presentation of material was boring and seemed to include very little depth | The presentation of the material did not include all of the necessary components |