Choir Confessions

Viola

Harmony

Melody

Cadence

Carol

Hymn

Celeste

Clef

Agitato

Oboe Player

F Sharp

♮

Barbaro

Plagal

Smorzando

ii♭ 6-4

crescendo  [a few of those ethereal pieces with magnificent choirs that will make your heart soar!]

[ LISTEN ] 

Sight read for 15 minutes a day. Doesn’t matter what you play, just read something you’ve never read before.

Before you start, tell yourself out loud:

What key the piece is in.

What meter it’s in.

What clefs are used. (Don’t assume right hand is treble clef and left hand is bass!)

What the highest and lowest notes are.

Notice the tempo marking. Even if you can’t sight read at allegro or vivace, you’ll learn about the style and mood of the piece from the tempo marking.

Now pick a tempo and stick to it. If you can’t, turn the metronome on.

Always keep playing! Here’s how to do that:

Never, ever repeat a note. If it’s wrong, it’s wrong. Oh well. No need to make the NEXT note wrong too by re-playing the last one instead of continuing.

Never stop. Never take your fingers off the piano. If you can’t read what’s in front of you, make something up that’s in the same key and has a similar rhythm to what you see.

If your right hand gets lost, keep playing the left hand.

Sight reading can be a discouraging thing to practice at first. By its very nature we will never feel good at it: playing something for the first time can’t possibly feel as secure and musical as playing something we know.

BUT: it’s a skill like anything else. Some people are not magically “good at sight reading” while others are naturally bad at it… sight reading is a learnable skill. Remember that once upon a time you couldn’t read English either, but now you can blow through a four hundred word text post in a few seconds. Reading music works the same way.

A few last tips:

Pick music this easy and play it flawlessly the first time with gorgeous phrasing.

Pick music this hard and just play one or two measures.

Pick music whose tune you know so you can use your ear.

Pick music whose tune is unfamiliar so you’re forced to read the notes.

Sight read duets with friends.

If you recognize the I and V chords of all keys, you can understand the structure of an excerpt and read it more easily.

Aim to play actual music as you sight read. The kind with dynamics and emotions and occasional mistakes. This will impress the judges more than a cold technical reading of correct notes.

BECAUSE THIS SHIT IS NOT CAROL OF THE BELLS

IT IS CHRISTMAS EVE/SARAJEVO 12/24 AND IT IS SO MUCH FUCKING MORE THAN CAROL OF THE BELLS.

SO DURING THE BOSNIAN WAR (WHICH WAS THIS NASTY-ASS CONFLICT IN BOSNIA AND HERZGOVINA) THERE WAS THIS BADASS CELLO-PLAYING MOTHERFUCKER NAMED VEDRAN SMAILOVIC.  HE WAS FROM SARAJEVO WAS UPSET ABOUT ALL THE SHIT AND NASTINESS THAT CAME ABOUT THROUGH THIS WAR (THIS WAS FULL-ON BROTHER-KILLING-BROTHER SHIT) THAT HE WENT AROUND TO BOMBED-OUT, BLOWN UP BUILDINGS AND FUNERALS—WHERE HE WAS AT RISK OF FUCKING SNIPER FIRE—AND PLAYING THE CELLO.  THIS GUY WAS SO SET ON PROVIDING ONE TINY SPOT OF BEAUTY IN A SERIOUSLY NASTY WAR HE WAS RISKING BEING FUCKING SHOT OR BLOWN UP.

AND THIS IS THE GUY WHO INSPIRED THIS SONG.

HE’S WHY THERE’S THE CALM CELLO PART AT THE BEGINNING BEFORE EVERYTHING GETS ALL VIOLENT-SOUNDING.  IT’S THEMATIC.

I don’t remember when I found this .gif, or who made it (if you know, tell me so I can credit them), but it’s just the best thing.

Hang Drum