Choral Caffeine: Teach Sight Reading First

(Cue “Jaws” Theme Music)

 

“Bahhh dum”

     Somewhere . . .

 

“Bahhh dum, Bahhh dum”

     Lurking in the darkest corner of your choir . . .

 

“Dum dum dum dum dum”

     Is a singer who can’t read music very well!

 

<SCREAM!>

 

The best time to teach sight reading skills to a singer is when they are quite young, but regardless of age, a singer who can read the score is going to be more successful than one who can’t.

 

In her article, “Two Basics: Intonation and Reading Skills for Children’s Choir” (OCDA News, Spring 2008), Sandra Mathias shares several starting points for the teaching of basic reading skills.  Here are just two of them:

 

Using solfege syllables has proven to be a successful tool for developing good intonation in my experience. Singers can become acquainted with these syllables in many ways. Try the following exercises. They will help your singers, and you, develop stronger musicianship skills.  In all of your work with your singers, you should aim to establish the sounds of these intervals in singers’ inner hearing. This is comparable to learning the letters of the alphabet and how they combine to make words. Solfege syllables combine to make intervals and chord patterns or "sound" words. Singers need to be able to hear their music before and as they sing it.

 

(To access the full article, simply click the highlighted title. For additional articles on a dazzling array of choral topics, visit  ChorTeach.)