Music is odd in that we have the ability to learn it by ear. That's probably how most of us learned most of the music we know, just by hearing it so many times that it started to stick. While that can be a good way to learn things at times, it can also be slower and more inefficient than being able to read the score itself.
Imagine trying to learn a monologue just by having someone read it to you repeatedly. How much longer it would take you to learn and memorize that monologue if you didn't have the ability to simply read the words on the page?
It's essentially the same with music. Not only can sight reading skills help you learn music faster and more thoroughly, you will be certain to learn the notes and rhythms the composer intended and not someone else's variation from those notes.
These thoughts came up in an article I recently read in Classical Singer magazine by Peter Thoresen called "Thriving (Not Just Surviving) in Music Theory." In the article, he interviews one of my former professors from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, Mary Ann Hart. Besides being an outstanding instructor and a wonderful human being, Hart's performance career includes several definitive recordings of classical song and lieder AND singing one of the voices in the original Beauty and the Beast animated movie.
When that job came up, Hart was living in NYC and working as a singer. She recalls,
"The Disney thing—that came through my church job...half Broadway [singers], half legit singers...The Broadway people that came in were pretty good readers, and anything they didn't get the first time through, they had perfectly the next day. So the ability to learn on your own—really fast—was crucial for that gig."
Later in the article she makes another point about the importance of good sight-reading skills:
"It just makes everything so much easier," she says, "and coaching is great, but coaching is another expense—and when you're starting out, everything adds up. So the more you can do for yourself, the better off you are."
I had another professor in grad school who said, "When you get a new piece of music to learn, if your first move is to run to a piano or—even worse—to go find a recording of the piece, SHAME ON YOU! You should ALWAYS sit down and try to figure it out yourself first. Only go to those other tools when you have gone as far as you can with your own skills."
Once you get through your music theory classes, if you aren't forced to continue with the skill, it will eventually fade away (like most skills). Of the many, many skills we are asking you to build and develop during your time here, don't forget about sight reading. Consider taking 2-5 minutes at the beginning or the end of your practice session to read some melodies. There are lots of free sight singing guides on the internet. Print some out and give them a shot.
How has your singing been the last couple of weeks? Now that we're on the other side of fall break, give an honest evaluation of your practicing. Have you been doing enough? Do you need to come up with a new practice schedule for the second half of the semester?
Now go practice (your sight reading).
I feel like my sight reading has been so much better since last year. My ability to hear a pitch and read through a song, even if it isn't perfect, has helped me so much. With us singing Sondheim, and preparing for The Beautiful Game Musical, sight reading has been my best friend. I find that I don't like listening to the recording of Sweeny, because then it seems like I have to work harder to make sure the choices I am making are my own, and not just what I have heard on the recording. It is very interesting because I never look at other peoples work if I am about to go into a show that has been done a lot before. If I have found my version of the character, and feel stuck, or need inspiration, I think that is when watching other people's versions of characters can be valuable.
ReplyDeleteI got really sick during fall break and basically got the flu for two days, and that hurt my voice SO BADLY. The past few days I have been resting it a lot, and giving it lots of TLC. I am excited to start working on my resonance and openness because that has been happening unintentionally lately in my lessons and I want to figure out what it is that is making me sound more resonant. Hope you had a good break!!
My singing has been pretty good. I’m having an easier time getting up into the higher parts of my register, so much so that I ACTUALLY ASKED FOR A HIGH SONG. Notes that I couldn’t even screech before are slowly but surely finding the coordination to make their way out, and that’s pretty fucking cool. My practice schedule has been a’ight. It’s had been difficult to keep on the regiment I gave myself when things like tech week and getting sick take over your life. The weeks leading up to Fall Break I feel I wasn’t practicing enough to make the strides I hoped for. However, now that my obligations are lightening up I feel that I will be able to resume practicing during the times I’ve designated.
