M.E419

Sight-Reading Notes and Rhythms

Students will be given an unfamiliar piece of music to sight-read and perform. The teacher will select the piece(s) of music. The level of difficulty should be appropriate for a first-year high school student.

The music will vary based on instrumentation or voice part and must include division-level and elongation-level rhythms, slurs, accents, staccato markings, and at least one other articulation marking. Students will be assessed on an individual basis according to a list prepared by the teacher (i.e., an alphabetical list of students). Performance time of the music should not exceed 60 seconds.

The teacher or a person designated to supervise the recording should monitor the assessment in the recording room. After the student enters the recording room, he/she will have one minute to silently study the music. After the silent study time, the student will perform the music, and the performance will be recorded.

Students will be assessed based on a Teacher Scoring Rubric in two areas of musicianship, Rhythm and Technique.

This item has been voluntarily field-tested by Michigan teachers with a non-representative sample of students.

Teacher Booklet

Download PDF Download Word Doc

Student Booklet

Download PDF Download Word Doc

This is an analytic rubric. The column on the left shows the dimension that is being measured in the student’s performance. The levels across the top row indicate the performance level in the dimensions. Occasionally all dimensions and performance levels are exemplified by multiple students in a single recording.

TEACHER SCORING RUBRIC

  • Dimension

  • Tone

  • Pitch

  • Tempo

  • Rhythm

  • Fluency

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4

  • Tone is not characteristic of the instrument/voice part.

    N/A at this time.

  • Tone is characteristic of the instrument/voice part within comfortable ranges.

    View Exemplar

  • Tone is characteristic of the instrument/voice part within extended ranges.

    View Exemplar

  • Tone is characteristic of the instrument/voice part throughout the performance and includes more advanced techniques such as vibrato or tone coloring.

    View Exemplar

  • Pitches are performed with 3 or more errors.

    N/A at this time.

  • Pitches are performed with 2 errors.

    View Exemplar

  • Pitches are performed with 1 error.

    View Exemplar

  • Pitches are performed with no mistakes.

    View Exemplar

  • Tempo is not consistent (3+ tempo variations).

    N/A at this time.

  • Tempo is consistent most of the time, but two slight variations occur.

    View Exemplar

  • Tempo is consistent most of the time, but one slight variation occurs.

    View Exemplar

  • Tempo remains consistent throughout.

    View Exemplar

  • Rhythms are performed with 5+ mistakes.

    N/A at this time.

  • Rhythms are performed with 3-4 mistakes.

    View Exemplar

  • Rhythms are performed with 1-2 minor mistakes.

    View Exemplar

  • Rhythms are performed with no mistakes.

    View Exemplar

  • The student performs with without adequate fluency: they start and stop three or more times and/or are not able to easily recover.

    N/A at this time.

  • The student performs with somewhat adequate fluency: they start and stop two times.

    View Exemplar

  • The student performs with adequate fluency: they start and stop one time and/or are able to easily recover.

    View Exemplar

  • The student performs fluently and without any stopping and starting.

    View Exemplar
Having trouble viewing videos?

Leave Feedback for this Assessment


What did you like? Did you need to revise anything? How could we make this assessment better?
Our Assessments are written by teachers for you, so your feedback is important to us!

Comments about items may be moderated and/or reposted in the blogs to aid item improvement and teacher learning. By leaving a comment, you agree that we can use your comment without attributing it to you.

Sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date with all of our assessments.

Sign Up Now!