Sight Singing Made Simple (Book/CD Pak) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0793599733 ISBN 13: 9780793599738

Publisher: Hal Leonard Corporation, 1995

Synopsis

This easy-to-use audio course for self or small group study is a step-by-step introduction to music reading skills.

About this title

From the Publisher

David Bauguess is the author of The Jenson Sight Singing Course (published by Hal Leonard), a best-selling method for sight-reading training for choral singers. His sight-singing publications have been used to teach hundreds of thousands of students and adults to read music.

From the Author

This book introduces reading music to a non-music reader. It assumes no previous experience with or knowledge of reading music. It is an introduction of the fundamentals, for beginners, that should be appropriate for learners of about ages 11 and up. It is assumed the user is able to match pitches vocally. A book cannot provide feedback to confirm this.

A number of books teach music reading. In my judgment, most have one or two significant shortcomings: (1) they may have much to say ABOUT reading music but the reader does not HEAR the sounds they are reading about; and (2) too much attention is given to explanations of music theory that are not immediately relevant or applicable to the learner’s current skill level.

As an introduction of limited scope, two goals shaped the content and sequence of this book and address these shortcomings:

1) An emphasis on learning to actually read music by the inclusion of an audio component. Hearing the sounds notes represent is an essential requisite to reading them. Also, given the book’s limited length, it was deemed better to adequately practice core skills, such as the basic intervals, than to cursorily touch on a variety of greater difficulties.

2) Delaying or excluding aspects of music theory that are not relevant or supportive of the skills being taught. Key signatures, for example, are not introduced immediately because they are not necessary for learning to sight sing, including some melodies that might be considered "challenging." When they are introduced, it is to show how they can be used to determine the name of the starting pitch. To explain how key signatures are derived from constructing scales would be of little or no practical usefulness at the time one is beginning to learn to sight sing. At a later stage of study, this understanding is essential.

The "simplicity" of Sight Singing Made Simple is its focus on establishing fundamental understanding and skills and on building confidence.

Edition details

• Publisher: Hal Leonard Corporation
• Publication date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0793599733
• ISBN 13: 9780793599738
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 44