 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: locke9342
Date: 2016-09-17 06:01
All state audition coming up, any tips on sight reading? We have 30 secs to look at it.
My go-to strat is counting in eighth notes, but doesn't work very well with quarter note triplets.
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Author: Tobin
Date: 2016-09-17 15:06
You are correct to prioritize rhythm, but if you're having to work on such a "micro" level (eighths) then I would suggest that your rhythm is not as strong as you need, and you should practice sightreading first by counting/vocalizing a lot of music. All eighth note, sixteenth note, dotted, and tied rhythms should be instantly recognizable.
Triplet quarter notes over two beats are subdivided with triplet eighth notes, placing an accent on eighths 1, 3, and 5 (instead of the natural 1 and 4).
Some people ignore the key signature, some people identify it (but don't play a lot of it), and others are fully immersed in it: they identify the key, their fingers immediately gravitate towards fingerings required by it, and they've learned the dominant tonic relationship and can make quick assumptions about likely modulations. If you can, you want to be in the third group.
If the piece is 16 measures or more, looking at every measure is a waste of time. You need to scan to determine the place you need to spend your energy, and work there. Trust yourself to sight read the rest "cold".
I haven't had any coffee yet -- but that's a first round of suggestions. Good luck!
Gnothi Seauton
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Author: Tobin
Date: 2016-09-17 15:13
Oh yeah, and you have to actually make MUSIC out of it -- even if every other measure has a blemish. This is hard if you like to learn your music first and then add expression afterwards. Life is short -- all repetitions/learning/development of anything should include the expression as soon as you can. Being expressive becomes fluid, and doesn't require that all the notes/rhythms are "learned".
Now: practice, then coffee. Good luck!
Gnothi Seauton
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Author: kdk
Date: 2016-09-17 17:36
Sight reading needs to be based on good fundamental skills.
Reading note by note makes it more difficult, so knowing scales and arpeggios, at the least, is important in helping you recognize patterns in the material you're reading. Recognizing and playing an Ab major scale is much quicker and easier than playing the same run or melodic passage by reading each note as it comes. Of course, this means you need to know what the key signature is before you start to play.
Reading rhythm eighth-note by eighth-note is also problematic because you can get lost in the weeds of all the counting and subdivision and completely miss what's important. Practice looking at music metrically - know what the meter is and practice finding each beat point at sight. Don't obsess in sight reading over how long notes are, but think instead of when the next note needs to be played. A 4/4 measure that you somehow expand to five beats will cost you more in points at a state audition than a small rhythmic mistake that you compensate for.
It's hard to practice sight-reading because you may not realize where you've made mistakes. You might get hold of a book like Melodia (Samuel Cole and Leo Lewis) which has a gazillion short sight reading exercises in all keys and work through it a few lines at a time. Sight reading isn't something, unfortunately, that you can practice for a month before the audition and expect to nail it when you get there. But even a month or so of daily practice with unfamiliar material can't hurt.
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Author: rdc
Date: 2016-09-17 18:38
If you have access to SmartMusic, there are ten levels of on-screen sight reading exercises that will give you time to look at the material, record your effort, and give you immediate feedback on weaknesses and strengths.
Well worth the price of a student subscription that you can use on your home computer.
R. Chest
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Author: Philip Caron
Date: 2016-09-17 18:51
Why test sight reading? It's not a skill to be used in any musical group the auditionees will be placed in. Should doing well in sight-reading place one ahead of another?
Leaving that question aside for now, I've read a number of anecdotes about famous musicians -and how well they played things the SECOND time through. The first time through may have been slow and somewhat disintegrated, but the second would sound close to a finished product, like night and day.
Finally, I'd suggest, yes, try to quickly note obviously tricky spots (and maybe that will affect your choice of tempo), but also see if you can see the structure of the piece. Is it A-B-A? Just an intro and a theme? A transitional passage? The structure will clue you in to some key expressive moments and the basic ebb and flow of the thing. You won't be able to convincingly put expressive rubato and emphases into every measure, and probably shouldn't try, but the bigger, obvious things might be doable and effective.
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Author: Tony F
Date: 2016-09-17 18:56
Try to identify a few places that you will recognize if the band/orchestra/ensemble arrive there without you.
Tony F.
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Author: Tobin
Date: 2016-09-17 19:42
Questioning the "why" of a sightreading component doesn't help the auditioning musician. Even professional auditions often say "sightreading may be required", whether they use it or not.
In Virginia the honor and district bands are sightreading bands: no music is prepared before the event, including All-State (with the exception of the orchestra).
Is that how Florida (the OP's state) does it? No idea.
Gnothi Seauton
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Author: Philip Caron
Date: 2016-09-17 22:15
"In Virginia the honor and district bands are sightreading bands: no music is prepared before the event, including All-State (with the exception of the orchestra)."
I didn't know that, thanks. Interesting.
