Over 20 years teaching band and I still struggle to grade playing tests.

See if this sounds good to you.


40 This grade or lower isn’t worth talking about.

50 It is clear you have some experience with this instrument but you lack enough control of it to do anything a person would want to hear.

60 It appears you understand what should be done. It also seems you know how to do it and are capable of doing it. However, this is not something we want to put in front of an audience.

70 This performance has quality tone and all the pitches are correct. Most of the rhythms are correct. This is bare minimum for a performance that would be acceptable to put in front of an audience.

80 All rhythms are correct and the entire performance has a steady tempo.

90 Articulation is correct throughout the performance and several dynamic changes can be heard.

100 Tone, pitch, rhythm, tempo, articulation, dynamics. A mistake in any of these is rare.