 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: MandyCarlsson
Date: 2011-08-15 07:39
One more post from me!
How long did it take you to develop the focus needed to sight read successfully? One of the bigger challenges I am trying to overcome is making assumptions on longish 16th note runs. An example would be a major scale 16th note run in a song, let's say a run in C major, and instead of a straight run, the next note after the "b" is actually an "e", but my mind just assumes that it is a "c".This is a very minor example, but you get the point. My mind slips into auto pilot and *bam* I play a scale as opposed to the intended notes. grrr... Unintentional chaos follows.
Another assumption I frequently make involves crazy runs involving deconstructed chords. Autopilot turns on and off my fingers go, playing the wrong notes, note sequences that are automatic.
Does this habit die over time?
Thanks.
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Author: srattle
Date: 2011-08-15 10:46
Sightreading is a skill just like any other, you have to train it. Learn to read the notes before you play them. For music with a lot of practiced patterns it can be quite easy to become decent, but with more complex things it just takes a lot of trail and error. Eventually one gets better at it though.
My secret is to picture the music in slow motion while playing. Keeping myself calm and composed is also necessary for me. Autopilot is a terrible thing for sightreading.
Try sitting down every morning with a new piece of sheet music on your stand (a new etude or orchestral excerpt) and read it through with a metronome (so you can't stop) it'll get better with time
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Author: kdk
Date: 2011-08-15 13:15
It doesn't sound like you're having a serious problem with sight-reading. The habits you've built up with scales and other note patterns are the reason why you can sight-read as well as you do. If the problem is only that you sometimes anticipate incorrectly - when you see a passage that's *almost* a diatonic scale, or dives off to end on some other note than the one a step higher, or when you see an arpeggiated passage you sometimes play the wrong arpeggio (or don't catch the place in the middle where one of the notes is skipped) - it isn't necessarily a bad thing. You're probably sight-reading most of what you see accurately *because* you're so well routined on the standard patterns. Those places that aren't standard are the places you have to practice in order to change habits, but you've already learned most of the music's vocabulary and syntax.
One important key is to look a little ahead and see what's actually coming before you get to it. The more of those deviations from standard patterns you see ahead of time, the more accurate you'll be. Hearing it in your imagination first gives you a way of monitoring your own accuracy before you commit to anything too outlandish. The important step is the next one, where you mark the passage that trips you up and then go back to figure out why and practice to eliminate the error.
Karl
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Author: sonicbang
Date: 2011-08-15 14:36
As far as I know human brain can store 7+-2 pieces of information in the short term memory. Over a certain speed of playing you have to decode faster the notes to play continually. With years of practise (playing scales and studies has a lot of importance) you will be able to see a lot of bars together as a coherent harmonic-rhythmic whole. You won't be able to think 3 or 4 times faster, but the pieces of information will be larger to work with.
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2011-08-15 15:23
sonicbang wrote:
> As far as I know human brain can store 7+-2 pieces of
> information in the short term memory.
Each piece can be "chunked" to allow for even more apparent storage. For instance, if you see a Cm broken chord ahead, the brain can register "Cm broken chord" and start working on the next chunk of information, allowing more notes to be remembered.
Notes that have no discernable sequence to allow for chunking are going to present different difficulties in sight-reading; perhaps that's one of the reasons avant-garde music is not played as often (as opposed to not being listened to as often, which might or might not have other causes).
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Author: William
Date: 2011-08-15 16:07
Over the years, you develop your senses for recognition--that is, there is a more direct "connect" between what you see and how soon you transfer that info to your fingers. And that is a result of 'experiance'--the more you do something the easier it becomes. I think you are on the correct track in scanning "globs" of notes and you will become more adept at accuratcy in their execution. I know that my sight reading becomes much keener the more playing I do, ex. a lot of rehearsal and concerts in a short time frame or a theatre gig, night after night.
