[Menvi-discuss] Sight Reading

[David Tseng]

Semantics of "sight" aside, sight-reading means to me at least, the ability
to render a piece of music from an authoritative source be it braille or
print. I can read literary braille and render it into speech just fine for
presentations and speeches. Similarly, it would be nice to be able to do
this for music. Perhaps the answer is to use an alternative "source" (such
as a audio track of verbal cues); I definitely think some creativity is
required, but memorization seems like a bit of a pass for such an essential
skill.

I love your comments, Sandra, about taking a physical photo of a chord;
that's the way I've thought about it before, but never quite put it into
words in that way.

The other aspect that is challenging, as Branden pointed out, is the
reading of multiple lines. Since braille music collapses things into one
line (at least the examples I've seen for classical guitar), it makes
reading a disjointed affair.

Thanks,
David


On Thu, Aug 29, 2013 at 8:24 AM, Bettie & Bill Downing <
bnbdowning70 at embarqmail.com> wrote:

> A sighted musician depends a great deal on sight reading, but "sight" is
> the operative word here, so someone without sight shouldn't be expected to
> "sight" read but do a lot of memorizing.
>
>
>
> On Aug 29, 2013, at 10:19 AM, Brandon Keith Biggs wrote:
>
> > Hello,
> > Even as a vocalist, singing choral music, I find I have to memorize one
> of the lines. I'm not quite sure how to do this in the best way, but that
> is what my BA is for!
> > My question to professional musicians is, how much sight reading are you
> expected to do in your church jobs or chorus jobs? You are asked to
> sightread in the auditions for a singer, and that leads me to think quite a
> bit.
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Brandon Keith Biggs
> > On 8/29/2013 7:59 AM, Dale Lieser wrote:
> >> David,
> >>
> >> In my opinion, sight reading for the braille reader does not come with
> the same, common ease as sighted musicians experience. However, when I
> think of sight reading braille, the following things come to mind:
> >>
> >> Efficiency. One of the goals of reading concerns learning the music as
> smoothly as possible. Two elements of that are accuracy and speed. Since we
> memorize as we read, our learning differs from sight reading, early in the
> process.
> >>
> >> Music theory and expectation. As with sighted readers, a help to me has
> been a knowledge of music theory. Rather knowing what one might expect in a
> passage of music can speed things up nicely.
> >>
> >> Memorizing. Since reading is much slower for us, and generally well out
> of intended tempo, etc., committing the music to memory with             as
> few read-throughs as possible serves well. This point is obvious, but real
> nonetheless.
> >>
> >> Regarding reading for the guitar, it probably is similar to what I
> experience with piano music, although your configuration is even trickier.
> <smile> Work in small passages, perhaps just a few measures at a time.
> >>
> >> I have found that memorizing something quickly helps a sighted teacher
> or colleague that, even though the method differs, learning a piece is what
> matters.
> >>
> >> Interesting topic. I could talk endlessly about this.
> >>
> >> Dale
> >>
> >>
> >> From: Menvi-discuss [mailto:menvi-discuss-bounces at menvi.org] On Behalf
> Of David Tseng
> >> Sent: Thursday, August 29, 2013 10:41 AM
> >> To: This is for discussing music and braille literacy
> >> Subject: [Menvi-discuss] Sight Reading
> >>
> >> Hi all,
> >>
> >> I'm curious how musicians here deal with the more formal aspects of
> learning music with respect to sight reading. There has been, from what
> I've experienced, a collective wisdom that sight reading is essential for
> really getting proficient with certain instruments especially those of the
> classical variety. The collective wisdom I cite includes former and current
> music teachers I've had and some university courses I've taken.
> >>
> >> Excluding vocals, how have you dealt with the real physical limitations
> with playing and reading at the same time? For my instrument of choice,
> classical guitar, since both hands are occupied, obviously, there's only so
> much one can do. I've tried breaking things down so that I read with one
> hand and tap out things with the left hand or get the rhythm down with the
> right.
> >>
> >> Any other creative insights here? For teachers, what have you tried and
> found works with your braille reading students?
> >>
> >> Best,
> >> David
> >>
> >>
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