V.com weekend vote: Do you actively practice sight-reading?

March 3, 2024 at 07:26 AM · I consider sight-reading one of my biggest strengths; except for the last year and a half (due to long COVID making it harder to sight-read), my sight-reading has always been far ahead of my technique.

I've never actively practiced sight-reading on violin or viola, but I did practice sight-reading on piano when I was younger, because I was taking ABRSM exams which had a sight-reading component. I used ABRSM specimen sight-reading tests, and also simply read through pieces that were a grade or two below the exam that I was preparing for. For the DipABRSM, I also practiced sight-singing and taking dictation. I still mostly rely on the sight-reading skills I developed as a pianist.

I do sight-read quite regularly as a violist, but not to get better at sight-reading. I play in a community orchestra with a short (4-5 week) rehearsal cycle, read chamber music at least semi-regularly, and frequently sight-read solo repertoire to see if I'm interested in learning it.

March 3, 2024 at 03:28 PM · Sight-reading is a necessary survival skill for pro orchestra players. There is never enough practice or rehearsal time to prepare your part the same way you would tackle a new concerto. Recording studio musicians usually have zero rehearsal time. Personally, I don't enjoy those marathon string quartet sight-reading sessions. What helps develop sight reading skill; just doing it, years of experience doing orchestra programs that can change every week. Also, knowing music theory on your instrument; be able to play all your scales and arpeggios from memory, off-paper, in all keys. And then a reflex that I find difficult; looking ahead, thinking ahead, having your eyes track several notes ahead of where you are playing and trusting the trained automatic part of your brain to play correctly. If you play in the present tense everything catches you by surprise.

March 3, 2024 at 04:49 PM · Re: Sight Reading Taught and How Learned {#3}

As the Daughter of a brilliant Juilliard trained Violinist, Ralph Matesky, and whom I so miss and on This March 3, 2024, Anniversary of Poppa's 20th Century Passing , now recalling the marvellous El Pleyel Duets for Two Violins he placed on his Music Stand for every violin lesson since I was a young child, to sight read so his violinist to-become daughter could 'learn to play in an orchestra!' ~ this is How I learned to sight read & from a Superb Pro Violinist, pupil of Mishel Piastro, and of Ysaye 'Apostle' at Juilliard, Eduoard Dethier, who knew, instinctively, How to Teach and build confidence in All Ralph Matesky pupils throughout his shortened yet immensely productive & inspiring thousands of students Life ~

Poppa believed in a Mantra he once publicly in a written Article as President of National ASTA, wrote saying: "You Cannot Teach what You Can Not Do!" He was always right about All Things Teaching & building up even the least confident pupil/s whom if he sensed did have talent yet from poorest of backgrounds, would help and even privately after 16 hour days as Supervisor of the Compton City School District in Southern CA, and for many years of immense success attracting LA revered Television KTLA of the time to come to Compton, CA, to Live televise a Concert of Ralph Matesky pupils in both his elementary school orchestra and advanced further Compton Civic Symphony Orchestra plus Compton Schools Voice Choir who, via marvel Speech Teach colleague, Mary Jane Taylor, Spoken pronounced all words to an RM composition of many he wrote for his 'beloved Kids'! Sight reading is paramount to any Professional Orchestral or Studio Musician for as a colleague above, Joel Quivey, points out, there is never enough time to prepare a Score or Themes for a film or TV Show, Impromptu, and one Must be skilled in sight-reading to obtain professional work in this world of Music and certainly in the more lucrative Film/Movie/TV Shows Industries ... All Said, Sight Reading can be Fun and when getting together with admired student friends for a Chamber Music evening of String Quartets or other String Ensembles, it sharpens The Mind as 'Iron Sharpeneth a Man', and in turn further develops a propensity for reading minus fear many unknown prior notes with twists & turns which when skilled do not throw Professional string players or our Wind/Brass Player Friends Off ...

I wish to thank Editor, Laurie Niles, for this very important not oft spoken about Important Subject which is a required "tool' in the Tool Boxes of All Professional Musicians and especially working in the Hollywood Studios and all other film Studios in the US and in the UK, to be sure, where BBC TV London "Masterpiece" 'Series' of which there are many and magnificently produced with finest musicians composing to be played Scores to these splendid BBC London made films, are required and must not go Over Budget!

For those loving to play Impromptu Chamber Music, this diversion from regular violin or string cousin practice, can be beyond fulfilling bringing with it, good friendships and acquiring of much more skill in 'sight reading' and knowing others may also be seeing/reading unknown Music to themselves, and All are in the Same Boat so no judgements are made about X,Y, Z, by any who truly focus on the enjoyment and haphazard's involved yet with always goodwilled Spirit toward all involved ...

