Things you use to could have sight read!

ttf_demaxx1 · Post by **ttf_demaxx1** » Sun Nov 19, 2017 1:05 pm

I have been back to playing now for 6 or 7 months. I have gotten most of my chops back. I can play most all my upper range, I still fight with peddle tones, but making progress.

I get frustrated at times. I am playing now with the local community band, and we have put together a trio at church. Things I used to could sight read back in high school or college, I struggle with. It can be disheartening! I feel like I am almost on the verge of playing well again, but just can't quite get over that hump! I practice a minimum of 30 minutes a day and most days an hour +. I do long tone scales and I do what I call speed and smooth drills. To get warm and to loosen up at the same time.

Any advice? Or am I just being impatient? It is like I have re-progressed to the point that I know the music is in there, I am just having problems getting it out of my horn the way I think I should.

ttf_Le.Tromboniste · Post by **ttf_Le.Tromboniste** » Sun Nov 19, 2017 1:08 pm

Quote from: demaxx1 on Nov 19, 2017, 01:05PMI have been back to playing now for 6 or 7 months. I have gotten most of my chops back. I can play most all my upper range, I still fight with peddle tones, but making progress.

I get frustrated at times. I am playing now with the local community band, and we have put together a trio at church. Things I used to could sight read back in high school or college, I struggle with. It can be disheartening! I feel like I am almost on the verge of playing well again, but just can't quite get over that hump! I practice a minimum of 30 minutes a day and most days an hour +. I do long tone scales and I do what I call speed and smooth drills. To get warm and to loosen up at the same time.

Any advice? Or am I just being impatient? It is like I have re-progressed to the point that I know the music is in there, I am just having problems getting it out of my horn the way I think I should.

Best way to be good at sight reading is to do a lot of sight reading.

ttf_harrison.t.reed · Post by **ttf_harrison.t.reed** » Sun Nov 19, 2017 1:47 pm

I used to coulda sight read but sadly I have now played every music note written ever. Having had played all twelve, there are no new ones left.

ttf_BillO · Post by **ttf_BillO** » Sun Nov 19, 2017 3:35 pm

Yeah, but some of them do tricky things like hide on a line or a space in a different location above or below the staff. Sometimes in the same piece - so there's that - whole different reading situation. Or on a different clef or even a different staff. There no end to it I tell you!

ttf_Gabe Langfur · Post by **ttf_Gabe Langfur** » Sun Nov 19, 2017 4:12 pm

Focus on subdivided pulse while you're playing the simplest exercises, and vary the rhythmic framework of the exercises, for example changing which note of a lip slur you feel as on the beat. This will help re-activate the neural connections between producing sound and the rhythmic activity of music. I think you will find your sight-reading improving simply by reinforcing this connection.

Then, of course, force yourself to sight-read on your own, starting with simple things like the Cimera Phrasing Studies. Using a metronome will help with the self-discipline aspect of it, but ultimately we all need to hold ourselves to our own internal pulse.

ttf_demaxx1 · Post by **ttf_demaxx1** » Sun Nov 19, 2017 5:19 pm

Quote from: Gabe Langfur on Nov 19, 2017, 04:12PMFocus on subdivided pulse while you're playing the simplest exercises, and vary the rhythmic framework of the exercises, for example changing which note of a lip slur you feel as on the beat. This will help re-activate the neural connections between producing sound and the rhythmic activity of music. I think you will find your sight-reading improving simply by reinforcing this connection.

Then, of course, force yourself to sight-read on your own, starting with simple things like the Cimera Phrasing Studies. Using a metronome will help with the self-discipline aspect of it, but ultimately we all need to hold ourselves to our own internal pulse.

Are you talking about setting up a metronome, doing whole notes, then half, quarter, 8th, etc... until the notes feel natural to the beat? I am not doing anything like that, but sounds reasonable.

ttf_SilverBone · Post by **ttf_SilverBone** » Sun Nov 19, 2017 8:01 pm

One thing I struggle with on sight reading now that I used to have no problem with is that my vision isn't nearly as good as it used to be. Need lots of light on the music to see it well (cataracts).

Have you had your glasses checked? The focal length for music glasses is different than that usually prescribed by optometrists (reading and distance).

ttf_demaxx1 · Post by **ttf_demaxx1** » Mon Nov 20, 2017 12:17 pm

Quote from: SilverBone on Nov 19, 2017, 08:01PMOne thing I struggle with on sight reading now that I used to have no problem with is that my vision isn't nearly as good as it used to be. Need lots of light on the music to see it well (cataracts).

Have you had your glasses checked? The focal length for music glasses is different than that usually prescribed by optometrists (reading and distance).

Funny that you mention that! A few weeks I started using reading glasses when I play! My regular glasses are bifocals, and I found that when I play that I was looking through the wrong part of the lens.

ttf_timothy42b · Post by **ttf_timothy42b** » Mon Nov 20, 2017 12:23 pm

Sight reading is not one skill but a collection of several.

Some of these will improve just by doing a lot of it.

But what's holding you back may be different.

I would suggest using your difficulty as a diagnostic tool. Take careful note of what you struggle on.

Tricky rhythms? Big leaps? Unfamiliar keys? Syncopation? Scalewise runs?

