Klarinet Archive - Posting 000454.txt from 1996/07

From: Donald Yungkurth <DYungkurth@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: Sightreading
Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 16:36:49 -0400

I lost track of the original message on this and who sent it, but I believe
the question was how to improve sight reading ability.

My teacher suggested reading ahead of what you are playing. At first
thought, my reaction was that I obviously couldn't do that. However, when I
tried it with exercises, mostly scale wise stuff, it seemed like an easy
thing to do. I suppose it is really no different than reading aloud and
having the eyes get ahead of the voice.

The value of reading ahead seems to me that you are not surprised by the
material you have to play. You have that split second to plan your next
note, fingering, phrase, breathing spot, dynamics change etc. I still don't
do this well, but when I try to concentrate on doing it, my sight reading
improves essentially immediately!

Don Yungkurth (DYungkurth@-----.com)