Sight Reading Jump Start - Group 1

Follow Me Curwen Hand Signs(1) SightReadingJumpStartPlan

Day 1

Welcome!

Using the movable-do solfège system and Kodály principles, we’ll build a strong foundation in sight-reading and explore a practical, repeatable method for developing these skills.

Today’s Goal: Gain a solid understanding of the fundamentals of sight-reading by beginning with two core skills: reading rhythms in 4/4 time and singing pitches in stepwise motion.

Today’s Assignment:
Watch Dr. Joel Clifft’s Sight Reading Course on the tonebase platform.

Download the "Sight Reading Jump Start Plan" PDF for detailed instructions and exercises!

Watch: Day One Welcome Video!

Day 2

Expanding Rhythmic Concepts - Working in the subdivision. Today, we take our scale and sing it over an eighth-note pattern.  

Follow the course outline PDF for detailed instructions and exercises!

Watch: Day Two Video

 

Day 3

Going backwards

For some reason, musicians who are just getting started sight reading often have a tough time reading below “do.” Today, you are going to focus in that skill! As always, be sure to count your score first and practice it with the kodály rhythm syllables. NOTE: these exercises do not have an appropriate key signature. The starting pitches are all “do.” Bonus: Write in the appropriate clef and key signature for each exercises and conduct yourself while you sing them. Hint! Watch out for the 3/4!

Follow the course outline PDF for detailed instructions and exercises!

Watch: Day 3 Video

Day 4

Sight Reading Warm Up and Scale Review!

Today we are learning our warmup exercise for sight reading. You’ll sing this every time you come to a new sight reading practice exercise.

Follow the course outline PDF for detailed instructions and exercises!

Watch: Day 4 Video

Day 5

Sight Reading Warm Up and Sing Your First Song!

Practice your scale exercise
Sing your warm up exercise
“Follow Me” (PDF in the Forum)-  count the rhythm first using the KodĂĄly substitute rhythm syllables. Answer the following questions:
What Key is this in?
What is the meter?
Are there any special markings that I need to look up?
What else is the score telling me?

Follow the course outline PDF for detailed instructions and exercises!

Watch: "Follow Me Tutorial"

Day 6

Sight Reading Warm Up and Sing Your First Song!

Practice your scale exercise
Sing your warm up exercise
“Follow Me” (PDF in the Forum) - Speak the syllables using the solfège syllables (instead of “ta”). *remember to maintain the internal pulse, counting the beats in your head as you speak the solfège. Bonus: Conduct while you speak the syllables in rhythm. Mark in solfege hints if you need to (not too many!)

Follow the course outline PDF for detailed instructions and exercises!

Watch: "Follow Me Tutorial"

Day 7

Sight Reading Warm Up and Sing Your First Song!

Practice your scale exercise
Sing your warm up exercise
“Follow Me” (PDF in the Forum) - Sing the melody on the solfège syllables. Maintain your inner pulse and counting while you sing.

BONUS: Record yourself singing and post it in the forum!
Super BONUS: Record yourself singing and playing!!

Follow the course outline PDF for detailed instructions and exercises!

Watch: "Follow Me Tutorial"

Day 8

Singing Skips with Arpeggios and working on 3/4 time

Today, we are working on singing the I chord (do-mi-sol) and integrating skips into our singing.

Follow the course outline PDF for detailed instructions and exercises!

Watch: Day 8 Video 

Day 9

Singing Skips with Arpeggios

Today, we are practicing the do-sol (I-V) interval.

Follow the course outline PDF for detailed instructions and exercises!

Watch: Day 9 Video 

Day 10

Singing Skips with Arpeggios

Today, we are practicing the do-mi (I-iii) interval.

Bonus: record the duet with yourself and post it to the forum!
REMEMBER TO WARM UP USING YOUR WARM UP EXERCISE FROM DAY 4

Follow the course outline PDF for detailed instructions and exercises!