Thank you for this which granted me opportunity to honour my late Father, Ralph Matesky, acclaimed String Educator known as "The Father of The American Youth Orchestra Movement" in his Time during the 1940s to his untimely passing in the late 1970s ... I Love You, Poppa ~ I'm Here on Laurie's Violinist.com, where some of your students and string teachers visit to share much Violin/String Talk!!!!

~ By Grace, Submitted In Memory of Poppa ~

~ ~ Elisabeth Matesky, Life Pupil of RM ~ ~

Fwd ~ dmg (March 3, 2024)

March 3, 2024 at 06:10 PM · Beautiful memories and tribute, Elisabeth.

March 3, 2024 at 06:11 PM · I suppose I began to "learn" sight-reading before I ever touched a violin. I was taught to play the recorder at age 7 by an upstairs neighbor. In the books she gave me were more pieces than she asked me to practice. Curious as I was (and still am) I played through all of those to find out how they sounded. That's how it began. I did the same with my violin when I started on that instrument.

I have no idea how to practice sight-reading. The problem is that one piece is only good for one try. The second time it is not sight reading any more, just reading.

There is something I call "prepared sight-reading". One has played the music before (however long ago) or else one reads it at home once or twice before the rehearsal. Now there are no surprises in the music. This makes it much easier in the ensemble and does not cost a lot of time.

March 3, 2024 at 06:43 PM · I’ve practiced a lot of sight reading in the past couple of years since, due to my work schedule, I’ve had very little time to practice on my own. Sometimes I’ll do things like play a passage an octave down, or I’ll just play the strong beats of a complicated rhythm so I can keep up and come back in in full when it’s something I can play again. But I hit my limit last weekend when I was trying to sightread the violin 1 part of a hard Beethoven string quartet. If it’s either very high or a complicated rhythm I have a chance, but if it’s both of those together, I can’t do it. I’m actually getting back into more regular practice these days, so hopefully less sightreading for a while, except with the chamber group that occasionally wants to try harder pieces for fun and challenge. I think that—reading chamber music with friends—has been the best way for me to practice sight-reading and take the anxiety out of it. If you’re all reading, the expectations are manageable and you’re happy when something musical happens, rather than frustrated by mistakes.

March 3, 2024 at 07:24 PM · Greetings, reader (and violinist/composer!) Naomi Yandell brought my attention to some sight-reading books that she co-wrote - the books are designed for helping students prepare for the Trinity College London exam board - but they sound great for helping anyone with their sight-reading, as well as students doing other exams. Here are links to the various levels:

Beginner-Grade 2

Grades 3-5

Grades 6-8

March 3, 2024 at 08:37 PM · continued, prompted by previous comments. For lessons I also like to do duets. They help keep the student in correct rhythm, which is half the battle for sight-reading, and are more pleasant than using a metronome. The Doflein series has lots of short duets.

Cold sight-reading of high notes on the E-string are also my down-fall. More than three ledger lines looks like forest of pine trees. I prefer the 8va notation.

March 3, 2024 at 08:40 PM · I don’t deliberately practice sight-reading on my own, although every first run-through of new repertoire involves this skill to a degree.

I did my first playing in elementary school, having had a childhood ambition to become a symphony player, but didn’t get any orchestra experience till early high school. Now I had to sight-read new material regularly. Fortunately, I’d already gotten a good deal of technique by then - e.g., position-playing and shifting; so I adjusted to the new environment fast enough and moved up through the ranks.

During my degree program, I spent a couple of seasons in the CSO’s training school, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. The summer weeks preceding the regular seasons were all sight-reading - no performances. The regular seasons gave us a lot of sight-reading - besides the performances we had to rehearse for. I won both auditions but later decided that symphony playing - indeed, the music business itself - wasn’t what I wanted to do after all. As a serious amateur, I find that small chamber ensembles suit me better. Still plenty of sight-reading opportunities there.

I will paraphrase here what I recall the late violinist and pedagogue Kato Havas saying on the subject: To overcome sight-reading challenges, a thorough knowledge of the fingerboard is essential. If the player can master scales, shifts, and double-stops, there will be little that they can’t deal with in solo, chamber, or orchestral literature.

March 3, 2024 at 09:38 PM · Thank you for the question and all of the thoughtful answers. I answered "not at all" although I've done a lot of sight-reading in the past. The answers reminded me that before the pandemic, when I was regularly meeting with my teacher in person, she had me purchase a number of duet books. We haven't touched them in a long time, but she has had me sight-read parts of her parts for community orchestra concerts. Currently my lessons a often a bit more frequent than I'd like. I think I'll suggest that we play duets at these lessons, to get more value from our time together.

March 4, 2024 at 12:27 AM · Echoing Elizabeth: My childhood teacher also often put a duet part on my stand and then we'd play together. All of the Pleyel Duets, of course, and then when those were exhausted, there was Mazas. And usually when he'd assign a new study I'd have to sight-read that before taking it home.