Whatever it is, get some music in that style, and practice it. I don't mean practice it sight reading, I mean work it up like an audition excerpt, adding those skills to your memory banks for retrieval.

ttf_hyperbolica · Post by **ttf_hyperbolica** » Mon Nov 20, 2017 1:12 pm

I had always been a pretty bad sight reader, but after taking a while off the horn, I came back with some renewed wisdom. A lot of things I should have learned early on, I never learned, and am only learning them later in life. The one big thing was that sight reading well is largely about patterns. Scales. Arbans exercises, interval patterns, rhythmic patterns. There are only so many groups of 3 or 4 notes that can be written. While most music doesn't look like the Arbans book, most music is made up of patterns you play endlessly in the Arbans book. So if you can learn to recognize scalar patterns and rhythmic patterns, sight reading will be a lot easier. As soon as I noticed that and started reading ahead, my sight reading improved immensely immediately. This stuff might sound obvious to some people, I just thought I was stupid. Actually my reading comprehension skills were low in school, and I thought that gave me an excuse for sight reading music badly.

ttf_savio · Post by **ttf_savio** » Mon Nov 20, 2017 1:31 pm

You just have to do sight reading a lot. Maybe set of some time each day. It will also help to play in lot of bands or ensembles. As with most other things it takes time to learn. Be patient, practice good and results will come.

Leif

ttf_BackBone · Post by **ttf_BackBone** » Mon Nov 20, 2017 1:34 pm

I found that practicing scales in all keys with variations of rhythm and arpeggio patterns were a great help. Work in alternate positions that make that scale as smooth as possible. Practice all while sight reading and not from memory, although there is a lot to gain from memorizing scales, at different tempos using a metronome - although there is a lot to gain from internal pulse.

After this type of practice I would look over a piece before playing it, identifying the parts that looked difficult and categorizing it as: "Oh, that's Dmajor triad" or "Bb minor scale here". This has helped tremedously.

ttf_demaxx1 · Post by **ttf_demaxx1** » Mon Nov 20, 2017 7:24 pm

Quote from: timothy42b on Nov 20, 2017, 12:23PMSight reading is not one skill but a collection of several.

Some of these will improve just by doing a lot of it.

But what's holding you back may be different.

I would suggest using your difficulty as a diagnostic tool. Take careful note of what you struggle on.

Tricky rhythms? Big leaps? Unfamiliar keys? Syncopation? Scalewise runs?

Whatever it is, get some music in that style, and practice it. I don't mean practice it sight reading, I mean work it up like an audition excerpt, adding those skills to your memory banks for retrieval.

Here is where I am at the moment. I can turn on the metronome, and look at a piece of music, and I can clap out the rhythms usually fine, even the tricky rhythms. I know I can play the notes. But for some reason when I put the two together and play, it all goes to crap! Maybe it is a concentration problem? If I have to think of more than one or two things at a time. However I still put my hour and a half of practice in today, which included two new pieces I had to sight read. It was like the 3rd time we went through it before I could feel the beat of the music, then things got better.

ttf_BackBone · Post by **ttf_BackBone** » Mon Nov 20, 2017 7:58 pm

Try slowing the metronome way down. Like super slow. Where you can play with no mistakes then slowly speed it up.

ttf_Gabe Langfur · Post by **ttf_Gabe Langfur** » Tue Nov 21, 2017 5:37 am

Quote from: demaxx1 on Nov 19, 2017, 05:19PMAre you talking about setting up a metronome, doing whole notes, then half, quarter, 8th, etc... until the notes feel natural to the beat? I am not doing anything like that, but sounds reasonable.

Not exactly, but that's a good start.

ttf_BillO · Post by **ttf_BillO** » Tue Nov 21, 2017 2:09 pm

How long were you away from playing?

I was away for 18 years and have now been back for 2 years. When I first came back my sight reading was dismal but now I'm pretty happy with it and I can tell it's still improving. That's for mot tenor stuff. I started to learn bass a year ago (or thereabouts). My sight reading there, especially when both valves come into play, it not quite up to snuff yet.

ttf_demaxx1 · Post by **ttf_demaxx1** » Tue Nov 21, 2017 2:42 pm

Quote from: BillO on Nov 21, 2017, 02:09PMHow long were you away from playing?

I was away for 18 years and have now been back for 2 years. When I first came back my sight reading was dismal but now I'm pretty happy with it and I can tell it's still improving. That's for mot tenor stuff. I started to learn bass a year ago (or thereabouts). My sight reading there, especially when both valves come into play, it not quite up to snuff yet.

I was away for 25 years. Not just from playing the trombone, I was away from playing or singing any type of written music.

ttf_demaxx1 · Post by **ttf_demaxx1** » Tue Nov 21, 2017 2:42 pm

Quote from: BillO on Nov 21, 2017, 02:09PMHow long were you away from playing?

I was away for 18 years and have now been back for 2 years. When I first came back my sight reading was dismal but now I'm pretty happy with it and I can tell it's still improving. That's for mot tenor stuff. I started to learn bass a year ago (or thereabouts). My sight reading there, especially when both valves come into play, it not quite up to snuff yet.

I was away for 25 years. Not just from playing the trombone, I was away from playing or singing any type of written music.