 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Ralph G
Date: 2002-11-06 13:43
I was invited to join my local wind symphony, so I went to the first rehearsal last night. I'm sitting first place second part for the time being, and I absolutely got my butt kicked on a couple of pieces with very tricky accidental-laden 16th note runs. Meanwhile, a very out-of-condition college instructor next to me nailed just about every note (while air leaked from the corners of his mouth like a slashed tire). I was humbled.
I have no doubt I can learn the pieces with some practice, but, man, I felt like a chump. Poor sight reading has always been my dowfall. Anyone else have sight-reading troubles, or is it just something you need to be adept at to have any kind of respectability? Any advice is welcome.
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Author: William
Date: 2002-11-06 14:39
Sight reading is an aquired skill resulting from years of music reading experiance supplimented by ability to recognize chordal and scale patterns, so that you don't, necessarily, have to read each note in recognized sequence. What really helped me develop my sight-reading skills was having to play countless student arrangements from (often sloppy) hand written manuscript and playing in "show" orchestras for ice shows and theater productions. The pressure of having to play a show (for which you are being paid) after only one rehearsal in front of a live audience is great incentive for developing the focus or concentration necessary to "get it right" the first time. Instant recognition of rhythm patterns and notes (fingerings) is essential. For example, knowing how to finger a B# on clarinet, sax or flute at any given moment, should be instantaneous. I never *think* note names, just "look and finger"--it's that fast (really, automatic). Reading music is, like any other activity--the more you do it, the better you will become. Practice and experiance are key elements in developing the confidence to "just play the music"--and, in tune.
BTW--*music* also includes dynamics, phrasings, articulations, tempo changes, etc--not just the notes and rhthmns.
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Author: Ed
Date: 2002-11-06 14:50
One of the best ways to become a better reader is just to read as much as you can. Sight read every day. It doesn't matter what-violin parts, trumpet, whatever. Solos etudes, orchestra parts with a metronome at a reasonable tempo, and keep it going. Force yourself to look ahead. Years ago, someone suggested that I also try playing even simple parts with the music upside down. Read it as is (so a first line e becomes a top line f) it will make rhythm and tonal patterns come out in a way that your ear will not anticipate, making you read even better. It is a bit odd, but helpful. Good luck.....now get off of your computer and go sight read something!!
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Author: HAT
Date: 2002-11-06 16:49
Nothing like this gets fixed overnight.
I know I sound like a broken record, but scale practice in all keys every day will do wonders for sightreading.
BTW, when I say scale practice, I of course mean comprehensive study of arpeggios, thirds, 7th chords, etc.
David Hattner, NYC
www.northbranchrecords.com
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Author: Eileen
Date: 2002-11-06 18:34
What is a bigger problem for me than sight reading the notes is sight reading the rhythm and counting correctly. Any suggestions on how to improve?
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Author: Kat
Date: 2002-11-06 20:16
Eileen,
To improve on sight-reading rhythms, there are many approaches. First, sight-read ANYTHING, like was suggested above. Second, to follow up on HAT's approach, there are books out there (sorry, I have no specifics) which have many many different rhythmic patterns. Get one of those and practice the patterns on a single note or, if possible, on a scale pattern. You probably won't find these books in the "clarinet" section of your local music store's sheet music, so check around under other instruments or general music theory sections...
My $.02.
Katrina
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Author: Jane
Date: 2002-11-06 21:03
Hi: I've also had trouble with sight-reading. However, I was recommended a book called "Improve your Sight-reading!" for Clarinet by a British publishing company called Faber. I just ordered it a couple days ago so I haven't had a chance to try it yet, but I've heard a lot of good things about it. To find it, try running a search on Yahoo! or check www.musicsender.com/ under Clarinet Tutoring Books. Hope this helps.
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Author: Katfish
Date: 2002-11-07 00:05
For rhythm sighting try Rhythm Articulations by Pasquale Bona.
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Author: Michael McC.
Date: 2002-11-07 01:27
I have used in the past "Develop Sight-Reading" by R. Voisin. It's a trumpet book, but it's fine, but a lot in the middle register so you get a lot of break practice.
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Author: Kai
Date: 2002-11-07 14:59
In a wind ensemble I used to play in, our conductor would purposefully bring a 'new & irrelevant' piece every single practice for us to read. Nevermind how bad it went, we found that after some time, not only individual sight-reading skills improved but also, the ensemble's sight-reading!
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Author: William
Date: 2002-11-07 15:54
"There's nothing like do'n someth'n to learn someth'n" Annon......
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Author: Ralph G
Date: 2002-11-07 16:21
Thanks for the replies. I just have to get better at the instant recognition thing -- see B#, play B#, no think C natural, think make Mongo bad sight reader -- so practice I will.
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Author: Forest Aten
Date: 2002-11-08 15:10
Ralph,
Scales...
Hat is on the money with the technical practice issues. You really must have a well grounded knowledge of the building blocks composers us to write music. Work on the scales and related patterns.
Vision...
