Secrets to Improve Sight Reading
Why are some people able to sight read much faster than others? Is it a natural occurrence or are there extenuating conditions which make some read much faster than others?
To understand this inconsistency, we need to isolate the elements needed for rapid sight-reading.
Elements involved with effective sight-reading-
1. Recognition of pitch
2. Recognition of rhythm
When divided into these two elements the answer to why some people are able to sight-read faster than others is more apparent.
We are all at the same level when recognizing pitches and eventually reacting with the correct fingering for each note to be played. But when individuals view rhythmic differences, some are able to recognize the difference at vastly different rates. This is the reason why some players are able to sight-read faster than others. Knowing this fact makes it much easier to improve one’s speed in sight-reading.
I would consider myself an above sight-reader and can trace my ability back to my early days in grade school when we often were asked to count out difficult rhythms. Several of my fellow school mates turned out to be above average sight-readers which reinforce my hypothesis that reading rhythms more quickly will enhance ones overall sight reading ability. Assuming that this conclusion is true, the next step in improving a person’s sight-reading ability would be to focus on rhythmic patterns to a higher degree.
Where can we find specialized exercises to improve one’s sight-reading skills?
Let’s look at the instrument most geared to rhythmic patterns; the snare drum.
Snare drum music does not require any knowledge of pitches for everything is focused totally on rhythms. Open any snare drum literature and you will find that rhythmic patterns dominate the book from cover to cover. So now we have an unlimited library for developing quicker recognition of rhythm patterns. What’s next?
Practicing repeated single pitches, although helpful when developing better rhythmic recognition, can be extremely boring. For that reason, the practitioner needs to vary the pitches from time to time when playing his/her instrument. This can be done by changing the pitch on every exercise, every line or even every measure. Remember that you are practicing in this was to more quickly recognize rhythms, not pitches. Another solution to the problem of boredom would be to learn to play a snare drum. Whether you use two drum sticks or one, or you play the rhythms on your instrument, it really doesn’t matter for while you are playing rhythms you are also improving your sight-reading skills.
Another wonderful source for rhythmic study can be found at this site-
I highly recommend this site for the vast number of easy as well as difficult rhythmic patterns available.
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