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Unprepared Sight Reading

T

thepeopleperson

Oct 10, 2009
21
0
Brighton, UK
www.facebook.com
#1
Hi guys.

So I'm at a music college and in a couple of weeks I have my exams, one of which is a solo performance which will involve some unprepared sight reading (I've never seen it before, I get 2 minutes to get it right).

I'm wondering if anyone knows of any decent websites that will be able to help me practice, it's just I've run out of material to read :hmm:


Thanks if you can help!
 
#4
Dont know of any web sites, but if you wanna work on reading, i can recomend the Jamerson book...and Bach of course. If you are into jazz, its always nice to be able to play all the heads in the real book. Good workout for treble clef.
 
#5
Reading music right the first time is a very specfic skill and a very marketable one. It is the combination of knowledge and experience. That's why you'll see this kind of thing on a lot of audtions and music school exams, it really shows the level of the student.

The way that worked best for me was to play duets with musicians that either already had the music down, or were excellent sight readers.

Keep moving, don't stop. Don't go back to correct mistakes, play it a second time if you need to.

Good luck, its a process, not an event.
 
#8
One thing that helps (IMHO) if you have a minute or two to look over the music, is to look for the hardest parts and practice those. Are there 1st and 2nd endings, syncopations, etc. The temptation is to do the exact opposite - play the easy stuff and hope you can handle the hard stuff when you get to it.
 
#10
some nice classical music melodies for tromobone, oboe, and chello are nice to work with.

3 great tips that help me getting my sight reading beneficial is while first going through the chart,
1. check all repetitions and other signs.
2. see where key changes accure
3. if it is not a very long chart, you could first learn the last 1 stave, than the last 2 staves, the last 4 staves etc'.. (from end to begining). that way when you are sight reading, the chart is are more familiar and easier to play while going on with the reading.
 
#11
THand said:
Carol Kaye has a dvd on music reading where she discusses how she did it back when she had to do play music without seeing it before.
Click to expand...

Can't go wrong there, read her playing tips too. Also +1 for bass clef Real Books. Get them all and read through a few pages each night. Don't pick tunes, just turn pages. I said "read through", not work on. Sight reading is just that, and until you practice reading through a tune with out stopping for your mistakes you will never become confident at it. I also like cello music for reading practice. One of my local heros turned me on to that years ago. Good luck. Get it down and you will reap the rewards for the rest of your playing career. Reading bassists get more gigs.
 
#12
I'm a bit foggy (as usual). Are you ina double bass class or electric? Are you give notes or a chart sheet?

Learning to recognize the shape of scales and chords on paper are a great help. Set the key in your mind and then look for accidentals, including naturals. Develop a plan for page turns.

When all is said and done, some people read...read period... better than others, who might take to math or science.
 

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