Get the Most from Readymade Music Literacy / "Everyone Scores a 100"

Sep 01, 2023

Updated September 1, 2025

In this article:

The Video Lessons: When?
The Worksheets: How to Get Their Best Work
Grading Student Work: The “Everyone Scores a 100” Method
“Everyone Scores a 100” is About Accountability & Mastery
Heads Up: Mastery Takes Time
Choosing Between Quality, Quantity, & Speed: The Triple Constraint of Teaching
FAQ: What do we do if a student is absent or misses a lesson?
Tip: Use a Timer to Keep Students on Task
Tip: Possible Time-Savers
Tip: The Worksheets Double as Rhythm Charts
Conclusion: Trusting the Process

Estimated Read Time: 6-8 minutes

By Rob Chilton

I began teaching the earliest versions of Readymade Music Literacy in 2013. Since then, I’ve experimented with countless ways of presenting the lessons, completing the worksheets, and grading student work—always searching for the most effective approach. Here’s what I’ve learned.

The Video Lessons: When?

Pick one day a week to show the video lesson.

I usually did Wednesdays or Thursdays, but you can choose whatever works best. Keeping it on the same day develops routine and gives students something different to look forward to each week.

The Worksheets: How to Get Their Best Work

I’ve tried doing the worksheets in class, assigning them for homework, uploading them to our LMS, and occasionally skipping them. What I discovered is that students do their best work in class under the watchful eye of a teacher.

While doing the worksheets in class, I also routinely observed students rushing to “get it done” rather than “get it right.” To counter this and encourage everyone's best work, I used the “Everyone Scores a 100” method.

Grading Student Work: The Everyone Scores a 100 Method

Imagine all your students having roughly the same baseline understanding of the written musical language—regardless of their instrumental or vocal skill proficiency. This was my goal when I began implementing the “Everyone Scores a 100” method.

Here’s how it works:

At the start of class, students watch the video lesson.
After the video, the teacher hands out the worksheet.
While students work, the teacher monitors progress and offers brief remediation to individuals as needed.
As students complete their work, they bring it to the teacher for checking:
- If everything is correct, the assignment receives a 100, the grade is immediately entered into the gradebook, and the student returns to their seat and files it in their binder.
- If there are mistakes, the teacher highlights them, provides short remediation if needed, and the student goes back to their seat to complete corrections. Once corrected, the student returns the work for grading. Repeat as time allows.

Here’s why we liked it:

It encourages students to do their best work the first time.
It teaches them that the work is complete when it’s correct, not just when an answer exists for every problem.
Normalizes mistakes and corrections as part of learning.
It provided a guaranteed opportunity to personally interact with every student weekly—something that can be hard to do in large classes.
All worksheets were graded and entered into the gradebook during class—no extra grading outside of school.

“Everyone Scores a 100” is About Accountability & Mastery

“Everyone Scores a 100” isn’t about giving free or completion grades; it’s about holding students accountable to do their best work and, ideally, achieve mastery every week, because their baseline knowledge of the written musical language needs to be consistent enough for them to eventually play together in an ensemble.

Note: As you begin each new year, your students may initially turn in lower-quality work than expected. This is common, as the average student often values completion over accuracy. Stay consistent with your expectations, and within a few weeks, they’ll start producing higher-quality work as they adjust to the method.

Heads Up: Mastery Takes Time

If using the “Everyone Scores a 100” method, you may find there’s less time to play after completing the video and worksheets. I struggled with this at first, feeling like I needed more time for playing. I eventually realized that laying a solid foundation in music literacy now reduces hurdles and roadblocks later. In other words, the “lost time” now pays off when students don’t need to slow down to tackle new written concepts later.

Every year, I had at least one class that needed extra time. I’d often give them the remainder of class to finish their worksheets. I could have pushed them to work faster, but that would have produced incomplete or incorrect work, which over time would have created gaps in their learning. Like water currents, each class has its own pace. Some flow fast with purpose, while others trickle slowly—or even stand still at times. Finding the right speed is a delicate balancing act. Focus on accuracy over speed, and don’t be afraid to allow extra time if it means getting it right. Remember: It takes what it takes.

