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I'm curious is there any interesting music out there composed for the purpose of improving sight reading? It seems there's music written for other technical aspects, but I think my sight reading could do with a boost...

Any ideas?

I just bought a software to edit music to write workshops that will improve first sight reading and sight playing.

What I find is important is not only the music itself but the process that will allow usto read absolutely fluently so as to be able to open a song book by our favorite singer or folk music that make us feel in touch with our roots or open one of the masterpieces of classic music.
Or blues, or jazz.

What delight !

Probably useless info, but Ravel's Prélude was composed for a sight-reading competition.

What's the name of the software you purchased?

Pizzicato

Hello, David_J:

My teacher suggested that I get a hymnal to use for sight reading practice (he specifically mentioned that Episcopal hymnals were good). I'm guessing that the value lies in that fact that the songs are written with multiple voices - and there are lots of songs in those hymnals, so you'll have a wealth of fresh material with which to work for a while. So, if the thought of playing hymns is not offensive to you from a belief standpoint, then a hymnal might be an inexpensive investment.

Good luck with you sight-reading efforts!

. . . Linda

Yeah hymnal's do wonders. I learned on a hymnal but seriously I can sight read better then people that have played 10 years longer then me, (im 16 and have been playing for 2 ). My techinique is horrible but thats just because I'm inexperienced but I can sight read just about anything (within reason of course). Really I've been playing for church for a year now and I can tell you it's amazing what a hymnal can do for your site reading abilities. Read through it a few times each day maybe 5 hymns a day, then just keep going through it until you've played everyone. Then go back and start over. I really can't emphasize enough how much it has helped my sight reading!

Hey, ThEmUsIcMaNBJ:

That's encouraging news. Glad to hear that the hymnal practice is working for you!

Annihil8or is correct on the Ravel "Prelude for Piano". But after you've sight read it, do study and learn it. The piece is short, not difficult, very charming, and characteristic of Ravel's idiom. You can't help but like it, guaranteed.

Linda: I'm Catholic so hyms are no probs to me :p
Probably will scare the daylights out of my parents...

Interesting idea. I'll print off a few dozen and sight read a few daily. Thanks

Rachfan: I probably will learn something by Ravel soon (my repetoire is lacking anything serious post Chopin). But my to do list is too long!

Can anybody help me choose ?

http://www.google.fr/search?q=hymnal&ie=ISO-8859-1&hl=fr&btnG=Recherche+Google&meta=



What about Bach's four voices chorals ?

http://www.cyberhymnal.org/misc/download.htm?024626674922911645#scores

Just download them all and print them off... and sight read them through...

If it works I'll go to the store and buy every book of hyms they have

My parents will think I've gone mentally unstable, mind you :p

What do you mean :"if it works".

Of course, it will work. With God on my side, how could I fail ?

Can't you find Catholic hymnals ?

Anyway, there is only one God.

Though you must not say this to a Chinese or Indian or Japanese or Korean or...

They haven't heard yet.

The hymns seem basic enough musically to be a good introduction to polyphonic sightreading.

Let's go to work.

And do not pay any attention to my weird irrespectful sense of humor. Religion is too serious (too ofter deadly) a subject not too be handled with humour.

The Bach Chorales are also really good for sightreading. For added difficulty, you can also try transposing them into different keys. This is hard but also really fun.

I am an ethnic Chinese and I am a Christian. So are around 18% of the population in my neck of the woods. This 18% consists of mainly ethnic Chinese with quite a few Indians and other races thrown in. The Christian church also has a significant presence in South Korea.

Apologies for being OT, but this needed correction.

Now, getting back to the topic, contrapuntal music (e.g. Bach's WTC) is great for sight-reading; both hands are trained to be independent. 20th Century music is also good for sight-reading since there are usually many surprises. Schoenberg is interesting...

okat 47
I find reading the bass, alto and soprano voices easy. But the tenor voice is extremely difficult for me to sightready.
How do you manage to do it ?

Roxane,
Sorry, sorry. I of course meant the Chinese,Koreans and Japanese who were not Christians

I once had a Japanese protestant friend. He was a very gentle person. Whenever we went to the restaurant near the painting academy of "La grande chaumiere", I ordered first and he always said : "Meme chose" (same thing).

What has it got to do with sightreading or hymns ?
I wish I knew.

