Articles on sight reading

[Oscar South]

I've been studying sight reading a lot lately and just read this article which I saved the link to a good while ago [url="http://www.musica.uci.edu/mrn/V5I1W98.html#sight-reading"]http://www.musica.uci.edu/mrn/V5I1W98.html#sight-reading[/url]. I like to immerse myself in what I'm learning and that was interesting, this thread is just a request to see if anyone's got or knows of any other useful or interesting articles that I could read.

Absolutely anything, whether it's practical, theoretical, scientific, speculative, applicable, philosophical or just someones opinions and experiences in the field, I'm interested.

Look forward to seeing what people have got,
Cheers,
Oscar.

Edit: will just add the link to Aluns blog post on sight reading which I found in the Theory forum and found both useful AND interesting
[url="http://bassbook.blogspot.com/2009/09/secret-guide-to-sight-reading-bits-they.html"]http://bassbook.blogspot.com/2009/09/secre...-bits-they.html[/url]

Edited January 8, 2011 by Oscar South

[bubinga5]

i dont know these chaps, but i think Jakesbass or Bilbo (among many others) always have great advise..(always thought Bilbo came out with such great advice)

Out to Play Jazz also, i believe he knows his stuff... im sure these guys could sort you out.

Edited January 8, 2011 by bubinga5

[lowdown]

Many years ago at Collage, i was given some tips while getting sight reading together.
This is aimed more at Piano playing, but it is the same fundamentals that good Bass teachers would share.[And is on Alun's blog]
There might be more these days, and is. But like you said immerse yourself as much as you can.

[url="http://www.soundfeelings.com/free/music-reading.htm"]http://www.soundfeelings.com/free/music-reading.htm[/url]



Garry

Edited January 8, 2011 by lowdown

[skej21]

Hey Oscar, the best thing IMO is to just get out and do it. Sightreading in the house/practice room is not anything like doing it live, especially if there's someone conducting!

My best practicing tip would be to do what classical musicians often do. Get lots of material to practice with, play through any piece until you make a mistake. When you make a mistake (timing or notes), flick to a new piece and continue. At first, it'll only be a few bars, then systems and eventually you'll nail the whole thing. This means that you never rely on your memory to help you out and focus entirely on your reading skills. Eventually, you'll get to the point where you can get through most pieces without any errors.

Also, practice every piece with a metronome so you can also practice not stopping. If you start getting near to completing pieces without making too many mistakes, this is a great time to start practicing your abillity to pick the piece back up. For example, if you make a mistake, make sure you get back into the piece a.s.a.p and in the right place. This is kind of the opposite idea to skipping when you make a mistake, but the further along you get, the more you should leave that idea behind and focus on making sure you can get to the end of the piece, even if you drop a few beats, because you can't stop in a real reading situation.

In addition, I found the following books to be really useful in terms of a "library" of new material when I was learning to read and you might want to check them out too:

John Patitucci - 60 Melodic Etudes for Acoustic and Electric Bass
Real Book in Bass Clef
Charlie Parker Ominbook (Bass Clef Instruments)
Paul Westwood - The Bass Bible

I also have a resource in PDF form that you might like to add to your "library". Just PM if you're interested in more details and I can tell you what it is and see if you would like a look at it.

Edited January 8, 2011 by skej21