Sight Reading
How do I get faster at sight-reading for Bb clarinet?
I’m first chair of the Wind Ensamble and I can sight-read a measure per 5 minutes!!! Enberasingly slow!!! But once I read the music I never forget it, and I get the best tone, I have some issue I guess but how do I get rid of it, I need serious help! =l
Jonathan is correct – you learn to sight read better by sight reading more. The pedagogical theory involved is called Specificity of Training.
When I was in the Army as a musician and later in the university we had weekly reading sessions. Whoever would like to join in just gets together and reads some music – whatever Music You happen to have available. You read it once and then put it away.
Church hymnals are a good source of a bunch of music in one place. You can read it alone or in small group too. As long as all of the players are like instruments (at least all in the same key), you can read at least three parts of every tune in there.
Another place I learned to read better was in choir. You can seperate the reading and playing parts of your reading practice and it still improves your reading. Sing in the church/school/community choir for some extra reading practice. It’s also really good for developing your ear.
And don’t forget your scales and arpeggios. Fact is, every piece of music is nothing more than a group of intervals around some sort of scale. If you know all of your major and minor scales (straight, intervalic, and arpeggios) then you can play most things you encounter at sight. Any of the good clarinet etude methods will be full of scale studies. Remember, there’s more to a scale than just Do Re Me…
#19 How to Sight read: Sight read tips and tricks
