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Re: good books for sight reading

Author: SunnyDaze
Date: 2020-09-14 20:33

Gosh! I had no idea that there would be so much to be said about this. I thought the answer would be "just keep practising". Thanks so much for taking the time to write all these comments. They will keep my busy for about ten years I think. :-)

I had a go today at just playing simple tunes, and I find that if I play tunes that I know by heart and with no dynamics, then it frees up a lot of my head space to deal with getting my fingers to where they need to be. I also get on much better at breathing and articulation.

Partly I'm also quite tired from the lockdown and months of homeschool, and I kind of long for a tune that I can play like a mindfullness meditation exercise, rather than something that will stretch me. Going back to this familiar music is very nice.

My main musical experience is in choir singing and in playing Scots fiddle music, and I have a nice set of fiddle tunes that I play through on my violin just for relaxation - and have been playing for 30 years (they are almost all I can play on the fiddle). The tunes are so automatic for me that I wondered if they would help with my clarinet fingering.

I tried them today and it is very interesting to try and play them on the clarinet. When playing those very familiar tunes, my breathing and articulation are better. I am able to concentrate on just getting my fingers right, while I almost sing the tunes. It's very noticeable though, that I play the tunes much slower on the clarinet than I do on the fiddle - perhaps at half speed. I think I might try keeping playing them and see if I can speed up, and just enjoy the process of playing nice familiar music. Having that relaxation might help my breathing and articulation as well I think.

It's funny the intervals that are easier on the clarinet than the fiddle too. Going from A4 to a5 is much easier on the clarinet than the violin, while going from A4 to B4 is easier on the fiddle.

Thank you very much again for the lists of books that I could work through. I will start on those, and I think they will last me a whole lifetime. I really appreciate the time you all took to write them down.

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