Re: Reading (was Some advice for Learnwell)

Stanley Yates wrote:
Why do Jazz players practice licks in all keys?- Hide quoted text -

Probably because it's necessary to be able to play with other instruments and so many standards are in keys such as Bb, Eb, Cmi, etc. - keys hardly ever found in CG repertoire?

That's one reason, principally, to be able to play melodies no matter where you are on the instrument, no matter what instrument, grab the melody out of the air, as it were.

Les Paul's, lovely bass player at the Iridium club told me that playing with Les was a trip because he would segue from one tune into the next because he would play the melodies wherever his improvisations took him and the keys were never the same. He would just start playing and off they'd go. Her testimony... wow...

Although guitarists can easily play in all keys using moveable LH forms, this isn't the same as being able to read in all keys, and certainly isn't the same as being able to read in all positions.

I haven't taught outside of a university/masterclass setting for 25 years, so I can't pretend to have much expertise ouside of that. However, I insist that the students in my university program at become competent readers and those who enter the program who have any weakness in this area (which is a few) have to sort it out right away. They do this during their first semester, as part of ensemble - they spend one rehearsal per week in a reading class. I have to admit that beyond the first few sessions I usually have a grad assistant take care of this, though I provide the materials and approach. Here's the basis of it (it's very simple):

Memorize the notes names across the six strings in positions 5, 7 and 10.

Memorize the notes at the frets adjacent to these

Find any particular note name on any string and across random sequences of strings

Name the notes across the six strings in any one position

This takes only 2 -3 weeks, and from there we use reading drills to reinforce it.

Then we work on note reading along single strings (with lots of intervals larger than a step) and recognizing intervals across all six strings with all six-finger pairs. We do this both from a musical standpoint (octaves, fifths, thirds, etc) and from an abstract standpoint (eg, finger 1 on string 5, finger 2 on string 3 - what interval is this?)

We also do lots of rhythm drills (rhythm only, no pitches).

The main thing is that in the actual class _everything_ has to be played at sight without anything more than a quick scan through of the music. Dynamics, articulation, note grouping and phrasing are also built in. We use lots of simple ensemble pieces for sight-reading with part swapping and position changing on repeats, klangfarben melodie, etc - no stopping allowed (I insist they play wrong notes rather than stop).

I can't think of any student in recent years who hasn't developed decent reading skills after one semester of this. From there it's a matter of reading _lots_ of pieces as a part of daily practice. I expect my students to have read through everything on the CD Sheet Music CDs by the time they graduate. There's no substutue for reading through lots of music.

I don't have any scale requirements, beyond the technical regime all undergraduate students go through - all students meet once a week every semester for guided technical practice (which I usually coach myself), regardess of their technical level (even ththose who enter the program with good technique). I don't like to spend time in the individual lessons talking about technique - I only want to talk about practice methods and musical things (unless there are some particular individual technical things that need working out).

For what it's worth I'm a very good sightreader. A colleague of mine once mailed me a laminated piece of music paper with a choclolate nut cake smeared all over it and the words, "Read this you *******)." I couldn't sightread the Aranjuez (if I didn't know it already) or the Berio Sequenza, but I can sightread any Bach, anything common practice, and a lot of atonal things. I'm not entirely sure how I do this, but it must surely have something to do with the fact that I've always spent most of my time with the guitar reading through stacks of music. For me, that's always been the most enjoyable aspect of playing, and I think it's by far my most useful musical skill.

There are some guitarists who make me look like a sight-reading beginner (one of them occasionally posts here)...

SY

Dear SY,

Best sight reader whom I have personally watched sight read in my life as a guitarist, was Tommy Tedesco, (took a Masterclass with him) next as a CG, Fabio Zanon. I'm sure you're in that set! Great Post, BTW

--
Carlos Barrientos
"mailto:carlosguitar2000@xxxxxxxxx";
Phone: (229) 594-6374
.

Relevant Pages

  • Reading (was Some advice for Learnwell)
    ... Probably because it's necessary to be able to play with other instruments and so many standards are in keys such as Bb, Eb, Cmi, etc. - keys hardly ever found in CG repertoire? ... They do this during their first semester, as part of ensemble - they spend one rehearsal per week in a reading class. ... Memorize the notes names across the six strings in positions 5, ... I don't have any scale requirements, beyond the technical regime all undergraduate students go through - all students meet once a week every semester for guided technical practice, regardess of their technical level (even ththose who enter the program with good technique). ...
    (rec.music.classical.guitar)
  • Re: Reading (was Some advice for Learnwell)
    ... Probably because it's necessary to be able to play with other instruments ... and so many standards are in keys such as Bb, Eb, Cmi, etc. - keys hardly ... This takes only 2 -3 weeks, and from there we use reading drills to ... good technique). ...
    (rec.music.classical.guitar)
  • Re: Reading (was Some advice for Learnwell)
    ... Probably because it's necessary to be able to play with other instruments ... and so many standards are in keys such as Bb, Eb, Cmi, etc. - keys hardly ... This takes only 2 -3 weeks, and from there we use reading drills to ... good technique). ...
    (rec.music.classical.guitar)
  • Re: Focusing in.
    ... I have noticed lately a sort of peripheral vision of the keys as I am ... looking at and reading the music as I play. ... not if you are reading unmemorized material. ...
    (rec.music.makers.piano)
  • Re: Playing Piano By Ear
    ... thought I had discovered the keys to the kingdom. ... I had learned something about *how* to learn to play the music I ... Improvisation and even playing pop and jazz ... with as little thought to the technique as possible. ...
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