Sight Singing Depresses Me, Any tips welcome on how to sight sing Options

[gwu]

I have my Grade 6 in less than 2 weeks time.

I'm spending about an hour on my sight singing and 30 minutes on everything else each day. I know this is a suicidal revision strategy but I do think everything else is relatively under control (relative to the sight singing).

I can sort of sight sing, it just takes me about 10 minutes to get it right. In the exam, there's 30 seconds. I first note the key, sing the scale, then the arp and then go from there.

How can I speed it up? Is it just practise?

Thanks for your help.

G

[Firebird]

If possible, try and get to know your intervals really, really well. When I started preparation for my Grade 8 a while back, I began thinking about sight-singing and the first thing I did was make sure I could sing intervals fool-proofly. I did some Grade 8 sight-singing with my teacher the other day and they just about all went well, so I'm glad I tried it! For Grade 6 I'd assume targeting the key major, perfect and minor intervals plus semitones would be best? I associate intervals with beginnings of tunes where said interval appears - for example, I associate a perfect fourth with the beginning of Nostalgia in Times Square (Charles Mingus). Do it with tunes you know really well and can sing or hum, so it'll get drummed in and you can always check it.

The only other thing I can think of is really quickly looking through the tune and noting any rhythms or intervals you want to check. Good luck and hope the real thing goes well (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Rosemary7391]

try singing interval scales along with a piano... Like C E D F E G F A etc...

[__piano__]

Linking an interval to the first interval of a popular song can help, because then you have a fail-safe method for that interval in any key. For example, a major 6th is 'the hills' from 'the hills are alive with the sound of music'... There are others, but I can't remember them. Ideally, you work out a song for every interval and learn them! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) Good luck!

[anacrusis]

I would also focus on the intervals which are easier to sing - they'd be rotten meanies to make you sing a seventh, for instance. You're far more likely to get major or minor thirds, perfect fourths and fifths, and scale-y bits to sing. The other thing which I found useful was to try to keep the key note in my head as I "sang" my way through practice stuff.
Lastly, don't forget....it's only a small bit of the exam as a whole. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
*dons tin hat before the singing lobby finds this*

[jacobvaneyck]

Have you tried the solfege system, gwu? Intervals are a good thing to prepare as well, but learning a few simple tunes in solfege really helps get a feel for what you are sight singing. Keep at this, very useful skill to sight sing even if you are not doing a singing exam.

[sneekymum]

Here are some songs listed by starting interval...

http://www.geocities.com/flutepower55/intervalsongs.html

http://www.womanrock.com/music_resources/p...heory_1202.html

http://www.napervillechorus.org/intervals.html

http://library.thinkquest.org/15413/theory/intervals.htm

[sarah-flute]

I'm off out but you can find the advice I gave anakrron for similar worries here and here in case any of it is helpful!! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[katyjay]

OK, Anacrusis, you can take the tin hat off now. I actually agree with you.

Gwu, sight singing is a smallish part of a smallish part of the exam. If everything else is OK, you'll get decent marks for the aural part of the exam even if the sight singing goes totally to pot. Don't forget, the aural marks are based on an overall impression of your responses rather than being split up into marks for the individual questions.

I agree that intervals are the way I (and many singers I know) sight-read. And if you're in practice, they are a very effective method.

But with only a few days to go, I think it's not worth spending vast amounts of time in getting in practice for this - getting your scales and pieces beautifully polished is a much better use of your time.

Assuming you want to get the hang of sight-singing for the future so it's less of an upheaval for your next exam (grade 7 or 8??) the best bet is to do some singing on a regular basis. I'm a great advocate of joining a choir as a way of improving one's confidence at actually singing, and at sight-singing in particular. Advantages - you're not alone when you're trying to read a new line of music, you get feedback instantly, and if you choose your choir carefully, you get a great night out as well.

A useful resource for practising sight-singing on your own is the Choral Public Domain Library. You'll find thousands of works there, many of which will have both a PDF file of the music and a midi file. Choose a work that has both. Open both the midi and the PDF, and listen to the former while reading your chosen line from the latter. Do the first one just reading, not singing, then do another one by going through it twice, just reading the first time then singing along the second time. DO NOT SING THE WORDS, JUST "LA" or "YAH" TO THE NOTES. And then do another one but sing from the outset. And then finally choose one, sing it and then play it afterwards while looking at the score to check how you did.

I also use CPDL for practising the sing-back bit of the Grade 6, 7 & 8 aural tests. Choose a work with the right combination of voices (2 parts for grades 6 & 7, 3 parts for Grade 8). Open the PDF and play the midi. Listen to the top (Grade 6) or bottom (Grade 7 & 8) while following that line on the score. Then sing it back from the score. Then choose another work, open the midi and PDF, listen while following the score, close the score and sing it back, then re-open the score to check. Then choose another work, listen WITHOUT opening the score, then open the score and sing it back. Then finally choose another work, play the midi, sing it back and then open the score to check.


In both of these exercises I've said choose one work, but of course you could do more than one work at each stage until you feel confident with the process. And do all four stages each time you practise one of these exercises, until you feel confident enough not to need the initial stage.

Best of luck with the exam, Gwu. I'm sure you'll be fine. And if in doubt, make something up rather than not responding, at least you'll get credit for the attempt. But I'm sure you'll actually do a lot better than that.

Cheers

Katyjay

[nicki_flute]

I found that website the other day, Katyjay and that is a really good idea *vows to use it to sight sing*

[gwu]

Thank you for all your replies and encouragement.

Piano, cheers for 'Hills are alive' for the ascending M6. I didn't have an interval for that. Anacrusis, it's great that you've highlighted which intervals are most likely to come up - I feel like I'm grappling in the dark with sightsinging and this will help me focus on which intervals to practise the most. Neil Clarinet, no, I dont use the solfege system and it's probably a bit late to get to grips with this now but maybe for next time. Sneekymum, thanks for the links, I've already jotted down a few from the flutepower55 website. Sarah-flute, if only the accompaniment coincided with my part for all of it, life would be great, but you're right, when it does, it's like a Christmas bonus! Katjay, thanks for the links, I'll check this out when I've been through all the examples on this David Turnbull aural cd.

I think my main problem is trying to work it all out quickly enough. I have most of the intervals linked to popular songs but as I go through the piece, I find that I just can't work out the popular song interval with the sight singing test piece quick enough. I have to stop, figure out the interval, which song goes with it, sing it in my head, then blurt it out. It just takes so long. I really admire those who can do this. Maybe I just need more practise. This sight singing is just the hardest part of the music exam, in fact, part of any exam I've ever taken (apart from ballet exams which I took from 4 years to 11 years - another nightmare area which to this day, still makes me cringe!).