245The purpose of this study was to develop a valid and reliable assessment measure for stringed instrument performance. In the initial phase of the investigation, a total of 90 suitable statements were generated for the initial item pool gathered from essays, statements, and previously constructed rating scales. These statements were put into the a priori categories determined by previous research. These items were paired with Likert-type scales and used by 50 judges to assess 100 recorded string performances at the middle school through high school level. The results of the initial item pool were factor-analyzed using a varimax rotation. Five factors were identified (interpretation/musical effect, articulation/tone, intonation, rhythm/tempo, and vibrato), and 28 items were selected for the subscales of the String Performance Rating Scale (SPRS) based on factor loadings. Reliability varied from .873 to .936 for each judging panel using Hoyt's analysis of variance procedure. Two studies were conducted to establish criterion related validity, with zero-order correlations ranging from .605 to . 766 between the SPRS and two other rating scales.Musical performance assessment is an important part of the instructional process in string education. Performance assessment is undertaken in many instructional situations, such as auditions for seating and ensemble placement, rehearsals, concerts, and festival performances.Problems with music performance judging are common (Fiske, 1983). According to results of a series of studies reported by Fiske in his 1983 work, judge consistency, even among experienced judges, was low (approximately 25% agreement). Possible solutions suggested by Fiske to this problem of inconsistent judging include the use of a panel of judges and the training ofjudges. The use of ajudge panel is either not practical or not cost-effective in many cases. In addition, Fiske (1978) found thatjudge training alone did not increase evaluation consistency.

Service learning offers all students, regardless of their roles, many development opportunities. ervice learning-"service and learning blended in a way that both occur and are enriched by the other"-is a part of teacher education that, when coordinated with either a school or community program, can serve mutual goals.1 Through service and the experience of helping others, high school students may choose music education as their vocation. Service learning can also reaffirm the choice of talented college students to become and remain teachers, which is essential to help alleviate the shortages in the profession. According to the Alliance for Service Learning in Education Reform, service learning is a method by which young people learn and develop through participation in organized experiences that * meet community needs * involve collaboration with the school and community * relate to each young person's academic curriculum * provide structured time for a young person to think, talk, and write

The purpose of this study was to develop a factor-derived measure of orchestra performance achievement and to test its validity and reliability for the evaluation of secondary school orchestras. We assembled a pool of 49 statements used in evaluating middle and high school orchestra performance, paired them with a 9-point Likert-type scale, and asked 63 experienced orchestra teachers to evaluate 63 secondary school orchestras. Factor analyses on data from the 189 completed rating sheets identified seven factors: Ensemble, Left Hand, Position, Rhythm, Tempo, Presentation, and Bow. For the reduced scale, we chose 25 items with factor loadings greater than . 64, which showed Cronbach's alphas ranging from . 73 to . 91. Two rounds of validation showed high correlations with MENC's adjudication form and a ranking task; the initial factor structure was not exactly duplicated, indicating directions for future research.

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The School Orchestra and String Teachers v2 (SOST v2) Facebook group is a self-directed online community of practice. In this study we describe the posting behaviour of SOST v2 members during the initial eighteen months of its launch on Facebook. Analysis of member-initiated posts (N=1,676) revealed the following: • Nearly 22 per cent of SOST v2 members contributed posts. • Repertoire (n=276), teaching advice (n=252) and links to articles and websites (n=231) were the most frequently posted topics. • SOST v2 members represent Canada, Hong Kong, Morocco, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States. School orchestra and string teachers have formed a viable community of practice on Facebook. Facebook groups provide a means by which music teachers may form a network for informal learning for music teachers and communicate easily with peers across the world. The challenges and potential of social media research are discussed.