Back in school, back to sight reading
Starting on October 20, let MakeMusic Cloud (SmartMusic) step in as your sight reading substitute teacher! Encourage your students to join our 30 Day Sight Reading Challenge, where we’ll be assigning daily sight reading exercises generated using the Sight Reading Builder. The difficulty of the exercises will advance each week throughout the challenge to keep students progressing.
join our challenge
Students can enroll in MakeMusic Cloud’s 30 Day Sight Reading Challenge by entering the class code* at https://admin.smartmusic.com/join. Classes are available for voice, strings, and wind/brass students. For detailed instructions on how to join a class, please visit this help article.
Beginning on October 20, students will be assigned daily sight reading exercises generated using the Sight Reading Builder. Students will have approximately 24 hours to access and complete each exercise. Each week, we’ll adjust the parameters on the exercises to make the assignments more challenging.
Encourage students to track their individual progress by entering their score each day on this printable PDF scorecard. (Please note: due to the nature and scale of this challenge, we will not be sharing individual student grades or data from the Gradebook.)
On November 19, upon completion of the challenge, students can submit their completed PDF scorecards to their teacher for official grading, extra credit, or to brag about on social media using the hashtag #30DaySightReadingChallenge.
Assign anything from the repertoire library. Create, edit, and import your own music with Compose and access unlimited sight reading materials with Sight Reading Builder.
DIY sight reading challenge
Help students to make a healthy habit out of sight reading practice by creating your own sight reading challenge with Sight Reading Builder. Follow the step-by-step instructions below to get started. Or, download instructions as a PDF.
Create a new class in your MakeMusic Cloud platform dedicated to your sight reading challenge. (Creating a new class will allow you to track students’ sight reading progress independent of other classes you teach.)
Invite students to enroll in the challenge by providing them with the class code and prompting them to join the class at https://admin.smartmusic.com/join.
Use the Sight Reading Builder to customize the parameters* for the sight reading exercises, and determine a cadence for increasing the level of difficulty. To learn more about customizing sight reading repertoire, visit our MakeMusic Cloud Academy course on Sight Reading Builder, and view this blog article. Allow 24 hours for students to complete each daily assignment, holding them accountable to the daily frequency of practicing their sight reading skills.
*To import the parameters used during the 12 Days of Sight Reading challenge, download this zip file. Within Sight Reading Builder, select File > Open Outline from File > Open.
Track student progress in the Gradebook.
At the end of the challenge, reward students who participated by acknowledging those who completed all exercises, achieved high scores, and/or improved their scores the most over the duration of the challenge.
Take it one step further by creating a friendly competition among different ensembles you teach or schools in your district!
Assign anything from the repertoire library. Create, edit, and import your own music with Compose and access unlimited sight reading materials with Sight Reading Builder.