Hello guys and welcome back! Today I have the next episode in the blog's how to practice series which is The Pyramid of Music. This is the basic idea of what to look for when sight reading music and what you should continuously have right when sight reading. This is most useful for students who are learning to sight read and to prevent students who tend to stop in the middle of songs in order to correct things. If you like this post then subscribe to the blog by following me on twitter, on the Facebook fan page or sharing the post by clicking the links at the bottom of this post!
Now, you may be wondering why is sight reading important and my answer for you is your musical life will be so much easier and practicing would be much more effective if you know how to. Say for example you were pressed to learn an etude of some sorts in a week. If you didn't know how to sight read then learning the study would be harder than you would want it to be. Now apply the same scenario from learning an etude in a week to learning your part in a symphony in about a month. The task is simpler knowing how to sight read than it is without knowing.
The more commonly used method in teaching sight reading is the term S.T.A.R.S which stands for Sharps and Flats in the key Signature, Time signature and tempo, Accidentals, Rhythm and Signs. If you would like to review this method more than here is a link to a view of using it. Learning this method will help with sight reading because it is focusing your attention on details that most people would have missed without looking for something. Now let's say you did this but the piece is too hard for you to simply sightread the piece. Here is where the Pyramid comes into play. This is a method I've been developing for a few years and it is a way to for you to know what can I drop if I need to. NEVER USE THIS IN A "JUST BECAUSE" MANNER.
Ok, now the first important thing that comes to music is you need to have the rhythm right and be able to count the time signature. The basis of all music throughout history is rhythm. Think about an indigenous culture from any place on the world, and how they used music to communicate using beats to create chants. This is the fundamental level of music and when sight reading this should be the first focus on what you're reading. If you can get this much right, you are on your way up the pyramid! Following this step the next level of importance is knowing what key your in and knowing how they fit into place with your music. Most music has some kind of central key that it fits around, which is identified by the key signature. You should be able to identify what key you're in and play according to that key. immediately following this is noticing the accidentals. If you spot accidentals when sight reading music then note them in your mind and make sure you play them when you go back over them. Finally you need to note anything else that you missed before hand which are articulations, bowings/breath marks, dynamics and anything else that wasn't mentioned. Finally the top of the pyramid is putting emotion into the piece.
So, as you have seen this is my pyramid idea for sight reading. As I've stated a few times before one shouldn't use it in everyday circumstances, only if your sight reading a piece that the director or your instructor wants you to look through. I hope this helps you guys and I'm working on my next contest so stay tuned! And don't forget to follow me on twitter, facebook or by email and if you liked this post or any post then share it!
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