Hi all,

I'm an adult learner of the recorder (self taught) and I'm really very bad at sightreading - please can anyone point me in the direction of good books or websites or give me any general advice on how to improve? I tend to pick music up and play it until it sounds right, but there's no method to how I approach it

Hi ChiffChaff,
For my paino practice I use Paul Harris' 'Improve Your Sight Reading' series and the books of specimen sight reading tests produced by the exam boards. There are definitely specimen sight reading books available for recorder but others may be able to suggest whether there is anyone producing recorder books similar to the Paul Harris sightreading series.
Based on my own experience of viola, descant recorder and (more recently) piano I think sight reading is a matter of practice, practice and more practice! I pick up new pieces, take a couple of minutes to study them (it's important to establish the key- and time-signatures) and then try to play without stopping.
Like you I have just started playing the treble recorder. I'm using 'Basic Recorder Technique' by Orr (two volumes), happy to recommend it as there are lots of interesting pieces suitable for adult self study and sight reading practice.
Good luck, hope you are enjoying your music.

As the previous response said, the only way is practice, but a very successful method in my experience is to join some kind of ensemble - you can't get away with stopping and going back, you have to keep going whatever happens. That's the secret to sight reading - keep going :-).

For individual practice of sight reading, my recommendation is to find a speed, however slow, at which you *can* sight-read the music. It may seem to be a ridiculously slow speed at first, but very soon your sight reading will improve and you'll be able to read faster.

Chris

As ChrisC said, the best way is to join an ensemble. I too am not a strong sight reader, but my teacher has noticed a vast improvement since I joined a band. Expect to spend the first months lost, but then things get easier, and I now find I am given a piece in band, think "I can't do this" but when everyone begins to play, I can mostly do it, and can usually find which bar everyone else is on when I do get lost.
It's a skill which takes a long time to build up, so don't be hard on yourself, but do get a teacher even if only for one lesson a month, because maybe you've taught yourself something incorrectly, which is making the sight reading even harder.

Thanks for your replies annoyingly, I can't join an ensemble because I'm ill (fighting cancer) and not able to leave the house much. I can't really go out to lessons either - but I might try to find a teacher who would come to my home.

I think my main problem is getting the rhythm/timing right, as I'm ok at hitting the right notes. I've started to try playing along to a metronome/clapping the rhythm first, but I don't find it easy at all

If it's any consolation, most of us don't find that easy

I've read that it can help to use certain words for different combinations of notes, and have come up with the following list - if anyone can add more I'd be very grateful!

Crotchet - tea
2 quavers - coffee
Minim - snail
4 quavers - coca-cola
Quaver and 2 semis - pineapple
2 semis and a quaver - peppermint
Triplet quavers - pelican
Dotted quaver and semi quaver pair - humpty-dumpy

Variation on a theme of fruit for rhythm which I think is more American!

Pie, apple, blackberry, huckleberry. As in crotchet, 2 quavers, 3 triplets and 4 semiquavers. Have to do 2 pies for mimin, 3 for dotted minim and 4 for semibreve.

Flash cards for each note and test yourself without instrument until they are like reading the alphabet in speed. Then flash card held up by someone else randomly and get your fingers into the right spot until they are automatic one note at a time.

Then pattern recognition in little blasts on flash cards. Start with 2 note intervals: octaves, seconds and thirds, then other common intervals (fourths and fifths) then all other intervals.

Then more complex patterns. Bits of scales, chromatics etc.

If you break everything up into little sections first it is then easier to get together bigger bits. Get someone to follow you covering what you have played so you are forced to read on not go back or stop.


Clap the rhythm first. Play the scale of the key the bit you are sight reading is in to embed the accidentals....

Get the first and last bar right! They are the most lasting impression.....



Sorry, wrote that without reading its a rhythm issue. Try using words. Doesnt work for me as it seems to put me off the notes but one kid loves it!

I just count - half the speed I orginally think and even more so if the page looks very "black". 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and or just 1,2,3 no ands for things like 3 or 6/8. Drop the ands for triplets if you cant hear how they fit in.

I would try writing in the beats for a bit til you get more confident - with a line on the note they should be on and see if that helps.

That is really very helpful advice, thanks tons GMc! Using words for rhythms has suddenly made things a whole lot easier.

To start with, you should stop using phrases like "I am rubbish at it". They have a habit of becoming self-fulfilling. You should not even say it in a joking or humorously self-deprecating way.

It may sound silly and new-agey, but you should make positive affirmations such as: "I can sight read well". That may not (yet) be true, but it will support your efforts to improve, rather than undermining them.

If you can't join an ensemble, are there any recorder books that have CD backing tracks ?

(I don't know recorder, I'm afraid, only piano, but maybe someone else can help. . . .)

A backing CD works like an ensemble, you have to keep going with a spot-on beat (or at least knwo where you are and be able to come back in again when you get lost).

Choose quite an easy book for your level would be my advice, it's harder than it looks.

I use:

Crochet = Ta
two quavers = ti ti (or te-te)
Tiki-tiki = four semiquavers
Ti-tiki = a quaver and two semi-quavers
Tim-ki = dotted quaver and a semiquaver
Ti-kim = semiquaver and a dotted quaver.
Tiki-ti = two semiquavers and a quaver
Tai-ti (pronounced tye-ti) = dotted crochet and a quaver
Syn-co-pa = a quaver, crochet and quaver (in other words a crochet in the middle of two quavers, hope this makes sense.
Tri-o-la = triplets
Ta-a (or To-o) = a minim
Ta-a-a- (or Three-e-e-) = a dotted minim.

Thanks PianoNotes, are those Kodaly words? Lovely Cyrilla has been in touch with me about those, so I'm going to seriously look at them.

VH2 makes a very good point, we shouldnt set ourselves up to fail by telling ourselves that we're rubbish. It's good to be reminded to focus on what I can do rather than fret about what I can't

I would't be too concerned about whether what you play is right or not. To me, it's the process of doing it which matters more.

yay for self taught musicians!
I'm self taught to grade 8 on classical guitar (that's not true actually, I've had two formal lessons ) and used to teach beginners, so have some tips for you that have worked very well for me and others.

Firstly, you're not very bad at sightreading: you are simply at the beginning of learning of a new skill.
Each time you pick up your recorder to play, include this exercise, preferably when you are still fresh so at the start of your session. Play very slowly (and I mean very slowly) with a metronome, through a few bars (4-8) of previously unseen but very easy music. Music that is much, much easier than what you're currently practicing. Stay in time with the metronome; if you can't, slow it down further. Play it through twice only. Any more than twice and you're not sightreading, you are practicing. Don't stop when you make a mistake, keep going up to where you'd planned to stop. Don't be afraid of mistakes. Be patient and in time your skills will evolve and you will start to enjoy it. If even doing that is a challenge at the moment, then start by clapping rhythms the same way as described above and move on to playing notes when you are more confident with rhythm reading.

The only way to learn to sightread is to sightread. Adult beginners in a hurry to improve often chose music or tempo that's too difficult and get frustrated. Keep it simple and very gradually build on where you're at now. It sounds corny, but enjoy the journey.

Yes, those are Kodaly rhythm names. Cyrilla is my teacher.

I love sightreading. This is how I deal with it. Before I play a piece I first look at the key signature and then read through it and sing it for my self. That way I find the tricky parts and know how it has to sound. Then I play it on my instrument.