I find that many players lack the proper training to "see/read" the notes off the page. They simply don't read well. Our eyes/vision are/is often our weakest link. When we work on the technique, we are working on physical issues in one respect....i.e. coordination of fingers and tongue (forgive the oversimplification) and certain types of mental issues...i.e. storing symbols/fingering/names in our memory. Now the tough part....even though you have all of this information organized neatly in the filing cabinets in your brain...you have to take/read information off of a page of music and get that information to your fingers and tongue, and in a timely fashion.
The Game...
And what a game it is. The objective: read a piece of music at sight and play it without error the first time through. A daunting task even for professional players. Wouldn't it be great if every time we picked up our instrument we could just simply play whatever we wanted to??? Wow...a good day.
The objective is clear, so now off to develop ways we can achieve the objective. I have been to many reading clinics over the years and there are many approaches to developing successful reading skills. I can't say one is better than another...from one person to another. I keep it simple.
1 take note of the key signature
2 take note of the time signature. Along with this, note the designated tempos. You may have to modify these tempi when sight reading...slower may be better. Not always though.
3 take into consideration a/the package of information that can hardly be divided.... note/rhythm/articulation. These three things should always be bundled. Remember we are talking about sight reading here....not practice. Learning to practice in layers or sections or various "broken" ways is good....just not when the objective is reading music at sight.
4 take note of unusual, or perhaps I should say <usual "but"> things in the score. Things such as repeats, grand pauses, tempo changes, key changes, etc.
5 add the musical elements. Dynamics, rubato....etc.
Just a couple of suggestions for drill work.....
1st Find some easy music. Using a 3x5 card, have someone cover the music a few beats ahead of where you are playing. As your skill improves...have them cover an entire measure and then measures in front of where you are playing.
2nd Find good sources of music to use when practicing your sight reading. Bill made a great observation....you need to practice sight reading if you want to get good at it. My first private teacher told me to "go steal" a church hymn book and use the soprano line for my reading. What a great idea it was. Hymns come in every key, every time sign and are usually easy and slower music. I think I did eventually go through (sight read) every (over 500) hymns in the book. haahahaha
There are many other ways to improve your reading skill. Stay after it and I'm sure others on the group will have more drill or practice ideas.
Regards,
Forest Aten
P.S. at the end of the lesson, my teacher said "you better not steal the hymn book. Just ask them if you can borrow it". ;-)
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Author: Ginny
Date: 2002-11-09 16:45
Without any claim to being a great sight reader, I would like to add the following.
Pre read the rhythms in your head, before you start.
Mentally play/analyse the difficult parts while the conductor is passing out parts.
Force your eyes to be ahead of the music, and see patterns.
Simplify if you must, getting only the 'important' bits on heavy runs.
In addition, it may help you to learn to sightsing, particularly if you can play the difficult parts after you can hear them in your head.
Practice reading rhythms.
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Author: Suzanne
Date: 2002-11-09 18:17
Second on the Pasquale Bona book. Sight-reading is more about rhythm, at least on the very first pass, than anything else (in my opinion). You need to know how to read rhythms. The Bona book forces you to work out counts. I have my students write in the syllables for the rhythms (e.g., one-and-two, etc), clap the patterns, and THEN play. If you can do this with the whole Bona book, your reading will improve.
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Author: Dee
Date: 2002-11-09 18:32
In sight reading rhythms, always count without fail. You need to have ways to count the subdivisions of a note to get the various patterns.
There are various methods of subdividing but I just use the simple method taught in the good old Rubank Elementary Method so many decades ago.
For example, beats are counted 1, 2, 3 etc to the end of the measure and each measure starts over at 1.
If there are two notes to a beat (for example, two eighth notes when a quarter gets a beat), they are counted
1 and
2 and
etc.
Of course normally they are mixed so you might end up counting
1, 2 and
for the case of a quarter followed by two eighths.
If there are four notes in the beat (eg, sixteenths when the quarter gets the beat), they are
1 da and da
2 da and da
etc.
There are other methods but the key to sight reading rhythms is in counting. Unfortunately many people miss this in school as most school band methods do not emphasize counting or spend much time drilling on it.
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Author: Melanie
Date: 2002-11-11 07:42
I was a terrible sight reader and my director actually told me that if it didn't improve, I would never make it as a music major. This "inspired" me to go to my private teacher about it. I started sight reading everyday. I would sight read anything I could get my hands on. This helped quite a bit, but what has helped me even more is sight reading in groups. Our pep band doubled as a chamber ensemble that met twice a week. We sight read everyday. My clarinet teacher and I sight read duets in every lesson. Now, our clarinet quartet sight reads every rehearsal (even if it's a very short piece). In ensembles, it is easier to tell when you mess up, and you have no choice but to keep going. Also, we always sight read every piece at tempo and then go back and work it out slower if we need. The object is to get as much right at tempo as possible.
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Author: d dow
Date: 2002-11-12 11:14
Just did a chamber concert where I sight read all the parts the day before the concert...basically the Piece was a remembrance Day Canatata and was finished the night before rehearsal....
Friday we ran through it... You know the typical modern meter changes where the eight note remains constant....
anyways if you are going to become a pro you have to be able to sight read accurately and with ease to if your going to make a living in music.
Keep practicing!
D Dow
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