 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Mike J
Date: 2008-08-31 14:03
please can someone help me , my sight-reading is very very bad. i want to go into the british army as a army musician but i have to be at a semi-pro sight- reading level. and i'm only Grade 4 (ABRSM). my sound so i'm told is that of a semi pro, if only my S-reading was as good as my sound.
tips , tricks and advise would be most welcome
please help me :(
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Author: Tara
Date: 2008-08-31 14:24
The way to improve sightreading? Sightread a lot. Read everything you can get your hands on. I consider myself a very good sightreader, and I think that's why.
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Author: Tobin
Date: 2008-08-31 14:55
It is more important to play the wrong note at the RIGHT time, than the right note at the WRONG time. In other words: rhythm is more important than notes.
Of course, if you can learn to get it all right then please do so!
Sightreading every day is what you need to do. But devise a plan and give yourself time to learn. Start with things that may seem too easy in the beginning.
I teach my students to do four things: Identify key signature, time signature, tempo...and then begin counting your tempo. Then as you analyze the rhythm you can adjust the tempo up or down based on what the music requires and what you are able to do.
Oh, recording yourself and listening afterwards is also helpful!
Good luck!
James
Gnothi Seauton
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Author: cxgreen48
Date: 2008-08-31 15:09
I would also recommend to sight-read slower than the tempo written for accuracy.
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Author: William
Date: 2008-08-31 15:55
One simple technique is to always read at least one measure ahead of where you are playing. Never dwell on the notes you are playing but be looking ahead to see what is rhythmic or notational difficulty may be coming up--and hopefully, be prepared.
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Author: autumnsilence
Date: 2008-08-31 16:17
Something that is very helpful when you are sightreading is to be very familiar (and comfortable) with rythms and also with the instrument, because even though you might get off or lost by the tricky rythms or time signatures, it makes the whole process a little harder and more frustrating if you are still checking the fingerings on everyother note or get stumped on the simple rythms.. but then again if your planning to be in the army band and your sound is semi pro i really doubt that you arent fairly familiar with playing already.
and as someone else mentioned, practice sight reading different pieces but it also helps alot to have a recording of it or to have someone like a teacher you can ask so that you can check any rythms and stuff like that so that you can learn from your mistakes in a way and it helps you to recognize the patterns in the music...
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Author: Jack Kissinger
Date: 2008-08-31 16:57
A couple more pieces of advice:
When you are handed (or hand yourself) a piece of music for the first time, resist the urge to jump in and start playing immediately. Instead, take a minute (or two or three) to look over the piece. Note the key and time signatures, tempo, dynamics, and articulation markings. Also look for changes in any of these and make a mental note of any you find (or pencil note if the situation allows). Identify difficult passages and look at them carefully to see if they are common patterns. You'll be amazed at how many careless errors you can eliminate and an audition committee is likely to give you marks for knowing how to approach a sight-reading test even if you make a couple mistakes. Do this regularly when you practice and you will likely remember to do it in an audition.
Also, while practicing sight-reading can help, there is no substitute, IMO, for being able to recognize quickly and play standard patterns (notes and rhythms). Practice your scales, arpeggios, and other standard exercises in all keys. I would also recommend practicing them from a variety of exercise books so that you have to look at the notes and can recognize patterns in different contexts. It does no good to have memorized how to play a C# scale if you don't recognize that you should be playing a C# scale.
Best regards,
jnk
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Author: ww.player
Date: 2008-08-31 17:26
Mike, there has been some excellent advice given already, almost verbatim what I tell my students. The one other major thing I would add (besides just emphasizing practicing reading 45 minutes to an hour a day) is never, ever stop to fix a mistake, no matter how bad you messed up.
If the British Army band is anything like the military bands over here, sight reading is a premium and must be not just good but perfect. This is because we often only had one run through before going out and playing before thousands or even millions of people.
Monster musicians with Masters and Doctorates in performance from some of the finest schools in the world would audition. They would absolutely nail some of the hardest literature ever written and sound fabulous doing it. Then they would miss on the sight reading and the band would have to say "Thanks, but no thanks".
If you had listened to many of the military band players in DC, you may not have been overly impressed. However, they all had some things in common: they played in tune, they played in time, they could blend with a section, and they just never missed.
