A few months ago I wrote about changing my performance class rubrics that I use with my three performance classes. this post was put up on my class blog and since that post I’ve been thinking about how to change my rubrics to fit better with the in-Tone, in-Time, in-Tune and in-Touch concept. I really like the idea of the four step “in” rubric as it’s easy for students to remember and it just makes sense. I also like the order of the ideas as it fits perfectly with another mind map that I created to teach the elements of music and the principles of performance – exemplary tone comes first, followed by good time and a steady beat. Once those basic concepts are somewhat mastered the student can focus on using proper intonation and finally they can focus on using dynamics and expressiveness in their playing.  While other teachers will argue to switch the order of these, I like the way they build upon one another.

I finally got around to creating a new rubric that I’ll also be able to utilize with SmartMusic. I wanted one rubric that I could use with all three of my performance classes, Band I, Band II and Band III. I also wanted students to have clear descriptors for each criteria and descriptive levels of achievement. I am forced to utilize grades in my school, so each descriptor will eventually have a range of number grades attached to it, but those grades will be different for each level of performance.

I decided to use Beginning, Developing, Advancing, and Accomplished for my achievement levels as I like the way they describe each level of achievement. A Band III student who receives a grade of Developing for tone quality will receive a much lower actual number grade than a student who is in Band I. This way, with a curved grade level on the rubric, I can honestly assess each student in my entire ensemble, but grade them according to the performance expectations at their class level.

Seems complicated, but simple to me. I teach my Symphonic Band during the school day across three different class periods of 40 minutes each. With this system I can have one rubric for all three classes rather than a different rubric for each one.

Finally, since my advanced Band III class is basically our Jazz Ensemble, I also added a fifth criteria for performance – improvise. Not sure if I like this – thinking I should treat improvisation as a separate entity from performance – but for now it’s on the chart. As i start to use this rubric I’m sure I’ll make some changes. I’m also uploading it to SmartMusic to use with online assessments.

Please download and check out my new and improved Musicianship Rubric and please feel free use it in your class and send me feedback in the comments below.