Strategies for Teaching Sight-Reading
Strategies for Teaching Sight-reading
By Casa Ng (2013, Hong Kong)
How can improve sight-reading? Educators advise to improve sight-reading by doing it frequently. (Andreas C. Lehmann, & Victoria McArthur. 2002) But can it really be improved simply by playing more repertoires? Are there any type of practice activities we can follow in order to improve the sight-reading skill in a systematic way? To help students get improve the sight-reading skill more efficiency and effectively, we should first understand the process of sight-reading, the problems occurred during the process (the difference between good sight-reader and a novice), and the solutions for those problems (the essential skills required to become a good sight-reader).
When doing sight-reading, we have to come across the sequence of events:
Perceptual process > Cognitive process > Kinesthetic
(visual & auditory input) (thinking) (playing)
Perceptual process
Visual
Sight-reading is a multi-tasks activity, reading efficiently can help to gather more information not only limited to pitch and rhythm but also dynamic, articulation, expression, and musical structure etc. According to human’s occulomotor behavior (Sam Thompson, & Andreas C. Lehmann. 2004), our eyeballs have to jump to different places on the page to find relevant information in order to get a whole picture of the score. Advanced sight-readers ' fixations directed across line and phrase boundaries allow them to get more information while less experience sight-readers tend to focus on individual note. (Andreas C. Lehmann, & Victoria McArthur. 2002). So that an experienced sight-readers can read around six or seven notes ahead while novice can read only two to three notes ahead. (Sam Thompson, & Andreas C. Lehmann. 2004). This process can be developed through training. Ask students to look at a score for 10 seconds, then cover it and ask them to describe what they see such as key, time signature,
By Casa Ng (2013, Hong Kong)
How can improve sight-reading? Educators advise to improve sight-reading by doing it frequently. (Andreas C. Lehmann, & Victoria McArthur. 2002) But can it really be improved simply by playing more repertoires? Are there any type of practice activities we can follow in order to improve the sight-reading skill in a systematic way? To help students get improve the sight-reading skill more efficiency and effectively, we should first understand the process of sight-reading, the problems occurred during the process (the difference between good sight-reader and a novice), and the solutions for those problems (the essential skills required to become a good sight-reader).
When doing sight-reading, we have to come across the sequence of events:
Perceptual process > Cognitive process > Kinesthetic
(visual & auditory input) (thinking) (playing)
Perceptual process
Visual
Sight-reading is a multi-tasks activity, reading efficiently can help to gather more information not only limited to pitch and rhythm but also dynamic, articulation, expression, and musical structure etc. According to human’s occulomotor behavior (Sam Thompson, & Andreas C. Lehmann. 2004), our eyeballs have to jump to different places on the page to find relevant information in order to get a whole picture of the score. Advanced sight-readers ' fixations directed across line and phrase boundaries allow them to get more information while less experience sight-readers tend to focus on individual note. (Andreas C. Lehmann, & Victoria McArthur. 2002). So that an experienced sight-readers can read around six or seven notes ahead while novice can read only two to three notes ahead. (Sam Thompson, & Andreas C. Lehmann. 2004). This process can be developed through training. Ask students to look at a score for 10 seconds, then cover it and ask them to describe what they see such as key, time signature,
References: Andreas C. Lehmann, & Victoria McArthur. (2002). Sight-Reading in Richard Parncutt & Gary E. McPherson. The Science & Psychology of Music Performance: Creative Strategies for Teaching and Learning(pp. 135-150). New York: Oxford University Press. Sam Thompson, & Andreas C. Lehmann. (2004). Strategies for Sight-Reading and Improvising Music. In Aaron Williamon, Musical Excellence: Strategies and techniques to enhance performance (pp. 143-159). New York: Oxford University Press. Paul Harris, & Richard Crozier. (2000). The Music Teacher 's Companion: A Practical Guide. London: The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music. Andreas C. Lehmann, John A. Sloboda, Robert H. Woody. (2007). Psychology for Musicians: Understanding and Acquiring the Skills. New York: Oxford University Press. Howard Richman. (1985). Super Sight-Reading Secrets. U.S.A.: Sound Feeling Publishing. Faith Maydwell. (2003). Sight Reading Skills. Australia: The New Arts Press of Perth.