Sight reading...

Chords, scales, harmony, melody, etc.
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Ofcourse, the original poster never mentioned (I dont think) what type of music he / she was trying to read.

Music in one part is obviously going to be alot easier to read than open or even full score!

TB

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tee boy wrote:Ok, here's something that helped me alot. Rather than trying to see the notes, look for the intervals instead.
Hm. I would have said "look for the shape of the melody". For instance if it looks like an upward run with a little jump down halfway, then you need only the first note, and you can play, or maybe make up, the rest.

And you're absolutely right that with diatonic music that's rather easy to do.

Victor.

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tee boy wrote:Sight reading of fullscore is impossible (for the normal person atleast, if not everyone).
There are these stories.....

Saint Saens playing a piano reduction of a Wagner score, on sight.....

Me, the best I've ever done was accompanying a chorus from a 6-part vocal score. But I haven't done taht in a while and I doubt I could do it now.

The real trick is to get to Carnegie Hall.

Victor.

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VicDiesel wrote:
tee boy wrote:Ok, here's something that helped me alot. Rather than trying to see the notes, look for the intervals instead.
Hm. I would have said "look for the shape of the melody". For instance if it looks like an upward run with a little jump down halfway, then you need only the first note, and you can play, or maybe make up, the rest.

And you're absolutely right that with diatonic music that's rather easy to do.

Victor.
Yeah, good point.

I guess it depends what you're reading! Melodies can be viewed as contours as you say, and that can be of massive help.

My point being though, dont go from note to note thinking of the letter name. Think of the notes more in relation to one another.

TB

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VicDiesel wrote:
tee boy wrote:Sight reading of fullscore is impossible (for the normal person atleast, if not everyone).
There are these stories.....

Saint Saens playing a piano reduction of a Wagner score, on sight.....

Me, the best I've ever done was accompanying a chorus from a 6-part vocal score. But I haven't done taht in a while and I doubt I could do it now.

The real trick is to get to Carnegie Hall.

Victor.

Yeah, the uber talented can do amazing things. Liszt ALLEGEDLY played the Grieg Concerto on sight, or so I believe. And he was known to be sight read Bach very well.

Then again, you get some top performers who cant sight read for shite.

TB

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