This is my 27th year teaching. I like both systems. I feel the old system judged individual sightreading, while the new system judges ensemble reading.

In the old system, the weaker readers were on their own. They could not listen to and copy their stronger-reading peers. Under the new system, those students do not have to necessarily read as well independently and can lean on stronger students. I do not really have a huge problem with either system.

I will say that the new system does not penalize the group as heavily by the poor reading skills of one or two students. One of our non-varsity bands years ago got a 2 in sightreading because of a single trombone player that missed every A natural. This would have been quickly corrected under the new system. Also, and this is the reason I have most been a fan of the new system, we don’t have to waste time teaching and practicing the sightreading process. We just read the same way we naturally read new music in class.

With all that said, I am glad I taught for so long under the original rules because I really learned how to teach effective reading skills to my kids.