Assessment and critical feedback in the master-apprentice relationship: rethinking approaches to the learning of a music instrument

In higher education music institutions around the world, one to one teaching continues to dominate the way in which students learn a music instrument. With the expert performer-teacher as centre of the learning process or 'master', students as 'apprentices' are typically subjected to intensive weekly direction and feedback, frequently culminating in performance exams assessed by expert performers/teachers. This form of learning features a mode of assessment which is predominantly one way, that is, the transmission of expectations from master to apprentice as well as value judgments about the level of artistry achieved, even if criteria are applied and aligned to learning outcomes during performance exams. Developing critical feedback and assessment skills is vital to any musician seeking to establish a meaningful and viable career, indeed Australian institutions will soon need to provide adequate evidence that students are able to be critical and work independently, given the impending introduction of the Tertiary Education Quality Standards Agency (TEQSA) standards and threshold learning outcomes. This paper examines the one to one lesson as a vehicle for enabling students to develop critical assessment and feedback skills. Using data obtained in relation to self and peer assessment in music instrument lessons and workshops, as well as recent research exploring the reflections of 171 current higher education music instrument teachers in nine countries, this paper seeks to theorise and evidence the need to reconsider the knowledge transfer, assessment and critical feedback systems of the one to one lesson and the learning of a music instrument at the higher education level