SOS: Simplifying Our Sight Reading 8. x Book 8 pages () SOS Simplifying Our Sight Reading Supplemental Resources: SOS Simplifying Our Sight Reading --- --- A resource for directors of beginning sight readers Authors Laura Farnell and Mary Jane Phillips share their successful system of teaching sight-reading to beginning sight singers simplistically and systematically using: Separation of rhythm and pitch ithout notation Reproduction of tonal patterns using notation Reproduction of rhythm patterns using notation Reading rhythm and tonal patterns in unison melodies Reading rhythm and tonal patterns in to, then three part melodies (PDF) Donloadable Bass Clef melodies found in SOS: Simplifying Our Sight Reading FREE Bass Clef Supplement Rhythm Reader Supplement to SOS: Simplifying Our Sight Reading Octavo sized (BL8) 0 Supplemental Flash Cards for SOS: Simplifying Our Sight Reading Treble Clef (BLB00) 0 Supplemental Flash Cards for SOS: Simplifying Our Sight Reading Bass Clef (BLB0) Written and Composed by Laura Farnell and Mary Jane Phillips.brileemusic.com CN
Rhythm Practice No. œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ Each quarter note (q) receives one beat of sound. ú ú ú ú Each half note (h) receives to beats of sound. Each hole note () receives four beats of sound. œ œ œ œ ú ú Each box contains four beats. œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ú ú A bar line separates music into measures. œ œ œ œ œ œ ú œ œ ú In time, each measure has four beats. The top number of the time signature (at the beginning of the music) tells you ho many beats are in each measure: = beats per measure = beats per measure = beats per measure Page from SOS: Simplifying our Sight Reading ()
Pitch Practice No. Note to teachers Whole notes serve as place markers for pitch and do not represent actual rhythm values. It is not necessary to hold each pitch for four beats. Page from SOS: Simplifying our Sight Reading ()
Pitch Practice No. & œ A ledger line is an extra line used hen notes need to be placed above or belo the lines and spaces of the staff. Notice that this example does not begin on the tonic. Page from SOS: Simplifying our Sight Reading ()
Sightreading No. œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ú ú ú ú ú ú Notice that this example does not begin on the tonic. ú ú ú ú ú ú ú œ œ ú œ œ ú ú œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ All examples on this page may be performed together. Page from SOS: Simplifying our Sight Reading ()
Sightreading No. Find and practice this skip found in the examples belo: œ œ œ œ œ ú ú ú ú œ œ œ œ œ ú œ œ œ œ ú. œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ú. œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ú ú ú ú œ œ ú œ œ ú œ œ œ œ ú ú œ œ œ œ ú ú œ œ œ œ ú ú 7 œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ú œ œ œ œ œ œ ú Page from SOS: Simplifying our Sight Reading ()
7 Sightreading No. 8 7 Practice moving your eyes quickly to the second line as you perform these -line examples. œ œ œ œ œ ú ú. œ ú œ œ ú œ œ œ œ œ ú œ œ œ œ œ œ ú. œ œ œ œ ú ú. œ œ œ ú ú œ œ œ œ œ œ ú œ œ œ œ œ œ ú œ œ œ ú œ œ œ œ œ œ ú ú œ œ œ œ ú œ œ ú œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ú œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ú. œ œ œ œ ú ú œ œ œ All examples on this page may be performed together. Page 7 from SOS: Simplifying our Sight Reading BASS CLEF Donloadable PDF
8 A Guide For The Effective Use Of This Book The authors of this book have chosen not to endorse a particular system for rhythm counting or pitch syllables. They recommend that you as a teacher establish a system for rhythm counting (Ex: te te te te) and for pitch syllables (Ex: DO RE MI FA SOL) that orks best for you and your students. If you use solfege, the authors advise that you also utilize the Curen handsigns ith sight reading. BEFORE YOU BEGIN: The ability to keep a steady beat is a prerequisite for reading ritten rhythm exercises. Some examples of ho to teach steady beat include tapping or clapping the beat to a recorded piece of music as a class or having students echo your claps or taps on simple rhythm patterns. The ability to match pitch is a prerequisite for performing ritten pitch exercises. Some examples of ho to teach pitch matching include exploring the difference beteen speaking and singing voice, finding a pitch a struggling student can match and moving out from that pitch to other parts of his/ her voice, finding falsetto/head voice by echoing sirens and yan-sighs, and echo singing simple pitch patterns. The authors