ReplyDeleteMy singing has been confusing lately. I've been trying to really understand the coordination between breath, pharyngeal space, and resonance. I feel like if I really focus on depending on the breath, then I release a lot of tension, but then I don't have the proper backspace to allow for the higher notes so I get stuck. Likewise if I'm really thinking about the backspace and the resonators then I'm relying on manipulation of those spaces to sing and change pitch as opposed to relying on breath energy. I've also spent the break overloading on work shifts, so my voice has been in no condition to practice singing. I do light vocalizing anyway because I am too stubborn not to sing, but its certainly not the most beneficial. I'm worried because Newsies is high, and it's a lot of singing. I know the relentless movement demands of the piece will help me really get my breath going and that always helps my singing, but I am anxious to start getting the music in my body as soon as possible. I am also wary that as a swing I will have to cover parts that may be out of my range and how do I contend with that? If it's group singing, I will just stick to the bottom part that is accessible because trying to sing the high parts in my falsetto is hardly different than not singing at all. For solos I think I'll be able to cope but I'm still slowly working through the material and there are a lot of factors that will play into that. I'm also a bit worried about my jury set because I keep working on new songs but don't really know what I want to pull together for the end of the semester and I'm running out of time to fit in all my lessons. Ah well, so is life.
ReplyDeleteMy singing lately has been going pretty well. Thought I’ve noticed lately my voice is a little more tired than usual with rehearsals now every night, but nothing too terrible. I’ll be honest on the practice side I’ve been using my practice time to put my skills towards the music I’m working for the show I’m in more and working the song for class less. But I get to practice sight singing more on those so that is a plus! Speaking of sight reading I totally agree on sight reading being a really good skill to have. It’s saved me on so many occasions and makes life in the music world a lot easier.
ReplyDeleteMy singing so far has improved. I feel the connection with my body and breath. After re singing "True Love" my confidence just had a major boost! I have noticed that I feel more comfortable in my lower register. My higher register is still my comfort zone but during Fall Break I noticed that not only do I favor my higher register but I actually sound good! My singing schedule has been fluctuating lately due to work but I still manage to get my practicing in. I feel my schedule for work will get worse since I work retail and Holidays take over my life. But I will always find time to practice.
ReplyDeleteFor sight reading, I was never good at it. I took choir for six years and through all that time I couldn't sight read to save my life. Now that I am actually learning and picking up on sight-reading I noticed that I actually have been doing this all along without even knowing it. I was in Bell Choir in High School and I didn't realize that playing the Bells was sight reading. In playing an instrument I learned sight reading without even realizing it was at the time.
I am so excited to keep on learning and continue my growth in sight reading so one day I may be able to help my brother with his percussion instrument and have him get used to singing while he is playing :)
Over the couple of weeks my singing hasn’t really declined nor improved. At least in my own opinion. I personally believe my first performance of True Love was much better than the second through connection to breathe, however with my second performance I was more grounded, but I felt the words grasping for air and almost coming out as a whisper. I did discover however though in voice and speech class that in a situation of embodying the character of an opera singer, it was easier for me to sing aloud in front of the others and actually project. We didn’t have to sing, but it was a choice, and I wanted to put myself in the position to start doing it more often to retrain my brain. Even though I was shaking afterwards, I was proud that I made some steps into a direction; whatever direction that may be. I just thought it was interesting that when I placed my thoughts into a classical setting, I was much more confident with my voice and actually sharing into the space. Might have to play around with the idea when trying in class performances. My sight reading however, has improved tremendously. It still takes some time for me to read through it and be complete sure of which note is what without doubting myself, but I’m still able to identify the notes and pitch class. Which is much more than I could do at the beginning of the semester. Now for practicing, that has been lacking as part of my schedule. I do it, just not as often as I should or would like to. I think I just need to motivate myself more to commit to using that time for what I have originally schedule it for: practice. I’m excited though to take this new approach when practicing these new songs. I’m hopeful that it will trigger something in my brain that finally tells me that I won’t die up there. Guess we’ll find out!
