Rhythm assessment grades

In your grade reports are two scores for the rhythmic performance criterion. The first one, in bold, is the score that will count toward your final grade (it says “Adjusted final score”). The second is the score you earned according to the Unit I rubric. The adjusted score is higher.

The reason for this is that no one mastered levels 3 and 4 of the rhythmic performance objectives during Unit I. For many of you, there simply wasn’t enough time to progress that far, or you had to choose between practicing for the rhythm assessment and working on the species counterpoint or transcription assignments. Since no one was able to master levels 3 and 4 in the time allotted, and since that was not the result of slacking off (in most cases), it would be unfair for me to hold your final grades accountable for those levels.

With that in mind, I used an altered grading rubric for the final score. Your final score was the number of the following four things you demonstrated an ability to do reliably:

• sing subdivision-level rhythms in simple meter
• sing subdivision-level rhythms in compound meter
• sing beat-level syncopations in simple meter
• sing beat-level syncopations in compound meter

We will have opportunity to work more on division-level syncopations later this semester, particularly in our pop/rock unit.

Please let me know if you have any questions about this. Also, keep in mind that if your adjusted grade is a 0 or a 1, you must work on that and reassess later in the semester in order to pass the class. Those with a 2 need to do so in order to receive an A or a B in the course. It will be best to do that sooner, rather than later. And, of course, you can only do this for one of the Unit I objectives.

On another note, I hope to look over the transcriptions soon, so you all can decide which criterion (if any) to re-assess post-deadline.

Good luck with your final species counterpoint work!