I got pretty good at sight-reading as a child because I also had piano lessons, and I sense that sight-reading is definitely more of a "thing" with piano teachers.

Later I discovered that I wasn't as good as some others at playing by ear, and this is still a weakness, despite 35 years of playing jazz piano.

Contrast my daughter (A) who started the cello at age 4 with an excellent Suzuki teacher who taught entirely by ear for the first couple of books. (A) had the advantage that her older sister (M) studied Suzuki violin, so (A) already knew 80% of the pieces -- by ear -- let's say through Book 3.

But sight reading has been a bugbear for (A). Fortunately it did not stop her from reaching All-State Orchestra, all four years. But the first couple of years there was considerable angst trying to prepare for the sight-reading portion of the audition -- plowing through sight-reading books and so forth.

Echoing Elizabeth again, (A) and I both play in the local string-quartet club, and we do have the opportunity to prepare, but the early stages of preparation are basically sight-reading, and at least for me, I'm still doing a fair amount of "reading" at the play-in. And yes, chamber music is great fun. I'm so grateful to be in a group of players that are at once skilled and forgiving. This morning we read Mozart KV 428 and Borodin No. 2. The Borodin was a bit tough with only a few days to practice; fortunately our leader (L) advised sane tempos in Movements 2 and 4.

March 4, 2024 at 06:31 AM · @Richard Pairaudeau ~ As from, Elisabeth Matesky re Poppa Ralph Matesky ... {#12}

~ Thank you so very much, Richard, for your sensitive Reply and kind words regarding my rare Post here on this poignant Day of Remembrance of my late father. Ralph Matesky was nationally & internationally acclaimed in the United States and the UK, plus later in Tokyo, Japan, and many parts of Europe for his mentoring of young people & of many pupil's who came to him with full Trust in his ingenious ways of communicating with those not familiar with the Classical World of Music, yet most seeking to meet him and to become somewhat proficient on a String Instrument, and some of wishing to learn to play a Brass or Woodwind Instrument inspired by just hearing and seeing, Live, Dad's elementary school orchestra/s & composed of kids from all the Compton City Schools with their abilities to play together in simple and adroitly arranged/RM also composed Music for them & made playable by RM's knowledge of arrangements thusly creating possible ways of more easily navigating Great Symphonic Masterworks or Mvt's of Symphonies by Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms & Ravel or slow movement's from even Tchaikovsky which raised high hopes amongst the poorest of poor kids from the 'wrong side of the tracks' in then community Willowbrook, and other towns, yet Poppa, with his eye always out for untapped side talent, throughout his life remained 'colour blind' who always looked eagerly for Talent hiding beneath many disadvantaged youth and feeling so due their families going without even basic necessities. "The Music Man," Poppa, seemed to always come to the aid of disadvantaged kids, finding them string Instruments and Never taking any commission, as was the practice in the 50s/60s, which he did not partake in due to his "Mission" to help grow the finest Public Schools Music Programme in the Country and not just in California!!

Going on a bit, here was a Champion for Good without any agenda other than that of helping young children and on through K-12, to develop skills of focus; sheer discipline; attentiveness to details in Music which also helped the school work and studies in regular School Studies & even of those who were deemed handicapped as a Group. This never stopped my father from teaching young folks & even if classified 'handicapped' or a bit behind in learning. He swooped them up and taught in such an inspiring adroit knowing psychological way, many were enabled to begin playing in one of his school orchestras & being part of an Ensemble with their own looked up to older kids and advancing through "Try Outs", aka, Auditions if wishing to reach a Chair higher than initially assigned!! This Idea of "Try Outs" did work wonders and motivated X to try to advance past R and so forth ... All of these ideas here plus many many more produced a Public School String Orchestra Programme which was the Envy of all String Orchestra Teacher's thoughout the Country! It was so successful that Helen Heffernan, Head of Public School Education for California, contacted Poppa, to come to Sacramento to ask his Help to formulate a California State sort

of Doctrine of Public Schools String and Band Teaching which my father gladly did and with RM Verve and brilliant ideas which when submitted, were unanimously accepted by the California State Legislature!!! Poppa was so inundated by eager parents wishing

their sons and daughters study under Ralph Matesky, even the Los Angeles Organisation of Police honoured my father for his noted Outstanding Teaching of the Youth of Southern California!! I know this because the beautiful Police Plaque was always sitting on a Wall in Poppa's Composition Room along with hosts of many other Recognition Awards ~