Watch: Day 10 Video 

Day 11

Reverse engineering

Today, you are going to use your own repertoire to sight read using the system you’ve learned so far. Choose an 8-bar phrase in one of the pieces you already know to reverse engineer.  The phrase should be in a MAJOR key that does not modulate. It should have a clear and discernible melody with mostly stepwise motion.

1. count the rhythm first using the KodĂĄly substitute rhythm syllables. Answer the following questions:
What Key is this in?
What is the meter?
Are there any special markings that I need to look up?
What else is the score telling me?

Follow the course outline PDF for detailed instructions and exercises!

Watch: Final Video 

Day 12

Reverse engineering

Using your 8-bar phrase, Sing the melody on Solfege.
Record yourself singing it and post it to the forum.

Follow the course outline PDF for detailed instructions and exercises!

Day 13

Reverse engineering

Record Yourself Singing your 8-bar phrase

Post your 8-bar phrase in the forum.

Follow the course outline PDF for detailed instructions and exercises!

Day 14

Assessment

listen back to your recordings from this TWI. Answer the following questions:
Which area of sight reading do I struggle most with (rhythm, pulse, pitch, solfège..)?
What did I learn that was new?
What skill that I already had was reinforced?

Post your observations in the forum!

Follow the course outline PDF for detailed instructions and exercises!

51 replies

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    • Raymond_Gornik
    • 1 mth ago
    • Reported - view

    Day 3 Exercise: https://youtu.be/AJlQYbsbHCo

    I think I need to go slower to get the solfege and conducting happening in time. 

      • Coffee-drinking soprano, trainer of voices and tonebase voice content lead
      • Heidi_Vass
      • 1 mth ago
      • Reported - view

      On that first exercise, you got off track on the "re" in the second measure. Since you are a great pianist, can I suggest that you record yourself singing and play it back accompanying yourself on the piano? You'll be able to check your work that way and can see where you might have lost the thread. Of course, with sight reading, once you miss a pitch, it's very easy to have the rest of the exercise go south (because all the notes are relative the others). Another good idea is to always check with a pitch reference when you come to a "do." If you can maintain that, then you are keeping that tonal center strong.  I love that you keep going in these!!

    • Michelle
    • 1 mth ago
    • Reported - view

    Day 4 Warm-up: https://youtu.be/qWLuqDqrBzo

    Question: when doing solfege type work with my piano teacher, he has me work through a series of steps to "establish tonality." Here we're kind of diving in feet first with a short warmup of scale and arpeggio. Is there any advantage to spending more time establishing tonality versus keeping that time fairly short? Or is this more specific to sight-reading/singing (since the work I do with my piano teacher is for ear training type skills)?

      • Coffee-drinking soprano, trainer of voices and tonebase voice content lead
      • Heidi_Vass
      • 1 mth ago
      • Reported - view

      That warm up exercise is perfect :) Generally speaking, we don't usually get a lot of time to establish that tonal center (in real world singing scenarios), so we want to be able to jump in quickly. That said, there is great benefit to taking more time. Training with variety like that is SOO helpful to cementing your learning. As long as all of the concepts are sound, I usually take a "yes and" approach to pedagogy (this approach is backed up by all the available data and research in Motor Learning). 

    • Raymond_Gornik
    • 1 mth ago
    • Reported - view

    Day 4 Exercise https://youtu.be/huIVPmFZ7w0

      • Coffee-drinking soprano, trainer of voices and tonebase voice content lead
      • Heidi_Vass
      • 1 mth ago
      • Reported - view

      This is great! If I am nitpicking here, I would suggest keeping that [a] vowel for "Fa" a tiny bit brighter. That will be an insurance policy against going flat (in pitch). That can easily happen with those pesky [a] vowels ;) .. your conducting is really coming along!!

    • Michelle
    • 1 mth ago
    • Reported - view

    Here's my Day 7 attempt: https://youtu.be/w2LjFrr_FL0

    Singing on solfege, following the written music, conducting, and trying to occasionally find a reference pitch - quite a bit of juggling, so the conducting dropped once or twice. 

