 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: JonTheReeds
Date: 2014-01-24 20:00
Sight reading has never been a strong point for me but a recent exam highlighted how poor it really is. I've tried playing lots of different types of music but it hasn't helped me so far
I have read a few threads on the forum about the subject and a lot of them say that it is a good idea to collect lots of different music and just play them. Its sounds good advice. But...
...most of this is 'proper music', with logical ideas and a certain flow. The pieces in exams are written so they are tricky. The one I had was typical. It was all over the place, no nice runs, nasty choices about which side to play notes on, unrelenting cascades of notes and rhythms etc.
I'm not looking for sympathy but advice. There is only a limited amount of this 'exam music' around so I was thinking about signing up to an online sight reading site with unlimited exercises. Does anyone have any experience of these and did they help?
Or does anyone have other ideas?
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The older I get, the better I was
Post Edited (2014-01-25 02:57)
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Author: johng ★2017
Date: 2014-01-25 02:27
I think you have the right idea to do as much sight reading as you can. The Clarinet Institute has lots of music to download for free at http://www.clarinetinstitute.com/
Another way to improve your sight reading is to be able to play scales, arpeggios, etc by memory in all keys. The idea is that you become familiar with all kinds of finger patterns and be able also to recognize them at sight. So, coming up against a run in the key of E is no problem because you already have it "under your fingers".
John Gibson, Founder of JB Linear Music, www.music4woodwinds.com
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Author: Tobin
Date: 2014-01-24 22:29
I would suggest reading music a level or two below what you're expecting, focusing on a couple skills:
1. Being able to comfortably read ahead. If you have a half note, you don't need to look at it. At the same time however, you must be able to sustain that note while you process the material that's coming.
2. Seeing the big picture: identifying, as you play, the scale and arpeggio patterns that exist in the music. Once you are comfortable with that, being able to anticipate where you are in the phrase and what the function of what's coming next is important.
3. I would read long stretches like this under tempo. You'll find that as you do it you'll hit a point where "random" mistakes start to occur. You've essentially hit the point where your brain is tired of processing and immediately putting into action what you're reading. Take a break, work on another skill, and start again.
All of this assumes that your rhythm is rock solid. If your rhythm is not, then these goals can't really be put to use until your rhythm is automatic.
You could take a sight reading excerpt and count the rhythm out loud, sing the part, or (if you need to) tongue the rhythm on the first note of the piece.
Good luck!
James
Gnothi Seauton
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Author: grok
Date: 2014-01-24 23:42
practicing unfamiliar scale patterns and rhythms from other cultures has helped me be ready for awkward sight reading situations.
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Author: Johnny Galaga
Date: 2014-01-25 05:37
Unless you have to perform sight reading, then what is the benefit to being a good sight reader? Don't most players prepare their pieces before performing?
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Author: grok
Date: 2014-01-25 06:17
Quote:
Johnny Galaga:
Unless you have to perform sight reading, then what is the benefit to being a good sight reader? Don't most players prepare their pieces before performing?
Quote:
JonTheReeds:
The pieces in exams are written so they are tricky. The one I had was typical.
On a different note, I once had a piano teacher who could "sight read" braille music after one or two passes over the sheets with his hand.
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Author: Bruno
Date: 2014-01-25 19:51
QUOTE: "Unless you have to perform sight reading, then what is the benefit to being a good sight reader? Don't most players prepare their pieces before performing?"
No offense, but OTOH, why go through life modifying your goals in order to find the easiest path? That's what low-information people do and look where it gets them. There's great satisfaction in mastering a difficult task. Finding some reason to not do it leaves me feeling like I cheated myself.
B.
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Author: johng ★2017
Date: 2014-01-25 19:46
<Unless you have to perform sight reading, then what is the benefit to being a good sight reader? Don't most players prepare their pieces before performing?>
This is a valid question and from what I can tell does not indicate someone trying to take the "easy path". It is true that performers spend plenty of time preparing before a performance. However, if you think about it, every time you play something new, you are sight reading. And being a good sight reader makes it more enjoyable and eventually saves time in the preparation. That is why I emphasize scales and other pattern study since it allows you to have fewer surprises as a sight reader and saves time in overall music preparation.
John Gibson, Founder of JB Linear Music, www.music4woodwinds.com
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Author: JonTheReeds
Date: 2014-01-29 01:34
Just wondering if anyone has ever tried out any online sight reading sites?
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The older I get, the better I was
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2014-01-29 01:49
Whatever music you pick up, play it at a slow enough speed that you should get most of it. No sense trying to "sight read" Martino's Set for clarinet at performance tempo for PRACTICE!
As you're PRACTICING sight reading, PRACTICE reading a bar ahead. You can also do this with scales. When you're warming up with a scale book of some sort, you probably have it mostly under your fingers. So don't look at the notes you are playing, but look at what's coming up. This will help develop a more automatic response to groupings of notes (your mind will see a diminished 7th arpeggio, you'll see it, your fingers will play it and you only need to know which note it stops at and where you're going after it's done).
To practice awkward patterns that make no tonal sense, take any piece of music, turn it upside-down, and play it. All the sharp and flat signs will be on the wrong side, but it makes no musical sense when you do that. Very difficult, but just something to try.
Play music that is ABOVE your level (at a speed that allows you to sight read it) For example, I found I became a MUCH better sight-reader after playing and working on "Classical Studies" (violin partitas and sonatas transcribed for clarinet - sponsors of this board have it). Those pieces are EXTREMELY hard, fast, lots of sharps. Because this was harder than anything I was playing, when I went back to the other things, they felt slower and easier in comparison and I stressed a lot less.
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
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Author: cyclopathic
Date: 2014-01-29 03:35
Jon,
on unrelated (or related).. could it be due to your perception (or lack of) and poor short-term memory? Try this: open random page, look at 2-3 lines of music for 5sec, close book, write it down.
If it is memory/perception, you can train it by repeating this test over and over. Ideally you should be able to reproduce 1/2-1 page w/o mistakes.
Similar technique is used in different areas (sports, speed reading) and it is shown to improve your abilities
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Author: Bruno
Date: 2014-01-29 00:52
I saw an interesting presentation on UTube on reading ahead. The guy said we should place our fingers down for the note but don't blow simultaneously.
Fingers down, then blow, fingers down, then blow. The reason for the delay is so you will read ahead. He claimed that his trick will make you read ahead.
I tried it and you actually do read ahead. I think if you do it every day for some minutes it will reinforce reading ahead. Slow tempo, BTW.
B>
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