Group 4
One of the most valued skills in music is having the ability to sightread with ease. That is because it aids in so many things: learning music quickly, being able to play with friends/colleagues on minimal practice time, and most importantly, being able to evaluate a new piece and its possibilities!
Join Leann as she leads a new Two Week Intensive designed to improve your sightreading through focused advice, tips, exercises, and more! Let’s start playing NEW music!
- Course Period: October 17th - 28th
- Class Size: max. 4 Groups á 10 Participants
- Optional check-In via Zoom: October 24th at 3pm Pacific time!
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89265945226?pwd=NS9iTEd0aFJ2ME03TUs1Y2tTaExYZz09
Assignment 1
Assignment 2
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My scenario is sight reading through pieces with a friend of mine who lives out of town, is an experienced pianist and vocalist, but is very rusty and a little shy about her playing. In this scenario, we are trying to decide on a piece we would both like to spend the next 4-6 weeks practicing in order to play together the next time we see each other.
I played the first two sections of "The Garden of Dolly" by Fauré (Op. 56, No. 3). I'm not experienced at sight reading, but I do learn relatively quickly. I wanted to pick something that was difficult enough I would enjoy spending a few weeks learning it. I left the primo part for my friend because it's easier throughout this opus, and she could sight read the right hand only and be fine.
There are four sharps in the key signature, lots of accidentals, and I'm not as quick at reading bass clef as I am at treble clef. My goal was to play the bass line at a slow but steady tempo, and work in a little bit of the right hand to get a sense of the rhythmic and harmonic structure, but overall make it easy for my partner to concentrate on playing as much of the melody as possible.
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Leann Osterkamp thank you for the tips! I like the idea of playing shorter bits, even if we are playing together. Maybe taking a phrase, then pause to regroup, then another phrase. Thanks for a great class!
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Leah Olson This was wonderful to watch and listen to, Leah. It struck me that you were able to make the piece sound lovely, even by focusing on just the left hand. This is such a great lesson - getting the feel of the music is so much better, and far more musical than trying to play the whole thing perfectly, but with numerous frustrating stops and starts. This is quite a revelation for me. I hope your duet goes well, it's so thoughtful of you to consider the needs of your duet partner while weighing up this piece. That's clearly a sign of great collaboration.
I'm continuing with the first assignment for a while longer, but I may find a duet partner at some stage in the future.
Also, I just wanted to thank you very much for posting your progress, it takes much more effort and time to do that, not to mention the courage!
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Jenny I appreciated your encouragement and observations about your own playing as well. I've started a practice diary over in the forum and I'll keep posting sight reading videos and other things as well. I'd love to hear you play sometime when you're ready to post something. Good luck!
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