The Yellow Board

The Yellow Board
[ The Yellow Board ]

Do we follow rules at all?

Posted by Level 4 on 3/10/2026, 10:52 am

So word is that level 4 SR has 2 key changes. I mean, shouldn't be a big deal, but the rules state that it is A KEY CHANGE and not key changes.
Am I missing something?

Re: Do we follow rules at all?

Posted by Me on 3/11/2026, 9:00 am, in reply to "Do we follow rules at all?"

It goes from one key to a different key back to the same key. One key "change" ... that's how they get around it.

But is Bb and Eb really a key change you need to be concerned with?

Re: Do we follow rules at all?

Posted by Yes but on 3/11/2026, 11:56 pm, in reply to "Re: Do we follow rules at all?"

By the same logic, couldn’t a composer switch back and forth between 2 keys every measure or so? The spirit of the rule is change once. Not multiple times. But hey they’re only guidelines.

Re: Do we follow rules at all?

Posted by Pedant on 3/12/2026, 8:40 am, in reply to "Re: Do we follow rules at all?"

No, the letter of the rule is change once. The spirit of the rule is to have two keys.

Re: Do we follow rules at all?

Posted by Bill on 3/11/2026, 5:59 pm, in reply to "Re: Do we follow rules at all?"

Depends on your definition of what “one” is.

E flat changes to B flat changes to E flat.
That would be 2 changes.

Now on a serious note. Should most bands be able to handle it? YES. Yes they should.

Re: Do we follow rules at all?

Posted by Integrity on 3/12/2026, 11:38 am, in reply to "Re: Do we follow rules at all?"

A SERIOUS note is following the rules the organization set. Without doing so, the process loses integrity. Whether most bands should be able to handle it is completely irrelevant.
It is absurd that this topic of pieces not following the rules set comes up every year and nothing is done.

Re: Do we follow rules at all?

Posted by Bill Clinton on 3/12/2026, 3:55 pm, in reply to "Re: Do we follow rules at all?"

I was answering the previous post. He asked if a change from Bb and Eb was something to be concerned with. I completely agree with you. This shouldn’t be a thing we deal with every year. Every once in a while maybe. Things do happen. But every year? No. It shouldn’t.

Re: Do we follow rules at all?

Posted by Beagle on 3/13/2026, 8:43 am, in reply to "Re: Do we follow rules at all?"

That's just it.

Every year it happens because every year there's only one or two people that write pieces and submit them for sight reading.

They can't just "get a new piece" in January. It's gotta be published, printed, and distributed. So the powers that be have decided that the "guidelines" can be bent if it doesn't make the piece more difficult than it should be.

This goes all the way back to the early 2000s when the Grade 3 included sixteenth note runs in the woodwind parts - and the best part is they edited the part later so that people who went to UIL after Spring Break had an easier sight reading piece than those before.

I don't know what the solution is, short of requiring two pieces be written, but that would likely result in the additional cost being passed on to member schools.

Re: Do we follow rules at all?

Posted by Mike on 3/16/2026, 10:47 am, in reply to "Re: Do we follow rules at all?"

Or you could volunteer to be on the committee that oversees the composition process.

Re: Do we follow rules at all?

Posted by Okay... on 3/23/2026, 7:37 am, in reply to "Re: Do we follow rules at all?"

...the problem there is that in order to be on that committee, you have to be able to say, "Pffffttt. My 6th graders could sightread that by October. That's too easy" and not start laughing in the middle of the sentence.

Re: Do we follow rules at all?

Posted by Hmm on 3/23/2026, 6:13 pm, in reply to "Re: Do we follow rules at all?"

Have you actually volunteered to help the committee or is this how you think it will go?

Because I asked to help a committee and now I select PML pieces. 4A/CC here, no amazing 6th grade SR program. The committees need representation from all areas and actively seek to balance this, at least from my experience.

Re: Do we follow rules at all?

Posted by I have... on 3/25/2026, 8:01 am, in reply to "Re: Do we follow rules at all?"

Don't know about our colleague, but I have offered my services to help the committee.

I was told, "We are in need of directors with more experience and 'distinction'", and wasn't asked to be on the committee.

Experience and distinction? My resume:

--15 years on the job, at the time I had been at this school for 12 of them.

--Of those 12 years, 10 of them were sweepstakes

--Several trips to SMC

--2 State Finalists for HB

I don't know how much more distinct someone could be in 15 years. OOOOOHHHH, wait, I teach at a 1A school. There's the problem.

The anti-small school bias is very real; big school directors like to look down their noses at the "small school" guys. That's why there are so few directors that make the jump from ATSSB to any 5/6A position. That's why Frank Erickson's "Air for Band" languished on the Grade 1 PML for decades before it got moved to Grade 3 where it belonged just a couple of years ago...the 6A guys told everyone "that's too easy", (note: the piece didn't get two grade levels harder overnight) That's why we still have SR pieces with issues.

Re: Do we follow rules at all?

Posted by DesertJazz on 3/25/2026, 6:51 pm, in reply to "Re: Do we follow rules at all?"

This is why I pushed a proposal through UIL over a decade ago to require representation from each, 1A, 2A, 3A, 4A, 5A, 6A, 1C, 2C, and 3C. It made it to the final meeting though (this is a multi-year process for new rules) and was shot down for causing 'too much expense.'

I've had a few opportunities for other things come my way the last few years, I hope someday maybe to serve on that committee. I will say the list is available, and I know I have approached a PML committee member before about 'uh... that's not a grade 1...' as recently as this summer when Penders put their list out. (They corrected it)

I the issue with the sight-reading process though is just the backgrounds of how it's put together. Only paying $500 for a piece? How about at least offering a residual to make it more worth a composers while? There are some people who write with pennames because they don't want to be tarnished elsewhere. Pay a better rate and we'll get better music. The other piece is who is reading it as the test case? As long as it's a group like UT, or another pie in the sky ensemble, it becomes even more difficult to find the actual problems because those players can make anything sound fantastic and mistakes of errors/difficulty get glossed over.

It's also time to add back in that .5 we had during COVID for 1C NV, 2C NV, and any 2A NV that may exist.

« Back to index

[ The Yellow Board ]