In addressing this Thank You to you, Richard Piraudeau, I wanted to keep it very simple yet your kindnesses have ignited hosts of other memories which are IMO very relevant to the Subject being discussed here on Sunday, 3rd of March in 2024. Hundreds of Ralph Matesky Arrangements/Compostiitons for elementary and on up to College yet many specifically for Jr. and Sr. High School have been published by major Music Publishing Houses in NYC, and throughout the US, with Poppa & my Arnold Schoenberg's Pianist @UCLA Mother, collaborating on many other & important helpful teaching pieces for Violin with Piano Accompaniment ... The Big Publishing House now known as Alfred Music Publishing Co., was initially based back East w/Pres Morty Mannes and wife, Iris, running it as a simple publishing place for school string music, yet Poppa, upon meeting them convinced them to move from Port Washington, a suburb of NYC to Los Angeles which helped rocket their Sales and with the name, Ralph Matesky, with his many by then known of arrangements and RM composed works for school orchestras then solidifying their long term Agreement and until Poppa's untimely passing ... At the time, I think my father was contracted by at least 8 music publishing houses in the US, and his Last Composition/Arr by R. Matesky was a Symphony Mvt of Beethoven which he was shown by my Mother the night prior to losing him being joyful at its completion knowing it was going to Press ... All String Chamber Music derives from knowing much Orchestral Concert Repertoire and most violin concerti derive from both with it being imperative to know All Scores as a violin soloist prior to stepping out on the Concert Stage performing a major violin concerto yet if not knowing the full orchestral score, one is duped from the beginning to have a music accident & if such a calamity occurs, Sight Reading Skills definitely come in more than handy!!

Although very late here, having just turned the 4th of March, I am enjoying this Topic of Discussion and will try to return in a day or so to see how it is all going! Btw, Trinity College of Music/London in Mayfair, W1, is well known to myself, having been invited by the

former Principal of TCM, and prior a Chief TCM Examiner of British Tests in Music to determine Grades of pupil's, and I welcome the mention of this former wondrous College of Music, now in a newer 'Self', termed "Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance" & moved by Flotilla down the River Thames w/ All TCM Instruments,

aka many Pianos, Music Library of over 150 years+ untold furniture at TCM, correlated by my esteemed colleague, and for his brilliant efforts in re-locating a hallowed School of Music in London's Mayfair, W.1, was awarded the Medal of the O.B.E., aka, Order of The British Empire in Buckingham Palace on June 28, 2013, yet my Mother nor I could Not attend the BP Investiture due to losing her only days prior to the very Special Event for my esteemed string colleague who and knowing of my mother's rare abilities to Expert perform Atonal Scores of Schoenberg for all his Prof Schoenberg UCLA Advanced Classes, was remembered at the Celebratory London Luncheon in Mayfair, for forty guests holding a Moment of

Silence In Memory of Ralph's late wife and Elisabeth's Mother by the very Best of British in attendance ... This, dear people, is true testament to our ongoing & continuing friendship with our long fabled British Allies across the Sea and who support an American Colleague when struck down twice losing both musician parents ... I was delighted to see mention of the TCM known of in all British Schools & Schools of Music plus Private {aka, US Public} Schools

throughout the UK and parts further, Board Grade Examinations by Editor of this Violinist.com website, Laurie Niles! Btw, TCM is no longer the main part of its' newer self, which is located in The Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich, East London, presently & its Patron, HRH The Duke of Kent, totally keen on making TLC the most and finest School of Music in not only the UK but in All of Europe!!! His Royal Highness and I had a marvellous chat when over for a Testimonial Event for my colleague upon his stepping back from Co-Executive Director of Trinity Laban Conservatoire

of Music and Dance, invited over to renew friendship/colleague-ships with some of the fine String and Piano Faculty & meeting HRH, The Patron of TLC, with many kids coming up to say 'Hello Your Royal Highness', and responding "It is going most well, D, and How are your studies coming along?" I thought it wonderful to see

for myself, the complete involvement of Her late Majesty's First Cousin, so keen and genuinely interested in the Music and Dance pupil's at TLC with dreams of future professional careers and in HRH's Impromptu Address, telling us that in their short time as TLC, 90% of Graduates were outdoing Oxford University Students for fine employment throughout the UK! What a marvellous career situation for British String Students and those in Dance ... Thought I'd include this as there may be some British Violinists on here!!?

~ ~ Gratefully submitted with Richard Piraudeau Thank You's ~ ~

~ ~ Elisabeth Matesky, Daughter of Poppa Ralph Matesky ~ ~

Fwd ~ dmg {now 4th of March, 2024}

March 8, 2024 at 02:23 PM · I’m usually reading when I get together with friends for chamber music. At this point I’m quite familiar with a huge part of the repertoire but I can still get tripped up with reading what’s on the page. I would very much like to be a better reader so over the years I have worked to improve my reading. I’ve tried to identify the aspects of music reading that tend to trip me up and work on those and I’d have to say the single-most important thing is reading ahead.

https://www.cellobello.org/cello-blog/in-the-practice-room/a-new-look-at-sight-reading-pt-1/

https://www.cellobello.org/cello-blog/in-the-practice-room/a-new-look-at-sight-reading-pt-2/