The Rubric Bank — with all five levels

Accuracy of note timing and sequence within the rhythmic framework

Sound cleanliness from noise and interruption, and recording technical quality

Adhering to chosen musical scale or modulating to it intentionally

Controlling sound quality and color to serve musical expression

Constructing performance with cohesive structure: intro, development, climax, outro

Ability to create music spontaneously within a musical framework

Musician's ability to choose the right complexity level for each context

Musician's complete presence in the moment during performance

Musical taste in making decisions that beautify performance

Musician's ability to create genuine dialogue with their listeners

Mastering advanced instrument or voice techniques and using them expressively

Hitting the Arabic neutral note (quarter-tone) precisely in cents, not rounding it to the nearest Western semitone.

Executing the Arabic rhythmic cycle's structure (dum/tak) at its correct time positions (Maqsūm, Maṣmūdī…).

Identifying the maqām from playing or singing (Rāst, Bayātī, Ḥijāz…) and separating those sharing a root jins.

Building the maqām's sayr: opening from the root, expanding toward the octave, and closing on the tonic.

Using vocal/instrumental ornaments (vibrato, glides between quarter-tones, repeats) at climax and tonic points.

Building a coherent improvised maqām taqsīm that develops the sayr, builds tension to the octave, and closes convincingly.

Choosing what enters the frame and what's excluded, and distributing elements

Ability to capture the most expressive and impactful moment

Using natural or artificial light to serve subject and image mood

Clarity of what image wants to say and its ability to convey it

Angle or vision that differentiates image from similar ones

Controlling the zone of focus and blur to isolate the subject or tie it to its surroundings

Using lines within the scene to lead the viewer's eye toward the subject