ReplyDeleteI spent the majority of my break in a car driving about 2,000 miles, so I definitely spent a lot of time singing! However, I've been loosing my voice pretty steadily since returning (probably due to stress), and I always find it really frustrating when I can't sing as well as I normally can. At least in my upper register. I noticed in class when performing "True Love", I wasn't able to sing as well as normally, and I felt that voice was pretty strained, and I wasn't using my breathe very well. Hopefully, I get my voice back, even though I kind of enjoy sounding like a chain smoker for a while.
ReplyDeleteI can definitely agree as far as the importance of sight singing, this is the first music class that I have taken where I feel like we are really learning to sight sing, and I can tell that I've already improved a lot. I wish I had been better at theory back in High School when I was doing a lot of musical theatre.
Go Cubs!
My practicing over the past month has been focused heavily on exploring new audition songs and working through those pieces. What I have found is that my voice does get tired very quickly and I feel tension more regularly than I have in the past. I think moving forward, I need to focus strictly on vocal drills and exercises. I always get so excited about diving into a new piece of music, that my daily exercises take a back seat and then 3 or 4 days go by and I haven't dedicated significant time to the basics. I also feel that I need to have a lesson with my teacher at least every other month. Practicing along with previously recorded lessons is useful but I want to get an evaluation as to where I am at now, and how to move forward. Working that into my budget is going to be a priority of mine.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with the importance of sight-reading. I always find when I am in a musical production, that the ability to sight-read creates a fast and efficient rehearsal. More material can be covered and the forward momentum makes everyones life easier and the overall production seamless. Although I will admit, I always prefer to be near a piano to compare pitch. Contrary to the above statement, the piano is my best friend when it comes to solidifying my sight-reading. I also tend to memorize with the piano keys in mind, so it works for me!
My voice is feeling better lately since i started taking my acid reflux medicine again. I have definitly been more focused lately on the tension i am carying in my throat and on my tongue. I have mainly been singing very mixed voice and it has been hard to find especially on ascending exercises. Although we aren't really supposed to I have been recently practicing in my car more often and I think it actually helps me think to breathe deeper since I do have to think about my breath. I have always been good at learning by listening to the people around me but honestly I don't use reading music nearly enough. I've noticed in practices that I oftentimes will not try to hard to find the notes if I can rely on others. This is a very interesting piece since I am often guilty of listening along to the tracks of my songs and recently I have been finding the value of practicing alone and count singing especially with mte songs where arrangements are changed.
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DeleteThese last couple of weeks can be comparable to a massive tidal wave. Not only have I not had the time to work through my jury set, but I haven't been singing period. I find the most difficulty in maintaining the practice sessions we set for ourselves, because at this point in the semester is where all of the random odd jobs that you never foresaw in your future, are now more apparent than ever. I plan to take these next few weeks of only having voice every other week, to put it upon myself to set specific practice times and create a new, updated schedule.
ReplyDeleteI will say though, that I loved the professor that you brought into our masterclass. I was sad that I couldn't stay and observe the rest of her coaching because I was really connecting with her notes and understanding a new approach to the voice.
This has been a rough singing year for me, mentally. I have been putting a lot of pressure on myself to expand my higher range but sometimes I find that that has the opposite effect I intended to have, and leaves me feeling frazzled, frustrated with myself, and stuck in the same place that I was initially. I really need to get better with memorizing my songs in a more timely manner, because then I will have the opportunity to work on other things. I now have my complete jury set selected, and the majority of the cuts organized, so things should be coming together now. I came to the masterclass on Wednesday with the guest teacher, Aubrey, and I really appreciated the way she broke down the art of singing. I was not planning to sing at that masterclass, so I was caught a little off guard and did not feel prepared, but I am glad that I got up there and sang for Aubrey because she provided me with crucial feedback that I will continue to think about for the entirety of my singing career. As for sight reading, I feel that I have come a long way since last year when I knew absolutely nothing about music theory or looking at a piece of music and not having any idea what was going on.
ReplyDeleteOMG PETER THORESAN WAS MY VOCAL TECH TEACHER PRIOR TO COLLEGE.
