Valuing group interaction: student chosen assessment criteria in tertiary popular music education

Assessing music groups is not just about the music. Second year rock music students at the University of Western Sydney were asked to choose criteria for self and peer assessment of the band rehearsal process, and peer assessment of the band performance outcome. Along with issues of musical creativity and communication with an audience, the social psychology of group interaction was a hot topic. In the rehearsal process, issues of group interaction out-numbered musical issues (Blom and Encarnacao 2009) and for the performance outcome, the former were strongly presented. This paper investigates the non-musical issues which tertiary rock students chose for the assessment of the rehearsal process and performance outcome and responds to two questions: what non-musical issues do tertiary rock students value in the peer and self assessment of rehearsal process and performance outcome?; and what are the implications for the assessment process?