sight reading question

[forthemeantime]

This might seem like a strange question, but I guess I'll jump in anyway:

How do you sight read?

What I mean is, what processes are involved for you when you sight read. E.g. perhaps you see the notes on the page and translate them to the relavent finger pattern on your instrument, or you might hear the notes on the page in your head - and play them at the same time.... I can't really think of any other ways, but I'm sure there are heaps I haven't thought of.

Or maybe you don't sight read at all and play mostly by ear?

Also, have you used any notations systems other than the common Western one? (e.g. tablature, any non Western notations) And how have you found them in comparison?

[Silhouette]

Well, when i first started sight reading I just sort of guessed by recognising the rhythms from other pieces of music I had played and let my fingers do the magic (I play flute by the way!). I soon learnt this isn't the way to do it! You've got to really think about it and tap out the time signature and think of the notes in terms of where it comes in the bar, this was really difficult for me because i'm the sort of person who likes to see results fast! How do you find you do it?

[Will Kirk]

Originally Posted by forthemeantime

This might seem like a strange question, but I guess I'll jump in anyway:

How do you sight read?

What I mean is, what processes are involved for you when you sight read. E.g. perhaps you see the notes on the page and translate them to the relavent finger pattern on your instrument, or you might hear the notes on the page in your head - and play them at the same time.... I can't really think of any other ways, but I'm sure there are heaps I haven't thought of.

Or maybe you don't sight read at all and play mostly by ear?

Also, have you used any notations systems other than the common Western one? (e.g. tablature, any non Western notations) And how have you found them in comparison?

Sight reading is alot of Hand to Eye coordination for me, and the rythm I mainly keep in my head, although that did take me a little while to
develop :tongue:

I think it depends a good bit on how well you know your instrument and such. If you give me a violin, I can read anything from about in intermediate level and play it fairly well, on guitar, the thought pattern is a little different simply because it's a different instrument. But here's a helpful hint for learning to sight read well

Do your scales, over and over and over and over and over until you can do them within a second of being asked to do so :tongue:

(in all seriousness, they do make you learn your instrument ALOT better, I'm speaking from expierence on this)

[Gopher]

For about 90, 95% of the people out there (myself definitely included), sight-reading is one of the hardest things to do. (Just as well it's not so heavily weighted during the exams!)

Usually you start by trying to figure out which note corresponds to the lines and spaces on the staff, and go from there; after a while, you can look at a line and figure out what the notes are just by recognising particular locations of notes. Give it a bit longer and you'll recognise familiar notes on the ledger lines too.

I'm guessing that given enough time, and as you build up familiarity with rhythm too, you can look at a bar and know pretty much what to play, so that the recognition of note or notes to muscle movement becomes automatic, like the reading a book and understanding what they mean.

Playing by ear is something a bit different, and something that most musically inclined people can do. Assuming they're not tone deaf. I prefer it, which is why I'm crap at sight-reading.

[Thorolf]

To me sight reading is reading: At first you have to spell out every letter to make up the words, but gradually, you can read fluently. You recognize small musical “words”, and go from there.

A short cut to reading music is always to read scores, with and without listening to the music played alongside. This way, you learn to recognize that there is only so many musical situations, so many combinations of 16th notes to a 4th note, and so forth.

It’s like reading, what else can one say?



Regards

[ttw]

Sight reading is a skill. One learns by doing. It's like hitting a baseball or throwing a pass in football or learning a language or even playing a clarinet. Much practice.

[kenm]

I sight read on the horn and sight sing by very similar methods:

1) If I see two notes on a stave (treble, alto or bass clef quickly, others slowly), I can put a name to the interval between them;

2) I know the sounds corresponding to the names of the intervals, e.g. given one of the notes I can pitch one that makes the named interval with it.

3) I know the relative lengths of both notes and rests in conventional time notation.

4) The extra requirement for the horn is to know the possible fingerings for each note. In the upper register of a full double horn there can be as many as five.

The corollary of 4), that each fingering gives you lots of notes, is the reason that you need to know what the next note will sound like. Perfect pitch (which I lack) is useful if you only play instruments of the same transposition (e.g. horn, cor anglais and bassett horn) but ruinous if you want to mix transpositions or play a concert pitch instrument also.

[Majesty]

Originally Posted by Thorolf

To me sight reading is reading: At first you have to spell out every letter to make up the words, but gradually, you can read fluently. You recognize small musical “words”, and go from there.

A short cut to reading music is always to read scores, with and without listening to the music played alongside. This way, you learn to recognize that there is only so many musical situations, so many combinations of 16th notes to a 4th note, and so forth.

It’s like reading, what else can one say?



Regards

I agree, completely! For me, vocal sighreading was always easy. Reading scores to get and idea of what the music sounded like came with the method of learning and practice you described.

Sight reading on the piano, just took a little understanding and faith in myself. In some cases when sight reading on the piano you have to know what notes you can do withouth playing. Also, unless you are sight reading new music, sight reading on you instrument becomes really easy after time. If I decided to sight read a Bach fugue, insanely difficult as it may be, I can usually tell what the next few notes are going to be because you get used to the composer's style. You begin certain composers' use of traditional and non traditional cadences and other techniques.

[Boneman]

I have never had a problem with sight reading on my first instrument,trombone. I belive that as a previous poster said, scales are the key to all music.