ReplyDeleteAnyways, I feel like I've been working hard and I'm in a good spot with all 5 of my songs. I could probably perform all of them tomorrow. Thanks to you:)
We opened Love's Labour's Lost this last Friday, and holy crap the warm ups I have learned in this class has been amazing!!! It has improved my energy and overall quality of the show. I've been using the straw warm up and my breath is so damn connected. I've been practicing very frequently this week, been doing a good job with that.
ReplyDeleteMy singing has been wild lately. I've been learning my studio songs, my Sweeney song, and all of my music for my private lesson. This has been my "singing" year and I have been loving it although it's been very challenging. Reading this blog made me feel guilty. when I get new music, I like to find a new recording of the song so it's "easier" and "faster" for me to learn. It makes so much more sense to just learn the music myself and find that deeper connection. It also makes the music my own. It's the same with monologues. You don't want to be a cookie cutter of someone else. AMI RIGGGHHHT?
ReplyDeleteI can very much appreciate the idea of "thriving, not just surviving" music theory (specifically with regard to sight singing). I think the part of me that always wants to be "good" at things and "right" about things has always made sight singing an anxiety-ridden exercise. That being said, I think I take for granted the skill and forget how helpful it makes learning music. This post has me thinking about my Spanish and how I was so good at speaking during high school, but then being out of practice really showed for me when I tried to resurrect my skills in Spain. I don't want to let my theory/sight reading skills slip, so maybe I'll start biting the bullet and doing more of it by my own will and not just when you whip out the dreaded Modus Novus.
ReplyDeleteI have always believed that learning how to sight sing is one of the most important skills that singers should have. In school, it's semi-ok to have your teacher or pianist plunk out the melody and learn it by listening to the recording because you're still in school. But can you imagine asking someone like Andrew Lloyd Weber or Stephen Schwartz to plunk out the notes for you? I would be absolutely mortified to ask a music director in a production to play the song for me so that I can sing/learn it. So, throughout the years I have been trying to learn how to sight sing, but I seem to have the talent just for rhythm. Sight singing takes me longer to figure out than the normal singer for reason and I have to battle through that during every session that I try.
ReplyDeletePracticing has definitely been interesting. Having studio in my schedule now has moved my warm ups to the morning before class so that I can be ready to sing for studio. I generally try to sing before I get to the car, but my roommates tend to be sleeping when I get up in the morning. So, I'll stand outside my car and warm up for a bit and then also do it outside the classroom for studio before it starts. On other days, it's more normal and I have more time to really broaden and warm my voice which gives me stronger practice sessions. It's just studio that gives me a hard time and I don't really know how to fix it.
While I am not proficient at sight-singing, I'm familiar enough with reading music to tap out a piece's tune on a keyboard when I'm trying to learn a piece. This makes it much easier to learn a piece as I can focus on a couple measures or even a couple notes to make sure I'm getting them right. With regards to being proficient at sight-singing, it makes sense for those looking to get into musical theatre. For any job, I feel the person whose hand you have to hold the least is the person you want to work with the most.
ReplyDeleteWith practice, I have fallen off a little bit. I'm in the midst of touring right now, so my practice schedule has to be reordered. I'll get back on top of things as soon as I can.
The comparison to learning a monologue says it all. While I can "pick up" a song simply by listening to it, one would be foolhardy to think that they can truly learn the song without being able to read its language. While everything involved with singing this semester is completely new to me, I've found sight reading has given me a great foundation for the songs we have been working with.
ReplyDeleteI feel that my own personal progress this semester has been immense. I am now relatively comfortable singing in front of people. I do however need to now grow more comfortable when it comes to making more specific choices when I sing. As it stands now, I feel that I am just singing the words to the music without much of an emotional choice.
I agree wholeheartedly, although sight singing has always been something that gave me a lot of anxiety. I've taken years of choir, but never in those years was sight singing exercised, always learning by the piano. I always knew what it was, but never had the skill set. I could fumble my way through a piece of music, but had little to no accuracy. This is practice is helping to make sight singing less of a process of stumbling in the dark, and more of an actual practice.
