[Menvi-discuss] Sight Reading

Thu Aug 29 15:54:07 UTC 2013

I am not talking about hired singers.  My experience is only with volunteer choir members in a 40-voice church choir or with students in a university choir.  The latter group can have their music earlier so they could memorize it if they desired.

On Aug 29, 2013, at 10:48 AM, Brandon Keith Biggs wrote:

> Hello,
> So what it sounds like is that the blind church singer will need to request the music at least a day in advance.
> The problem is that when people higher church singers, they want that singer to both boost their section in the choir and lead the other people in their section. That means the professional singer needs to both be lowd and correct every time. I'll have to experiment with this, but frankly it sounds a little on the hard side for me now.
> Thanks,
> 
> Brandon Keith Biggs
> 
> On 8/29/2013 8:41 AM, Bettie & Bill Downing wrote:
>> I am speaking as a sighted musician.  The choir director gives us new music most weeks and we sit there and sing through it---cold.  Sight reading.  The pianist and organist MAY get it earlier but usually NOT, so everyone is seeing it and playing or singing for the first time.  It is crucial.  No one memorizes the music because each week there is new music and usually we are working on 8 or 9 things each week.  Most sighted people cannot memorize that easily.  Not enough practice at it.
>> 
>> For a non-sighted musician the director could give out the music earlier since they often do that at the university where there are blind students.  Also if the director should be blind he can certainly make up his own rules as to the way things are going to be done.
>> 
>> 
>> On Aug 29, 2013, at 10:34 AM, Brandon Keith Biggs wrote:
>> 
>>> Hello,
>>> How is the music given to you, is sight reading really important (do you just sight read to have variety or does your director hand you a piece and tell you to play it), what amount of time do you have to read the piece you are expected to sight read and are there any church musicians that memorize all the music?
>>> I am just wondering what I need to expect when at a church job.
>>> Thanks,
>>> 
>>> Brandon Keith Biggs
>>> 
>>> On 8/29/2013 8:24 AM, Bettie & Bill Downing 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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