Post Edited (2008-08-31 17:29)
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2008-08-31 17:57
Yes, reading ahead is one of the most important things to do, force yourself to do it. I found one of the best ways to accomplish that is to read duets with someone better then you so you're forced to keep going and play one measure while your eyes are looking at the next, much the same as when you read a book. Read notes in groups, like reading words not letters. Don't dwell on any single note. ESP www.peaody.jhu.edu/457
Listen to a little Mozart.
ESP eddiesclarinet.com
Post Edited (2008-08-31 17:58)
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Author: William
Date: 2008-08-31 18:19
In response to ww.player, while an undergrade at the UW--Madison(1960's), I had the pleasure of sitting second chair to a clarinetist recently retired from Washingtons Navy Band and returning to college to work on his MM degree. During the two years I was his chair partner, no matter what music was passed out, manuscript or published, he never made a reading error. His ability to read music at first sight and in subsequent performances was the best I have ever known and he always attributed his skill to his military band experiance. However, I kind of suspect--with his flawless technique and quick tongue--that he was one of those "natural" clarinetists and music reading was always easy for him. A pleasure to next too, the competition to be "just as good" certainly made me a better reader. And his main advice, "read ahead of where you are".
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Author: Nessie1
Date: 2008-09-01 07:52
I think that there has been a lot of excellent advice given here but, for what it is worth, my top tips are:
- read slightly ahead of where you are
- whatever goes wrong, keep going. As many people here have said, if your goal is to join a band, the most important thing of all is to stay with the pace or the whole piece with fall apart.
- make yourself do a small amount of sight reading practice every practice session
- if your teacher is not doing so already, get him/her to hear some sight reading every lesson
- a very important point - when you find some music to practice sight reading with (if your the standard you say, get hold of some grade 2 or 3 clarinet pieces that you haven't done in the past, books of studies or some easy oboe or sax music would do, there are lots of possibilities) you must resist the urge to play around with them for fun as you might with other pieces because then it won't be real sight reading practice, will it? You must come to the piece totally unfamiliar with it.
Good luck.
Vanessa.
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Author: Bart
Date: 2008-09-01 12:26
I'm also playing at AB level 4-5 roughly, after I picked up playing again just under a year ago.
I notice that my sight reading gets better fairly quickly when I do it every day. If there's a gap in my practice, e.g. having been away on holiday or business, and I pick up again, sight reading accuracy drops rapidly. Ditto if I do keep up regular practice, but without sight reading new stuff every day.
I've recently started practising rythms - from an old small rhythm booklet I still had, plus "Modern Reading Text in 4/4: For All Instruments" by Louis Bellson - it's a few dozen of pages with all manner of syncopated rythms. Benefit is that you can do this type of practice at times when you wouldn't play your horn. You can practice rythms in the middle of the night, just by clapping or humming, without waking up family, flatmates, neighbours or anyone else who might take issue with noise. It's a handy way of building skills, you'll end up playing previously unseen rythms, go up in difficulty gradually, and become better able to recognise rythmic patterns.
If you're looking for some fun material for sight-reading, why not try one of the Bb Real Books? Typically these are bulky, have hundreds of tunes to play, at roughly AB level 4/5, and available for £15 - £20 depending on what exactly you buy.
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2008-09-02 01:46
Downbeats downbeats downbeats downbeats.
Know where the downbeat of each beat is. When you get to one downbeat, you should always consider yourself on your way to the next. If your downbeats are right and in time, the other stuff will at the very least have a prayer to be on the right track.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: rgames
Date: 2008-09-02 04:55
Good sight reading depends mostly on the ability to recognize patterns and read in groups rather than individual notes.
It's kind of like counting a bunch of items: you usually do it in groups of two to five, right? You seldom just count them one-by-one. Remember the movie Rainman? He could view things in HUGE groups, so he could precisely count 152 toothpicks in the course of a second or so. I bet he would have been an outstanding sightreader...
Another analogy is in team sports: the best players see the opposing team in groups that fall into certain patterns. They seldom see individuals until the group structure no longer matters.
rgames
____________________________
Richard G. Ames
Composer - Arranger - Producer
www.rgamesmusic.com
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Author: buedsma
Date: 2008-09-02 09:35
http://www.visual-jazz.com/srjt-demo.pdf?bcsi_scan_941E82036BEF2ECD=0&bcsi_scan_filename=srjt-demo.pdf
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