Keys to Sight Reading Success: Sing A Cappella (SSA)

Sing A Cappella! is a versatile, dual purpose book which can be used for sight reading practice or as a source for concert repertoire. A particular song may be selected to prepare for a performance or all or any number of the songs in the book may be used for practice in sight reading three-part music.

Features

The ten a cappella songs are in English with texts by William Blake, Christina Rosetti, Robert Louis Stevenson and others. The preparatory exercises provide a systematic approach to meet the rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic challenges of each song.

Teaching Reading

Sight reading is a highly demanding intellectual skill. Singers are required to read text while singing correct rhythms and pitches. Despite these challenges, the ability to read music is neither too complex nor time-consuming for choral students to learn. Students simply require the means, the expectation, and the systematic instruction to develop these particular skills.

Symbol Systems

Musical literacy encompasses the symbol systems which must be “read” to be understood, and which must be understood if they are to be used to communicate. The use of verbal labels facilitates the development of reading skills by providing students with the tools and vocabulary necessary to acquire musical literacy. This book presents solfege with moveable do for tonal reading. While only the basic pulse is marked in the rhythmic preparatory exercises, the authors strongly recommend use of the teacher's preferred rhythmic reading system to increase the students' ability to solve the notational puzzles presented by the songs and their preparatory exercises.

“Componenting”

A key ingredient in the successful development of sight reading skills is to reduce the complexity of mastering the musical components of the material to be read. We suggest using the principle of “componenting” to teach the two distinct skills of reading rhythm and reading pitch. When the tasks are approached as two different entities, cognitive overload is avoided and students have a greater chance for success. In this book, we have divided the task of reading into its component parts: rhythm, pitch, melody (the combination of rhythm and pitch), and finally, singing in harmony. In this way, students master one component at a time, greatly simplifying the whole process and preparing the students for a successful reading experience.

Rhythmic Preparation The sequencing of the preparatory exercises first presents the rhythmic material of the song, with basic pulses marked. While no specific rhythmic reading system is indicated, it is important to select one and use it consistently.

Key Orientation This visual reference enables the students to see how the key signature and the scale of the piece look on the staff. The range of each voice part is indicated, to provide the students with a clear idea of the tones they will encounter as they prepare to sight read or perform this song.

Tonal Preparation These patterns of the chords built on do, fa and so provide aural reinforcement of the relationship of the fa and so chords to home base, or the do chord. While these patterns are presented in the key of each song, the most effective use is to learn to sing them by memory on solfege. You will find that this sequence of patterns will “lock in” the tonality and strengthen each student's ability to retain a strong sense of the do pitch as well as relate other pitches to it. Thus, the Tonal Preparation line is presented to give students a visual reference as they sing the patterns they have previously committed to memory.

Interval Study The emphasis is on the intervals within each measure rather than what occurs from one measure to the next. You may find it more practical to work on this measure by measure rather than practicing the study in its entirety.

Melodic Preparation Many of the melodic contours as well as significant intervals which will be encountered in the song are presented. Students are also exposed to some of the rhythms they will find in the song.

Harmonic Orientation This provides a visual reference for the choral harmonies, making it possible for students to look at the chords and their inversions on the staff as they hear them played or sung. This activity is designed to increase familiarity with the harmonies the students will be encountering in the song.

Harmonic Preparation The final preparation to rehearse or sight read the song involves singing an exercise which presents the chord progressions which form the basis for the upcoming song.

Rhythmic Preparation Keep students engaged by having them clap or tap to the steady beat as they chant the rhythm. Practice the material until the students can perform the rhythms accurately while keeping a steady beat. Use a rhythmic reading system to verbally encode rhythmic patterns. Reteach as necessary by isolating rhythm patterns which cause difficulties.

Interval Study Use a tonal reading system (i.e. solfege syllables) to reinforce tonal relationships. Drill on the tonal patterns until the students are secure. When difficulties are encountered, try moving stepwise in order to provide the students with a stronger concept of the distance between the two notes of the interval. Rehearse a cappella rather than with a keyboard instrument. Devise innovative tonal pattern drills for reteaching; for example, alternate choir response with individual response, or teacher response and choir response.

Melodic Preparation Chant the rhythm before attempting to read the exercise on pitch. Isolate difficult spots, then have the students prepare for them with drills using a solfege chart, rhythmic patterns notated on a chalk board or hand signs. Reteach as necessary by reviewing portions of the material which were performed inaccurately.

Harmonic Preparation Pace work so that students experience success in reading harmony, measure by measure. Maintain the “practice before theory” approach so that students hear harmony prior to any detailed explanations of how triads and chords are formed as well as their relationship to the scale. Use the Key Orientation and Harmonic Orientation to help link what students hear with what they see in the score. Rehearse without piano. Work one part at a time as needed to attain accurate readings of each individual line.