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Is there a definitive book on sight reading?

#21
IanStephenson said:
Try "Sight Reading for Bass":Ron Velosky (BASSBOOKS.COM - BassBooks.com)
It's pretty good, and does what it says on the tin.

The two keys to reading are
a) build up slowly
b) practise

It's easy to learn that the line below the bass clef is bottom E, think you KNOW it and move on to more stuff too quickly, but it needs to be totally ingrained. Spend a week just reading and playing just low E/F and G. Practise it until the symbols on the page ARE the sounds - not just symbols which you interpret to mean a note name, which you then turn into a fret postition, putting your fingers somewhere, and finally making a sound. That entire process needs to be invisible.

Ian
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I quote the book Ian suggested and I will combine it with Link Removed, great for pure rhythm reading. if you through them step by step, 5 page each every week, you will be able to read music in a short time and effortless :thumbsup:
 
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#22
Another vote for the Velosky book, already recommended thrice in this thread. However a book alone can't teach sightreading—it can provide pages to sightread, but learning to sightread is one of the closest things to an exact science as you'll find in music instruction. It's more about the system, rather than the pages:
  1. Graded material. Whatever book or series of books you choose, they must start at a basic level, and progress to an advanced level. Personally, I am a fan of graded trombone method books, like they use in school band. They are usually in multiple volumes, and start easy, then progress to advanced, in multiple keys, time signatures, and tempos.
  2. Sightreading must be done daily to pay off.
  3. Don't slow down. Stick to your tempo. When you encounter a difficult passage, don't slow down to accommodate it. A metronome will force you to do this.
  4. Don't stop if you make a mistake, or start over. If you are in a band, and sightreading, they will not stop so you can fix a mistake, so you must train yourself to keep going despite mistakes. Keep the tempo going. If you make a mistake, Rejoin on the next beat or measure.
  5. Read ahead. I cannot overemphasize this enough. If you don't know the next note till it is time to play it, then you are already too late. You must be prepared for what's coming up. Learn to read ahead during rests and long notes. Start reading a beat ahead, then two, then a full measure.
  6. Identify trouble spots before you start playing. Scan the music as soon as you receive it. Identify difficult sections, and practice fingering them with sound off. Make sure you know where any repeats, D.S.'s, and Codas are located. Are there any time, key, or tempo changes?
  7. Read on top of, and below the notes. Pay attention to articulation marks, ties and slurs, dynamics and tempo cues, and directional text indicators (repeat three times, no repeats on D.S., second time only—stuff like that).
 
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#25
Les Fret said:
Sorry for digging up this topic. Didn't want to start a new topic. I have been teaching electric bass for many years and have used many books like Simandl and other methods for teaching sight reading. But I am looking right now for a bit more simple and modern method for teaching students how to read. Doesn't have to be a complete method with lots of text but just a book to learn to sight read in different positions in an easy and comprehensive way. Any recommendations for that? Just printed books, not online courses, no tabs.
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The books used for band instrument instruction are really good. Take a look at the Rubank series for Bassoon and Trombone. Beginning and Intermediate books are very good, the Advanced books will have some Tenor Clef in them, but not a lot. Cello books are good too, but again, the Tenor Clef issue crops up. Suzuki books are good, but the bass book is all about Tenor Clef, best to stick to Cello there.
The only hassle with the band books are the keys signatures. They do a great job of preparing the kids for band music, but that means they are heavy on F, Bb, Eb, Ab and C, very little work on sharp keys.
 
#26
Les Fret said:
Sorry for digging up this topic. Didn't want to start a new topic. I have been teaching electric bass for many years and have used many books like Simandl and other methods for teaching sight reading. But I am looking right now for a bit more simple and modern method for teaching students how to read. Doesn't have to be a complete method with lots of text but just a book to learn to sight read in different positions in an easy and comprehensive way. Any recommendations for that? Just printed books, not online courses, no tabs.
Click to expand...
More simple than Simandl? You start with open string whole notes and work your way up the fingerboard. I don't know what is more simple than than. If it aint broke, don't fix it; just my 2 cents.
 
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