How to Sight Read in an Exam
Learning / 04/09/2020
Best Sight Reading Tips for Exam Success, for all Instruments & Singing
Here are some of the sight reading techniques and tips that I have establish to be most helpful for my students.
meliorate your sight reading with Preparation and practice
SIGHT READ Oft
The more music you lot read and play or sing, the better you will exist at sight reading. Much of the skill in sight reading is based on being able to predict what might come next in the music, so musicians who have studied lots of different pieces or songs in various styles are ameliorate equipped to find information technology easy to read a wide range of music. If you are a singer please don't neglect learning to sight read - it opens up a globe of new songs to you without relying on rote learning, and being able to sight read could also enable you to bask singing in a expert choir.
Savor IMPROVISING More!
Improvising around the prepare of notes nigh often used in each key is a bang-up idea for becoming a more than confident music reader. Familiarity with the notes and chords that are likely to be used in any key will help you to predict what might come next in both 'existent' music and in sight reading tests. You do not have to make up amazing music when you lot improvise - just brainstorm by doodling around with the notes that y'all would find in any particular primal, for example in the key of D Major y'all could make up tunes that start and finish on D, remembering to use an F# and a C#. Pianists could explore the chords most likely to be included in that primal, which are unremarkably the key chord (in this case D major), the chord a fifth above information technology (in this central, A major) and the chord a fourth higher up it (in this key G major).
improve your sight reading with the music exam in mind
Cheque the key signature and confirm by looking at the final annotation, which will be the keynote
If y'all are unsure about key signatures, take a look at this short video explaining the circle of fifths. In an exam, sight reading tests always include the keynote in the final bar, for example a slice in the cardinal of Yard major (F# fundamental signature) will have a G in the final bar. It'south useful to bank check that final bar considering one sharp could besides mean Due east pocket-sized and, in this case, the last bar would contain an East.
Bank check the time signature
The top number shows how many beats in a bar and the bottom number tells you lot what kind of crush information technology is so, for case, 3/iv time ways 3 crotchet beats in every bar (UK terminology), or 3 quarter notes in every bar (U.s.a. terminology). Check that you understand the meaning of six/8 time. Don't merely look at the time signature - feel it at a suitable footstep in relation to the music in the test. For instance, if the music looks similar a waltz you'll need to give it a trip the light fantastic toe-like experience.
Find the right starting position
This applies particularly to beginner pianists; earlier y'all brainstorm to study the piece it's helpful to balance your fingers on the keys that will be used because, in the earliest grades, the hand position stays the aforementioned. If any black keys are needed, identify your fingers on them and so that you don't forget them in one case you begin playing. It also applies to beginner violinists who demand to observe the correct starting place for the left manus fingers.
Focus showtime on what is easy
Information technology'due south much more positive to look for what is piece of cake about the piece rather than but looking for isolated difficult bits. Get the general gist of the music by focusing primarily on the main elements of the music, such equally the predominant rhythmic feel, the shape of the melody and the tonality (major or minor). This will help to ensure that you get about of the slice right and that you achieve some caste of fluency, even if y'all make the odd mistake.
Expect for patterns
Look for note pitch patterns, like scales and leaps of a third or a fifth; these might be repeated exactly, could be in a sequence (a phrase played a note higher or lower the second time) or could be inverted (showtime ascending then descending). Look for intervals between notes rather than saying the annotation names to yourself - that'south not necessary and will impede fluency.
Wait for repeated rhythm patterns. Many early class exam candidates focus nigh entirely on the note pitches and disregard the rhythms. Recollect that rhythms are merely equally important as notes!
Read the music in petty chunks, non annotation by note
You lot need to brand sense of the music and this is only possible if you lot recollect of the notes in relation to each other, a bit like how you read words whole rather than saying the messages beginning. For example, if you lot can see that a bar contains a scale that starts on C and ends on G, yous actually don't need to read every note. Pianists should ideally set with both hands together - practising Correct Hand and Left Mitt separately could cause yous to miss seeing patterns that motility from one hand to the other and may prevent you from getting a secure feel for the harmonies and chord progressions at later on grades.
Run through in your head how the piece might audio
As you hear the piece in your caput (even if approximately) keep a steady pulse, while imagining the feeling of playing the correct notes. Woodwind and brass players tin touch the advisable keys/valves and strings players tin can notice the correct left mitt fingers for the notes.Pianists - where hand position changes are needed, starting at Grade 3, move your hands at the right fourth dimension to each new grouping of notes. Aim to get to the stop of the slice in your imagination - because you are not actually playing you can think the piece through at an ideal tempo, even if you and so proceed to play it a piffling slower. Singers - mind carefully to the cardinal chord and starting note given by the examiner as you commencement your grooming time and don't be agape to sing aloud. Remember you can sing to any sound you choose and, at later grades, singing the actual words is optional.
Try whatsoever tricky bits slowly if there is sufficient time
If y'all have imagined performing the piece in your head, at that place will exist less training fourth dimension left to play or sing it right through in an exam, but your thorough grooming will mean that there is picayune need to do this anyhow. If there is whatsoever time left, just endeavour out any bars that stand out as existence tricky. The grooming time allowed for sight reading in grade exams is normally half a minute but, if y'all are dyslexic, your instructor should inform the exam lath at the time of the application so that you lot will exist allowed actress fourth dimension to study the sight reading before doing the examination for real.
doing the actual exam piece
Choose a speed you can manage, keeping a steady pulse, without stopping fifty-fifty if you brand a mistake. Keep looking ahead a little and aim for fluency even if you lot are uncertain of a note. Give rests their full time-value - accept reward of the rests to focus on what is coming next. Create a lovely tone and don't attempt to hide uncertainty past playing or singing too quietly ... If in doubtfulness, only miss information technology out … or make it up - yes really, considering fluency is so important!
A im for a sense of character and way as you play or sing. Notice any performance markings, such as the suggested articulation (slurs, staccato and legato) and dynamics eg loud (f) and tranquility (p). A performance that shows the musical character of the piece or song will attract extra marks in an exam.
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Source: https://www.e-musicmaestro.com/blog/29/best-sight-reading-tips-for-exam-success-for-all-instrumentalists-singers
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