ICYMI: Sight Reading Factory adds Assessment
I’ve been on vacation this past week, and a LOT has happened while I’ve been gone. The first HUGE news that was announced was from one of MusicFirst’s partners - Sight Reading Factory. Founder and CEO Don Crafton, took to Facebook Live this past Thursday night to announce that the most beloved sight reading tool available has added the single most requested feature by teachers - ASSESSMENT! For the past 10 years, SRF has cranked out amazing sight reading materials for individual musicians and ensembles using their unique AI composition algorithm that allows teachers to create highly customized sight reading examples for their students. The one thing that it has been missing is the ability to assess the results of the students efforts. There’s a long story behind why, but all of that is behind us now. Teachers can finally assign their students unlimited sight reading examples, and SRF will auto grade their results. Hallelujah!
When you click Start Practicing in SRF, you will now see a new Auto Assessment option labeled as the Beta version. If you click on it, you will come to the Performance Options menu. Here you can decided whether you’d like the assistance of the scrolling cursor, whether or not you’d like to hear the metronome during your performance, and if you’d like the measures to disappear after they have been played. Once you decide on the options that are best for you, click Start. Next, you will be taken through the regular set of options for selecting the music you are going to sight read, including the instrument, difficulty level, key signature(s) and time signature(s). Once you’ve selected all of those, you’ll see the first piece of music you’ll be sight reading. You’ll notice that there is a new Start button with a microphone icon. Click on it, and you’re ready to go. I decided to sing a melody at Level 3 in Bb Major to illustrate how the new assessment algorithm works, and what the feedback looks like. First, here is the piece of music that I was given to sight read:
I clicked on Start and gave it my best shot. Am I a singer? No. Did I make a few unintentional intonation mistakes? Probably. Did I try to do my best? Absolutely. After performing the piece, here is how Sight Reading Factory assessed my performance:
OK - I’ve got some practicing to do. 76% at a moderate level of assessment rigor isn’t terrible. I love how my errors/feedback is broken down into various categories. I sang 6 notes perfectly, 5 notes wrong, 11 notes early, and 8 notes out of tune. I also LOVE the ability to click on the Grading rigor to see how I would have been scored if I used Lenient or Strict grading (the default setting is Moderate). You can also provide SRF with feedback on whether or not you agree with the grade you received. For best results, I HIGHLY recommend using the metronome during your recording and wearing headphones. Here is what my results looked like:
If a note is performed correctly, the note head is colored green. If it is out of tune, it is colored yellow and the intonation error is listed above the note (# or b). If the note is performed incorrectly, it is colored red and the note you performed is shown. If it is colored grey, it means that you either didn’t perform it, SRF didn’t hear it. Really cool feedback.
Right now, the SRF assessment is in Beta - so they are still fine tuning it for a full release before the beginning of the 2024-25 school year. This is the BIGGEST upgrade to SRF I’ve seen and I know that countless teachers and students that have been using SRF for the past decade will be thrilled to see this feature roll out in its final form. Ever since Don announced the feature on Facebook Live, we’ve been inundated with requests from current and prospective customers to try it out, and so far, the feedback we’ve been received has been excellent. We are thrilled to partner with such a powerful and useful tool for music educators.
If you would like to sign up for a FREE 30-day trial of the MusicFirst Classroom, which includes full access to Sight Reading Factory just fill out this form and start sight reading! The Beta version of the assessment feature isn’t available to test out yet - but it should be soon! Check back for more details.