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Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2016-09-17 22:28
The basic idea of doing this takes time to develop. The goal is to read ahead 1 to 2 measures, while playing the measure you are on. The skill is to look at several notes and rests at once, not each note and each rest. A GREAT sight reader can look at an entire line of music, not just one or 2 measures ahead. Keep your eyes moving forward all of the time. If your eyes stop for a split second you will screw up.
How to learn - Start slow. Look at one measure, close your eyes and play that measure. Then work your way up to 2 measures, you get the idea. Start practicing this everyday. It's usually something that you have to train yourself to do and it's not a built in type of musical gift.
The same process goes with speed reading a book. You read several words at a time and the goal is to look at each sentence at one glance, not by each word. It's the difference between reading 300 words a minute and over 5000 words a minute. This is the same way you read music.
Hope this helps.
Designer of - Vintage 1940 Cicero Mouthpieces and the La Vecchia mouthpieces
Yamaha Artist 2015
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Author: Philip Caron
Date: 2016-09-18 04:37
Bob, what you wrote sounds sensible, but without really knowing anything I doubt it all. The two skills seem different. Are you a speed reader? I'm not one, though a few times in the past I've experimented with that technique and thought I could with more motivation learn the skill, at least to some degree.
Playing music isn't about getting the piece done quicker, it's more akin to reading words aloud at normal speaking speed: the eye sees, the muscles react, the sound comes forth, all in synch. In speed reading only the eye muscles are involved, that being in perceiving the source; there's no output, just input. Maybe seeing a whole line of music at a time would be helpful in expression, but only if the seeing translated just as quickly into a mental aural image that the muscles could then project. - and maybe that's what you're referring to?
I will agree that there's a knack for using the eye muscles to read music at tempo, especially the line breaks and page breaks.
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Author: locke9342
Date: 2016-09-18 04:59
In Florida, they give you the music in advance. But both all-county and All-state auditions require sight reading. I think the reason we do it is because there may be a last minute change in plans.
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Author: Tobin
Date: 2016-09-18 05:03
Locke-- that's a better arrangement that what we have in Va. Sightreading is a basic component of auditions throughout middle and high school. I don't recall an audition without sightreading, even in college.
James
Gnothi Seauton
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Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2016-09-18 18:43
Philip, no speed reading and sight reading are 2 different topics. I can do both, but I learned how to sight read properly by looking ahead a few notes at a time, then a measure at a time and finally seeing several measures. Using a metronome is a must. You have to start very slowly. I have to give credit to Fred Ormand while at Interlochen for teaching the basics.
I took speed reading later on in college, but it didn't really help with sight reading music at all. But if you have a chance to take speed reading, do it! College will be much more forgiving when you have to read a lot of books.
As for auditions, you should expect to have to sight read for any college audition and after college. If you audition for the military bands I promise they will slap some hard music in front of you. Something like a Beethoven Sym, I've seen Capriccio Espagnol pop up at 1/3 of the auditions I've taken, however these are kind of pieces that you should already know. Another one is Mendelssohn's 4th. But sometimes there may be a piece you've never played and you have to blow through it. These won't be called prepared sight reading. It's more like do or die!
Please take the time to practice sight reading. It's a requirement if you plan on making music your life. If you need help getting started email me at savagesax@aol.com
Designer of - Vintage 1940 Cicero Mouthpieces and the La Vecchia mouthpieces
Yamaha Artist 2015
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Author: locke9342
Date: 2016-09-18 19:26
I probably would have taken you up on that offer a month ago, but All- state auditions was probably my final motivator. While I do hope to play some music in college, I don't really have any desire to get better now. All the practice before was to get ready for All-state, but the auditions are over (sight reading did not go well lol, so there's no way I'll make it). I'm still going to learn my band music and a solo, but I'm not sure if I'll do very much more.
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Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2016-09-18 21:27
Yes I completely understand. Sight reading can bring down a really great powerful player. Someone with a nice sound, wicked fast fingers, well prepared with solo work, scales are excellent, but fail the sight reading, and unfairly get dumped or placed in the last chair position of the band. Worse yet is they get rejected out of a college, an orchestra, a band, and a paying job.
A player should probably be given 30 minutes or a day to prepare a sight reading piece, because there are some very gifted players that cannot sight read. Dyslexia is one example. This is why I'm kind of insisting that everyone should practice sight reading everyday and it's never too late to start! In just 6 months a person could become very good at it, but if you have some condition like dyslexia this could be a life long daily practice routine. As a brief college instructor I was surprised how some kids caught on to reading ahead in just a few lessons yet others took so much longer.
Someone really needs to write a great book on sight reading for people that might have troubles with it. I don't think all of the high school and college instructors are prepared to handle the brain part of slower sight readers and a book could surely help teachers relate to assorted teaching techniques based on understanding how the brain works.
Designer of - Vintage 1940 Cicero Mouthpieces and the La Vecchia mouthpieces
Yamaha Artist 2015
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