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. Professional recordings of the Killian Honors Band under Chilton’s direction are available through Mark Records and can be streamed on music streaming services such as Amazon Music, Apple Music, and Spotify.

In 2023, Chilton was named one of Yamaha’s “40 Under 40” educators. In 2021, Chilton was named Killian Middle School’s “Teacher of the Year.” Chilton was also named Southern Methodist University’s “Young Music Educator of the Year” in 2014. Mr. Chilton has presented for the Texas Music Educators Association in 2010, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022. He has presented for the Texas Bandmasters Association in 2007, 2009, 2017, 2020, 2021, and 2023. Finally, he’s presented at The Midwest Clinic in 2010 and 2022. Mr. Chilton continues to serve as a trusted clinician and guest conductor around the nation.

Chilton is a 2006 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 15 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 currently resides in Frisco, Texas with his wife and one-year-old son.

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.

It was the summer of 2013. I had just left my first teaching job as an assistant middle school band director in Plano, Texas. I was preparing to open a new school as the head band director in Denton, Texas. I was reflecting on my first few years teaching and trying to write out a list of my biggest challenges. I thought that if I could identify them I could maybe come up with solutions. One frustration came to my mind the most. Maybe you’ve experienced this one too. I felt like I was spending too much time chasing wrong notes and rhythms. My students made characteristic tones and had sufficient technique, but every time I introduced a new line in the method book I felt like I was hammering out things they should have been able to read!

I wanted my students to be literate in music the way they were literate in Language Arts (LA) class. In LA, the teacher can pass out a short story and ask the students to read aloud without much issue. I mean, there are always exceptions, but generally, they don't have to teach the literature sentence-by-sentence or word-by-word. So, why did I feel like I was having to work so hard? My students just couldn’t read well enough. More specifically, they just weren’t comprehensively musically literate.

So now that I’d identified the problem, I set out to find a solution. I decided that going into the 2013-2014 school year I would do isolated music literacy instruction. Meaning, instead of playing our instruments five days a week, we would play four days a week and take one day a week and do only music literacy instruction. My hypothesis was that if we taught the components of music literacy on a consistent basis and focused on teaching concepts slightly ahead of what we were playing in our method book it might make learning new music easier! I justified that the reward of music literacy was worth sacrificing one day of playing per week.

That summer, I wrote my first iteration of my 36-week curriculum designed to teach rhythm, staff notation, piano keyboard, musical vocabulary, and basic compositional skills. My staff and I agreed to do the literacy lesson midweek. Every Wednesday or Thursday we combined classes and brought the beginners up to the front of the room. Then, I taught a literacy lesson on the white board with colored dry-erase markers. After the lesson, we gave them a worksheet to complete.

At first, I was nervous. The literacy lessons were time-consuming and we weren’t seeing the results as quickly as we had hoped. Still, we persevered with trust in the process. Then, something happened. About halfway through the year, the kids started to connect their literacy knowledge to what they were playing on their instruments. We started playing through new material with higher accuracy and class was becoming more enjoyable for everyone, including me!

The very next summer I accepted a new position as the Head Band Director at Killian Middle School in Lewisville, TX. I revised the curriculum and rewrote the worksheets based on my experiences teaching the material and we continued teaching literacy midweek. Within three years, it had completely transformed my program. My students could read! I was ecstatic! Not only could they read, but when they did make mistakes, it was much easier to correct them because their errors were not usually due to a lack of knowledge, but more commonly an error in the application of learned knowledge to performance. Said another way, knowing and not playing correctly is much different than not knowing and not playing correctly.

I continued to revise the curriculum and worksheets over the next six years based on my experiences teaching the material. Then, in March of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic. Like every teacher, I was scrambling to come up with a solution for the brave new world of at-home learning. I had enjoyed making videos with my younger brothers growing up so I thought I could try making educational videos of my literacy lessons. What I discovered shocked me.

First, I actually really enjoyed making videos! (Well, most of the time.) Second, what used to take me 30-45 minutes to teach at the white board could be done in a 5-15 minute video. I could create detailed graphics that were far more engaging than my dry-erase marker sketches and with careful scripting I could ensure my information was delivered exactly the way I wanted in final form. Finally, using a video made sure that every class was receiving exactly the same information from period-to-period. When presenting live, I always felt like the last period of the day got the best version of my lesson. As an added bonus, my students seemed to really enjoy my on-screen personalities. They started saying things like, “I had no idea you were funny!” Ouch.

I continued making videos during the 2020-2021 school year and we decided to use them with our in-person learners and virtual learners. To my surprise, the videos were as effective as my live presentations. In some ways, they were more effective! What I liked the most about using the videos in-class was that it gave my teaching schedule a little weekly breathing room. Every Wednesday or Thursday, my assistant and I could combine our classes and put on the video lesson. We would take turns actively monitoring the kids while the other could work at the front of the room on emails or lesson plans. Then, once the video was done, we’d pass out the worksheet and ask the kids to work on it and come up to us upon completion for checking. We’d give it a quick once-over, mark errors, give them a little information if necessary, and send them back to their seat for corrections. Not only was this routine successful for the development of musically literate students, it also had a significant impact on our teaching efficiency and job satisfaction.

In the Spring semester of 2021, I started to think that maybe other teachers could benefit from my program. I had always wanted to create something that could positively benefit the profession but wasn’t sure what that was going to be. I considered writing a method book or textbook, but I was beginning to think that this might be the thing! I took a leap of faith and left my teaching position at the end of the 2020-2021 school year and decided to pursue this content full-time. I’ve continued to revise my material since and will probably continue refining forever. (I mean, I’m a band director at heart. The refinement process is never over!)

I’ll close by saying that in the beginning, it was strange watching my in-person students watch a pre-recorded version of myself on-screen when I was physically present in the room. You may feel similar at first about having someone else teach your students for 15 minutes a week. What I’ve noticed over the last few years observing my content in various programs is that the kids see my on-screen persona much the same way some of us might see Bill Nye the Science Guy. (Shout out to my 80's and 90’s kids!) My 7th grade science teacher used to regularly show us episodes of Bill Nye. I don't remember much from 7th grade. In fact, I think I blocked almost everything out. But I do remember watching Bill Nye in science class.

Bill Nye didn’t replace my science teacher. He just piqued my curiosity for science and increased my desire to learn from my teacher. In a way, that is what I hope Readymade Music can do for you!

While the program is designed to be watched by your students, its purpose is to support you, their teacher. At times, teaching music can be a lot. The schedule can be relentless and it seems like taking a day off is never an option. (By the way, the Readymade Music Literacy videos and worksheets make great sub plans!) My hope is that Readymade Music can engage and inspire your students while supporting you.

Thank you for your time and interest in the Readymade Music Literacy program. It is my pleasure to serve you and your community.