I do not understand what "my neck in the woods" mean ? I like the sound of it though.

Benedict,
Are you talking about chorales written on four separate staves? My book of chorales is in condensed score so it's all in treble and bass clef.
If you're talking about reading in open score with the tenor in the tenor clef, well I have trouble with that too. I think the key is to become as fluent in the "wierd" clefs as you are in the normal ones. I'm pretty good with tenor and alto, but soprano is still a challenge. While situations where you would actually use these clefs are pretty rare, it would seem to benefit sight-reading skills. Plus, it's kind of impressive to be able to sight-read independent musical lines in four different clefs.

Salut, benedict!

I have been trying to "find" you on this site, and it looks like you may return to this thread.

I guess I will ask you here about bPhlat as I would rather he not see any more speculations he may not understand (and feel compelled to reply to) in "the thread". The same goes for Larry even more.

I arrived at the tail end of the Steinway thing (and in fact, you may recall, it was I who posted the triple posting about "ignore Peter...etc"). I never did know exactly what he "did" before (except what I can see in the archives), as I gather he deleted many threads.

My understanding is that he threatened to sic a Trojan Horse on somebody, not that he asked for help in the Coffee Room (as you said in your post today to Bb). Could you please elaborate?

I am far from convinced Bb is Steinway.

I think it is probable that he was considerably less serious about the level of his worry, than he presented it to us - that he was, actually, tossing it out kind of conversationally as a way to "start a discussion" (which, in fact, he might have found reassuring). If he had been that worried, with such "great" parents, I am sure he would have just asked them to excuse him from eating meat, that he wanted to become a vegetarian or something. Happens all the time to parents of teenagers! (Maybe not to children of Larry and JohnMoonlight.)

But I don't think he made it up out of thin air, nor that he is the "other entity". His reactions, disclaimers, and writing style have quite a different personality to me than the "entity" - which you will see yourself, I think, if you read his other recent postings. Especially in the threads he has started (yes, there are quite a lot of them - kind of a new toy, I think)...

I am also concerned that Larry is bullying him very badly, and that this can cause him emotional damage. Obviously anything I say about this, wil just attract more flak, so I won't.

My attitude is an Internet variation on "innocent until proven guilty" . Of course we can't really prove anything without computer tracing and that is impossible. Barring that, it would take more of a psychological fingerprint to convince me enough to risk putting a possibly innocent kid through this kind of harrassment and "stalking", as he put it to Larry in his other threads.

I say this fully cognizant of your having suffered considerable trauma before, which is not the case with me. It must have been awful to reach within yourelf trying so hard to help, only to find you had "had your heartstrings pulled" by a sham. I can imagine you were the last to stop trusting...

I do appreciate very much your kind advice to me and your equally kind words about me. I know you think many times over when you post, because you are aware of how fragile the human heart is, and how easily bruised.

I am sure you are a fan of le Petit Prince.

I actually do have a question for you in this thread - about the software you referred to, "Pizzicato".

Is this exclusively to work on sight-reading and is it the kind which works with a midi-connection? We have for some time been seeking such software, to go with my son's electronic piano since his sight-reading skills are poor, owing to his having spent most of his piano study years under a "Suzuki" teacher who was particularly weak in teaching the fundamentals.

And have you tried it out yet? Does it work well? I am not quite clear about the other things you said it does (?). By the way, what is the name of the manufacturer (it may be necessary to know if it is to be ordered here). And - lastly - is it in French or Italian?

I will look for your reply in this thread - and I apologize to the thread originator for borrowing space here to use as a bulletin board! I wish there were such anoption at this web-site - I think in some places, you can send individual members private messages (and also to screen offensive posters out, so their messages don't display on your screen!).

Best,

Ariel

P.S. "In this neck of the woods" means "in this neighborhood" or around here. It has a "local" feel to it.

Ok47,

No, I mean Bach's choral in two staves.

There is no finger indication on my book.

If there were finger indications, I suppose I could manage.

But the tenor voice is distributed between both hands (unless you can play tenth, of course) and reading and finding out which finger to use is very difficult for me.

How do you manage ?

With the two top voices and the bass voice, I find it easy and beautiful, but less satisfying because I am not playing what Bach wrote.

David J,

As I wrote above in my message to Benedict - I apologize for borrowing space in your thread for what is partly a wholly unrelated topic!