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Have you registered for summer lessons? It only takes a few minutes!
I enjoy teaching summer lessons for many reasons. First on my list is that parking in front of Burton Hall is SO easy after spring semester is over!!
I like to focus on one part of the whole lesson experience during the summer. I’ve had music reading summers, scale summers, the summer of review, and duet summers. This summer, the focus is sight reading.
Sight reading is when a kind choir director, orchestra director, or music teacher hands you a piece of music you’ve never seen before and says, “Here, play this.” My memories of sight reading are sketchy. I don’t remember doing it in lessons, but I remember having to do it at competitions and festivals. I was so concerned about it that I often flipped clefs in my mind and forgot where notes were on the piano! Here’s a great plan for sight-reading practice that I wish I had known back then:
- Tap and count the rhythm out loud (this gives you a chance to look through the piece and to be ready for the rhythm patterns).
- Touch the keys or strings as you look through the music again.
- Play at a speed less than the performance tempo and count out loud.
- Don’t stop and fix anything. Just keep going.
Happy Practicing!
Maryfrances
What do you enjoy about summer lessons?
I like summer lessons because they are a little more casual and less rushed for us because there’s no school to deal with!