Choir Performance Rubric
Tone Quality/Vowels
Characteristic tone,
Characteristic vowels, Unified vowels
Intonation
Accuracy, Ability to adjust through listening
Balance/Blend
Balance, Blend, Ability to adjust through listening
Diction
Text clarity, Characteristic consonants, Consonants line up
Posture
Feet, Arms, Shoulders, Balanced weight, Head
Performance/Presentation
Focus, Facial emotion, Body engagement
4 Exceeds
Consistently demonstrates characteristic tone in all registers equally. Vowels are characteristic and unified within and across sections.
Accurate intonation in all registers. Adjustments are made instantly and correctly.
The sections of the choir are precisely balanced with each other and blend with themselves. Singers demonstrate effective listening and balance adjustments by ear.
Text is clear, consonants are characteristic of the style, language, and time period.
Consonants line up both in the phrase and at cut-offs.
3 Meets
Demonstrates characteristic tone with small consistency issues in outer ranges. Vowels are unified within and across sections.
Minor intonation issues that the singers are able to fix most of the time.
The choir is balanced and blends well with only small issues maintaining each during difficult passages. Singers are listening while singing and adjusting well.
Text is clear, but consonants are not always characteristic of the style, language, and time period. Consonants generally line up.
Feet shoulder’s width apart, back straight, weight evenly distributed, arms by sides, shoulders back, head centered, ribcage raised.
Eye contact with the director and audience, face reflects the correct emotion of the performance, head and body show expression through pulse of the music.
Feet shoulder’s width apart, back straight, weight evenly distributed, arms by sides, shoulders back, head centered.
Focus is on the director, face generally reflects general emotion of the piece, body and head are engaged, but not fully.
2 Near
A basic tonal concept but inconsistent application throughout the entire range.
Vowels are inconsistently unified.
Chords are generally in tune, but the choir does not fix all intonation problems.
Individual voices sometimes cause issues with blend and the sections are not well balanced. Listening skills in development.
Inconsistent clarity of text, consonants are present but are not characteristic.
Consonants are not always together in the line and at cutoffs.
Feet askew, back relatively straight, weight shifts, arms crossed or otherwise not by sides, shoulders inconsistently back, head inconsistently centered.
Focus wanders at times, face is one of effort but not expressive, body is in generally good posture but lacks any engagement in the music.
1 Below/Emerging
Tone is weak or forced in all registers. Vowels are uncharacteristic and not unified.
Chords are out of tune, intonation adjustments are not made.
Prominence of individual voices detracts from the overall performance. Listening skills in need of development.
Text is unclear, consonants are not characteristic, consonants do not line up across the choir.
Feet crossed, back slouched, weight off balance, arms collapsing rib cage, shoulders down or forward consistently, head down or skewed in a direction.
Focus is very inconsistent, face is dead-pan, body is slouched, body is not engaged in the music.