The Keys to Sightreading Success
(And How to Have FUN While Doing It!)
Sightreading and the ability to read music is one of the foundations for a successful choir, however it can sometimes be a painful process. Students may struggle to see the value and don’t always enjoy the experience. Here are some practical ways to incorporate sightreading into your choir class and some tips and tricks to making it FUN!
Establish a routine and a process.
First of all, establish a routine and a process. Define the steps that you want students to take, and then stick to it. For example, when I begin a sightreading example with my students, I always ask for the clef, time signature, and key signature. From there, I ask them to identify their first and last notes, as well as their lowest and highest. The familiarity in this routine prepares students to look for these items automatically when presented with a new exercise. Then we do some interval warm-ups in the applicable key. From there, I have the students do the following:
Small group practice time for rhythm only
Large group performance for rhythm only
Small group practice time for solfege and rhythm
Large group performance for solfege and rhythm
The process is always the same, which leads to comfort, familiarity, and confidence. However, now it’s time to insert the variability and FUN! Here’s how I try to keep the process from being stagnant and boring:
Vary your daily priorities.
Vary your daily priorities. I like to assign theme days:
Speed Drills: Sightread as many exercises as you can in 5 minutes.
Polished Perfection: Focus on one exercise and repeat until it is perfected.
Rhythm Only: Increase the rhythmic difficulty without the added pressure of solfege and pitches.
Interval Insanity: Increase the interval difficulty without the added pressure of intricate rhythms.
Create competition. You know your students the best. Competition can be a great tool for the right students.
Track success. Publicly track their combined success using a poster, stickers, number system, etc. Use a standardized rubric each time so that students can compare results.
Be silly. Oh, there are a lot of fun ways to be silly and still improve sightreading skills. Some things to try:
Have your students trade voice parts.
Sing every other measure, note, beat, etc.
Soprano/Tenor sing on beat 1 and 3, Alto/Bass beats 2 and 4, etc.
Only sing the DOs, MIs, SOLs, etc.
Only sing if you have the quarter notes, eighth notes, half notes, etc.
Sing the line backwards.
Sing staccato, add dynamics, add specific phrasing, etc.
Add beatboxing.
Add movement.
Stand up if you have the moving line, raise your hand when you sing a major chord, etc.
The list goes on! These are all ideas that break up the monotony, but still build their sightreading and musicianship skills.
If you’d like to receive my “Keys to Sightreading Success” specifically formatted as a student handout, sign up here! This 2 page document contains 10 steps for student sightreading preparation and 10 steps for student sightreading performance.