believe audiation is important for successful sight reading. Practice audiation by singing a pitch pattern, having students think sing the echo of that pattern (ith handsigns if you use them), then immediately having students sing the pattern aloud. If using Curen handsigns ith solfege, consider teaching students to move the handsigns in the same direction as the pitches for kinesthetic learning. A good rule to follo is Do is aist high, Mi is shoulder high and Sol is head high. BEGINNING TO SIGHT READ: Daily sight reading practice in small amounts is effective. Daily reinforcement produces strong musical reading skills. Establish a clear procedure for daily sight reading: Determine meter, key, tonic chord and starting pitch. Students should sing tonic triad and beginning pitch prior to singing each exercise. The director should count off the students (verbally or ith a conducting pattern) before they sing the exercise. Remember the speed at hich the trained adult musician can process sight reading is not the same as a beginning student; therefore, a slo sight singing tempo ill contribute to student success. Quarter note = 0-7 is a good general rule to follo. Do not feel bound to use only the printed keys in this book. Use a beginning pitch that fits your students changing voices. Teach your singers to apply the skill of audiation you established before beginning to sight read. Have students hear the exercise in their heads prior to reading a ritten exercise, either during independent silent study or as a group hile you tap, clap or snap the beat. As a choir, audiate or chant difficult passages before attempting to read them. SIGHTREADING SUCCESSFULLY: This book as created in the current format: students ill read - rhythm and - pitch examples per day, pages -. It is not recommended that you read an entire page of rhythm, then an entire page of pitch for several days. Plan to do a little of both each day until you reach the pages here rhythm and pitch are combined. When you get to the end of a page, try reading the entire page ithout stopping to build student concentration and endurance. Rhythm reading almost alays moves faster than pitch reading. Studies sho that the general population has a higher aptitude for rhythm over pitch. At the beginning, do not be concerned that your students are moving faster on rhythm reading because eventually, pitch reading ill catch up. Rhythms for additional practice can be found in the supplemental Rhythm Reader (BL8). Teaching your students to sing phrases (by not alloing a breath after every note that is longer than one beat) ill add musicality to their sight reading. Start by singing to measure phrases, and gradually increase to singing four measure phrases. Taking a breath after each longer note often causes students to rush the tempo and makes it difficult to discern melodic and harmonic patterns. Repeat exercises hen necessary for mastery. Be creative! Read the same exercise forard then backard to maximize use of materials. Use this book to help you establish a time frame for your teaching. Decide here you need to be at a certain time of year and plan accordingly. SIGHT READING WITH TENOR-BASS OR MIXED CHOIRS: The printed keys in the book may not ork hen teaching boys ith changing voices hile practicing unison lines. The authors suggest changing the starting pitch to B, A or A or any key that best fits the ranges of your singers hen singing unison lines ith boys. Experiment until you find a key that is comfortable. The comfortable key ill likely change ith the ranges of the exercises and also should be adjusted if your singers voices change. The PDF is ritten in bass clef, available for donload at.brileemusic.com (click on Resources), match the lines from the book and may be used simultaneously. For example, in a mixed choir setting, the girls could sing from the book and the boys (or basses) from the PDF bass clef pages. With boys changing voices, some lines ill ork better in a tenor range, hile some ill ork better in a bass range. Do not be discouraged if all your male students cannot sing every line because of range issues. Teach them to mouth and audiate places that are loer or higher than their range. When using the combinable line exercises toard the end of the book, examine the ranges as you assign exercises since some ere ritten ith Sop/Ten ranges and others ritten ith Alto/Bass ranges in mind. Since boys must be able to sight read in both treble and bass clefs, the authors suggest alternating beteen the PDF s and the book hen sight reading ith boys.