Choosing Between Quality, Quantity, & Speed: The Triple Constraint of Teaching

I’m a huge advocate for accuracy over speed and quality over quantity. Something I once read in a leadership book is that there are three key qualities we must continually choose between:

Quality
Quantity
Speed

You can’t have all three. At most, you can pick two. Meaning: You can have high-quality student work across a large quantity of activities, but the execution won’t be fast. Or you can have a large quantity of activities with fast execution, but the quality won’t be high. At best, you’ll have to settle for two of the three—and at least for me, quality is always number one.

FAQ: What do we do if a student is absent or misses a lesson?

Over the years, the RML scope and sequence has been revised to address this issue. Every concept is taught and reinforced across multiple lessons, so occasional absences won’t create unfillable gaps. If a student misses a lesson, don’t worry—the material will be covered again! In my experience, it’s easiest to just give the students an exempt grade for occasional missed lessons rather than try to catch them up.

Tip: Use a Timer to Keep Students on Task

The worksheets have been revised to take approximately 10–15 minutes to complete. Some students will finish faster, while others will need more time. To encourage efficiency, try using a timer—kids don’t have the same sense of time that adults do. Displaying a timer motivates them to work more steadily. I often set the timer for 15 minutes, and when it went off, students who had finished could assist those that were struggling—or complete pass-offs. Check out this article to learn more about my pass-off system:

Tip: Possible Time-Savers

Using one day a week to teach music literacy may feel like it’s slowing down your processes now, but it will pay-off later when your students can move faster and more freely due to their increased literacy. Still, you may be wondering if there are possible time-saving solutions.

Take a week off when needed. Ideally, you’d complete one lesson per week and finish through Lesson 36, but at a minimum aim for Lesson 25. Hitting Lesson 25 will get your students through some of the most important material in the program—and allows for up to 11 weeks off throughout the school year.
Students can catch up on lessons during your absence. For example, if you’re sick or away for a convention, have students complete multiple back-to-back lessons to stay on track.

Tip: The Worksheets Double as Rhythm Charts

Each worksheet (from Lesson 1E on) has three lines of rhythm at the top that were intentionally designed to double as rhythm charts. To strengthen your students’ rhythm skills, you can clap and/or count these lines—such as at the beginning of class as a bell-ringer a few times a week.

Conclusion: Trusting the Process

We live in a world of “quick fixes” and instant gratification, but there are no shortcuts with music literacy. When I started this journey in 2013, the hardest part was trusting the process—doing it consistently despite worrying I was wasting precious time playing. One of my favorite reminders has always been: trust the process. It’s easy to get caught up in the daily grind and feel we’re always behind, but the time you invest now will pay off later. As with anything, it only works if you commit to and trust the process!

Suggested reading:

About the author:

Rob Chilton is the creator and owner of Readymade Music, LLC and its content. Previously, Chilton was a middle school band director from 2007-2021. His most recent teaching position was the Head Band Director at Killian Middle School in Lewisville, Texas from 2014-2021.

Under his direction, the Killian Honors Band was named the 2018 Texas Music Educators Association CC Honor Band and performed at the annual 2018 TMEA Clinic/Convention. In 2019, the Killian Honors Band was invited to and performed at The Midwest Clinic in Chicago. Additionally, the Killian Honors Band was named a National Winner in the Mark of Excellence National Wind Band Honors Project in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019.

Chilton is a graduate of Southern Methodist University where he had the opportunity to study music education under the tutelage of Lynne Jackson and Brian Merrill. During his years as a middle school band director, Chilton continued his professional growth under the guidance of his primary clinicians, John Benzer and Brian Merrill.

Chilton’s mission for Readymade Music is to promote the overall well-being of music education and support school music teachers by providing solutions to help make teaching music more efficient and inspirational while increasing engagement for 21st century learners.