National Core Arts Standards require students to use feedback from peers to refine both their performances and their compositions in the artistic processes of Create and Perform. When asked to give feedback to a peer, many students stop at comments like “It sounds good,” and do not naturally give specific, meaningful feedback. Therefore, teachers need to develop the capacity of students to give meaningful feedback to each other. This article outlines strategies and activities for building a classroom rich in meaningful student-provided feedback.

Many teachers believe in the importance of compositional and creative tasks but don’t find the time to assess those tasks and provide feedback to students. This column encourages teachers to determine why, what, and how assessments will be given. By planning out why (formative or summative), what kind of task will be assessed, and choosing a tool for how assessments will be given, teachers can maximize the amount of feedback they give to students and help students grow as composers. This column provides teachers with solid strategies and methods for implementing student composition assessments in general music classrooms.

The ability to compose music must be taught and practiced. Students need purposeful opportunities to develop their musical thinking. This article presents a number of games and playful work that teachers can use to develop musical thought and lead toward intentional composition.

Along with standards describing what music students should be able to do, the National Core Arts Standards developed Model Cornerstone Assessments suggesting how teachers can measure student learning for each artistic process. This article explores the Respond Model Cornerstone Assessment. This column explains the Model Cornerstone Assessment for the Respond process; discusses what students need to know to succeed on the assessment; and explores ways for teachers to modify the assessment and use the data to refine their teaching.

Creating music increases student engagement, and drawing on students’ background knowledge is a respectful way to value students’ lived experiences. By challenging students to create music for the context of a video game world, teachers can build on students’ previous knowledge and bridge that knowledge to the elements of music and creating music for specific contexts and purposes. This column outlines a project for fourth graders to create video game music for specific contexts within the game.