      • Coffee-drinking soprano, trainer of voices and tonebase voice content lead
      • Heidi_Vass
      • 1 mth ago
      • Reported - view

      This is great! If you want to refine a bit more, think about each pitch being a bull's eye and aim for the center (that way you don't scoop or dip into it). That said, you are correct - there is A LOT going on here and you are navigating a ton of ideas all at once. Keep up the great work! 

      • Michelle
      • 1 mth ago
      • Reported - view

       Thanks, Heidi. 

    • tonebase_user.19
    • 1 mth ago
    • Reported - view

    Here is my Day  "Follow Me" video

      • Coffee-drinking soprano, trainer of voices and tonebase voice content lead
      • Heidi_Vass
      • 1 mth ago
      • Reported - view

      Great tuning on this! My one suggestion is to watch your hand.. make sure that it stays steady the whole time. This will help you develop an unwavering sense of pulse :)

    • tonebase_user.19
    • 1 mth ago
    • Reported - view

    Here is Day 9 homework.

     

    https://youtube.com/shorts/4lL0KUuGvW0?feature=share

      • Coffee-drinking soprano, trainer of voices and tonebase voice content lead
      • Heidi_Vass
      • 1 mth ago
      • Reported - view

      Great work on this!! If you want to have some fun.. record one part THEN record the second part over the first, so you have a duet with yourself :)

    • Michelle
    • 1 mth ago
    • Reported - view

    Here is Day 9 attempt at a self-duet: https://youtu.be/1jPgPNmuwdk

      • Coffee-drinking soprano, trainer of voices and tonebase voice content lead
      • Heidi_Vass
      • 1 mth ago
      • Reported - view

      So fun! If only you had a duet partner that could sing this with you at your house đŸ˜‚

      • Michelle
      • 1 mth ago
      • Reported - view

      If only!! đŸ˜„

    • tonebase_user.19
    • 1 mth ago
    • Reported - view

    Here is Day 10, part 1

     

    https://youtube.com/shorts/6_9IhG5BXOI?feature=share

    • tonebase_user.19
    • 1 mth ago
    • Reported - view

    Day 10 Part 2

     

    https://youtube.com/shorts/avHNDM4BRMc?feature=share

      • Coffee-drinking soprano, trainer of voices and tonebase voice content lead
      • Heidi_Vass
      • 1 mth ago
      • Reported - view

      These are coming along quite well!

    • Michelle
    • 1 mth ago
    • Reported - view

    Here's my Day 10: https://youtu.be/dqb8kLe7rNg

    Yikes! It was quite challenging to sing the self-duet, and I was more than a bit off at the end. I'll need more time to work on doing things like that as it is new to me. 

      • Coffee-drinking soprano, trainer of voices and tonebase voice content lead
      • Heidi_Vass
      • 1 mth ago
      • Reported - view

      Pretty darn good for two weeks of work! So fun to see your progress :)

      • Michelle
      • 1 mth ago
      • Reported - view

       Thanks, Heidi. I've enjoyed the work and the challenge of the work.

    • Michelle
    • 1 mth ago
    • Reported - view

    Day 12 slightly modified: https://youtu.be/cVac47JoaDY

    "Caro mio ben" first 5 measures (not 8) on solfege. 

    • Michelle
    • 1 mth ago
    • Reported - view

    And Day 13: https://youtu.be/gy3O6BeJ5M8

      • Coffee-drinking soprano, trainer of voices and tonebase voice content lead
      • Heidi_Vass
      • 1 mth ago
      • Reported - view

      Excellent work on these!

      • Michelle
      • 1 mth ago
      • Reported - view

       Thanks much, Heidi. I enjoyed this TWI. I liked the day-by-day format, though it was challenging to spend time every day  (I missed a day or two and got behind). My personal challenge is with pitch and being able to hear the intervals. I expect more focused practice will help with this. I'm appreciative of your feedback.

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