The goal of this piece is not to tout the correctness or incorrectness of either objective or subjective music education teaching styles. Rather, its attempt is to clearly depict their differences and the situations in which each, individually or in conjunction, may be beneficial for the education of students with autism. Music is, of course ultimately, an art form which is driven by a performer’s ability to emote and interpret a piece of music. Assessing an artist’s performance is, perhaps, the definition of a subjective judgment, but we are not dealing with artists…yet. We are dealing with students of an art form. A student’s performance needs to be shaped and more clearly defined, eventually allowing them to relate to the instrument as a conduit for his expression and exploration. To a certain extent this is an ever continuing process since we are all growing and changing as human beings. In respect to the early education of students, though, each response can be objectively measured and analyzed. But, why do you need to objectively measure their performance you may ask. First, let’s define what objective and subjective measurements are and how they are used.

An objective measurement is one which is independent of the teacher’s individual perception of what the answer is. For instance, two separate piano instructors may listen critically to a student’s performance and ultimately come to two, very different conclusions in respect to the student’s interpretation and adherence to the fundamentals of piano performance. This is not so much a misunderstanding or radical divergence in the teachers’ knowledge of core piano education principles; rather a personal and subjective assessment of the student and what constitutes a correct response. To be clear, all teaching is based on shaping and having teachers accept approximations made by a student. Teaching is very subjective in nature, while assessing the results of these teaching efforts should be objective in nature. The question then arises, How can teachers objectively assess a student’s performance if art is fundamentally a subjective form of expression The answer, of course, is that the focus of early music education is much more associated with execution as opposed to interpretation. Therefore, it can be clearly and objectively measured whether or not a student independently depressed a particular key of the piano or identified a musical note correctly. » Read more: Objective Vs Subjective Music Education