One of the primary assessments I’m currently using with my students is a set of three rhythm assessments each semester. I won’t go into how I’m managing these with reassessments and how I’ve got the progression through various “rhythmic vocabulary” broken down, but I do want to share how I’m using Dorico to handle these files and share the files themselves as examples.

I have four graded ensembles — my 6th grade band, my junior high band (7th and 8th grade) and my high school band. I want to be able to go over these rhythm assessments as part of our warm-up at the start of class, but my 7th and 8th graders have a separate set of assessments from one another. I also don’t want to be fumbling around with 3-4 different sets of papers myself for my lessons.

Enter flows and layouts. I have each individual rhythm assessment set up as a flow. The first three are assigned to my 6th grade layout, the next six to my JH layout, and the last three just to my high school layout. My “score” layout has all twelve on it so I can print it double-sided or use it on forScore on my iPad.

It’s not the most revolutionary thing in the world, but it’s more convenient than having to fight with separate files or variable lengths of things like I might have to in other programs.

Here’s a link to the blank file that I start from scratch each semester. I’ve tried using macOS’s “stationary pad” feature in Finder to help me use it as a real template, but alas, I just have to be careful with that file to not overwrite it with Dorico, since, as I griped, it doesn’t have templating support.¹ The template should have the proper frame and system locks, though if you do much more than four bars in a single system, you might run into trouble. I’m more of an Avenir guy than Futura, but I like using something different for these assessments, and Futura is part of my school’s official branding.

Additionally, here’s the Dorico files I used in Fall of ‘20, Spring of ‘21, and this upcoming Fall.² And here’s a zip file of the PDFs that it generates for the same three semesters.³ The Fall ’20 ones aren’t quite as reflective of the current form of that template as the Fall ’21 ones are.

For anyone curious on playing with these files who doesn’t have Dorico, pick up Dorico SE. I didn’t test these files in SE, but I think you can get the gist using it.