ReplyDeleteAs far as my own singing, I've relaxed a bit too much since break, and I do feel it necessary to re-up my practice schedule.
Having been sick last week definitely put a kink in my normal practice schedule. Thankfully, I got a lot of work in during fall break that made the time off not set me back. However, I am about to start tech for You Never Can Tell and that is going to consume a lot of practice. I’ve really been working to utilize the time I do have, usually in the car driving to school in the morning or home after rehearsal. I’m excited to move forward this semester and finish strong with juries
ReplyDeleteI am really happy that I have been drilling more music theory these last couple of years and I truly think it has helped my musician ship immeasurably! I also started taking basic piano lessons over the summer and have felt that they have helped my sight reading a lot! (as well as my ability to practice on my own!) This will become especially helpful as I leave school and don't have Julie and Brian to help me plunk out a melody. So I am very excited that I am developing this skill and continuing to advance as not only a singer, but a thoughtful and smart singer as well! :)
ReplyDeleteThis is my late blog... I knew I missed one.
ReplyDeleteI did a lot of sight singing in high school and I got pretty good, but after I graduated I stopped practicing and lost most of it. It has been incredible reestablishing my sight singing skills over the past few semesters. I still have a long way to go, but I feel fairly confident with at least simple melodies. I'm going to challenge myself to continue practicing sight singing, and not rely as heavily on other methods of learning music. I think it will open a lot of doors in the music world if I work to become a proficient sight singer.
(This is my late blog, too!)
ReplyDeleteI'm a huge believer in sight reading. In high school I got pretty damn good at sight reading on the piano, and that's been a huge help for me in sight reading for singing. But I was shocked to discover in college that sight reading singing is its own beast! It's certainly helpful to understand sight reading for piano, but in singing it relies trusting on my own instrument and ear a lot more. Just the other week I went to go see my friend's jazz concert, and was struck by how lucky they are to have their instrument be external. Most of them don't have to adjust their pitch as they play; that's all done beforehand. Singing is so much harder for me because there's so much more adjusting that goes on while singing, especially when I'm sight reading something I've never heard before!
At the start of the semester I should've applied myself more to rehearsing and practicing outside of class. I would be really good and then stop for too many days. I wasn't as consistent as I should've been but the second half of the semester I really worked on being more consistent, I also came to the realization that I was going to be singing in front of people and I didn't want to sound bad (which shouldn't matter either way, I should just practice regardless) so I started rehearsing more. I think moving forward into the next semester I am really going to have to be hard on myself and hold myself accountable for making practice habitual and something that is and should always be a priority. I owe it myself. I can always do more.
ReplyDeleteMusic is an entirely different language to me, so I’ve mainly learned it by ear. I tend to be able to hear a song once or twice and have it down, though I see how this isn’t an efficient or necessarily smart way to go about this. I’m not bad at sight reading, I think it’s my own internal critic that stops me from being able to confidently sight read. I second-guess myself often. I need to practice this skill more and more to gain confidence in myself and develop it as a second language, of sorts. I’m lucky because I play guitar and ukulele and love singing so this is something I will likely always practice in one way or another. It’s just the matter of forcing myself to work through a piece of music rather than make shortcuts.
ReplyDeleteI have always been a rather auditory learner and so I have never found learning by ear that difficult. It is funny you should bring up a monologue or other text because that is one of my favored methods of learning words quickly is listening to them repeatedly (often while I'm driving) and trying to keep the recording as devoid of emotion and rhythm as possible. However, when we first went over soul of a man in my lessons it really drove home exactly how much artistic interpretation was often in a singers recorded rendition of a song. I could not figure out how those were even the same notes and rhythms adjusted and played with until they found their version, it sounded like a different song. The same goes with how I played the guitar, I learned by ear and tabs but I've always just listened to the song until it felt "right." But this has been a blessing and a curse, its a fortunate and unfortunate crutch because I can so quickly and easily pick it up but I would be a better musician and a more expressive singer if I spent more time reteaching myself more music theory and practiced using it.
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