Two suggestions for reading "at sight". First, before you even start to play, scan the music for possible problem passages, if only for a couple of minutes. Often, alterted scale and chordal runs can be identified and mentally prepared for. Second, develop the ability to read ahead of what you are actually playing by at least one whole measure--more is better. This is hard to do at first but will come with practice. It just gives your brain a little more time to prepare and identify those problem motifs composeres seem to like to challenge us with. Your brain will almost go on autopilot as you look ahead--it's scary, but true. I learned this technique in my college concert band while sitting second chair to a clarinetist who was returning to college after retiring from Washington's US Navy Band. In those two years, no matter what music we played--including hand written student arrangments, he NEVER made a playing error--always the correct rhythm and notes. His simple secrete--read ahead of what you are playing. Of course, with the Navy Band, he had a LOT of playing experiance to sharpen his skills, but still, looking to see what is coming was key to his remarkable accuracy. As a result of his advice, I became a much better sight reader--although I never quite acheived his ability for perfection--he was just "good" to begin with.
Some may find this amusing--my college Navy Band friend used to "drive me up the wall" by turning pieces of music upside down and challenging me to read them. He, of course, never missed a note, while me--"different" story. After earning his DMA at our college, he went on to a very successful college teaching career in Colorado and now retired, plays occassionaly with a small town community band. He tells me that he still turns his music upside down and "doesn't miss a note".
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Author: sonicbang
Date: 2011-08-15 16:20
Mark, in fact I tried to say this exactly, but maybe my English is not that good, so thanks for clarification.
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2011-08-15 16:31
I don't think it's a matter of how much time it takes as it does on how you can concentrate and your ability to "look" ahead the same way as when you read a book. Some people can read very fast by viewing, and absorbing, what they see. It may take practice to force yourself to do that so it might take a week, a month or a day. Just practice looking at a few notes ahead, then a whole measure ahead, playing one measure and beginning to look at the next as you're approaching the bar line. Of course the more notes in the measure the fewer "beats" you can do that but it should get better with concentration. ESP eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: FDF
Date: 2011-08-15 22:51
Different approaches for different people. For me successful sight-reading requires knowing: scales, arpeggios, the chromatic scale, various rhythmic patterns, and, hopefully, the melody. Scan the music for key signature, rhythm, and repeats. Concentrate one note at a time, but keep in tempo. Listen to your fellow musicians. Mistakes happen to everybody, but, hey it’s sight-reading and a rehearsal, not a performance.
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2011-08-15 23:30
Sounds like you're making great progress. Playing a pattern that you're familiar with is not bad. Instead of having to remember the whole bar, you can circle those two notes so you only have to remember that one leap. Keep doing what you're doing!
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2011-08-15 23:37
For me, it's a matter of knowing how I want the piece to sound. If I already know a piece of music by ear, it's cake to sight-read, even if I've never seen the page.
Transferring this mindset to music I *don't* have a preconceived notion of, I've found, transfers a lot more readily and easily than I would expect.
While learning a piece of rep, if it's particularly hairy, I'll sing (very poorly and out of key, with crisp rhythm but somewhat random pitches) the piece repeatedly until I have an impression in my mind of what it should sound like. This skill transfers very well for me to sight-reading, as it's the same process, just without nearly as many iterations, and just going on in my head as I play the piece.
It's a huge help in not getting stuck on fingers or notes. And, when I focus on playing a line of music rather than playing a flustered collection of notes, I find that my accuracy improves immensely. Plus, in an ensemble setting, it greatly reduces the chances of getting lost.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: ohsuzan
Date: 2011-08-16 00:04
One of the things that has helped me with reading passage work is to think of it as "one note at a time".
Rather than doing the math, or the intellectual pattern recognition, I have needed to learn to trust my fingers. I know those notes. All I need to do is read them.
When I get too involved in pattern recognition, etc., I slow down. I get fixated on the note that I am playing, rather than the note that is next.
If I just take it "ONE NOTE AT A TIME" I am amazed at how readily my fingers comply.
Susan
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Author: 2cekce ★2017
Date: 2011-08-17 23:25
oddly enough that is how I have been sight reading too ohsuzan, If the piece is one I just cant figure out I break it down into beats per measure or if its on youtube I cheat and listen to how my part fits in.
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