Music for Sight Singing - Learn to Sight Sing from the Best Spiral - Robert W. Ottman - 1967 - Spiral - Prentice-Hall

Music for Sight Singing - Learn to Sight Sing from the Best


To become successful in sight singing, one must have at his disposal a considerable amount of singable and musical material. This material should be graded so that he will be able to study one problem at a time and to progress steadily from the easiest material to the most complex. The music in this collection has been compiled with both these aims in mind. It has been drawn from the works of reputable composers and from a wide range of the world's folk music. None of the material has been written expressly for sight singing.

This book subscribes to no particular method of learning music theory. Therefore it can be used successfully in conjunction with almost any book on theory. The objective is not to present a course in music theory but rather to furnish sight-singing material to be used in conjunction with the study of theory. Chapter introductions are limited to descriptions of the organization of each chapter and occasional suggested aids to the singer.

There are two technical factors in the construction of any melody: rhythm and melody. For this reason, the melodies in this volume are graded according to both rhythmic and melodic difficulty. Each chapter introduces a new problem in relation to one or the other factor but not to both simultaneously.

The three major sections of the book control the rhythmic development, whereas each chapter within the sections develops skill in reading intervals. The study of intervals begins with melodies containing only scale passages and skips in the tonic triad. (Melodies composed exclusively of scale-wise passages are not included because they are almost nonexistent in folk or composed music, except in ecclesiastical chants.) In this context the skips are easy to sing. Instruction progresses slowly to the V and IV triads followed by a study of the same intervals in more difficult contexts.

Because the material is so minutely graded and each chapter introduces only one specific problem, the order of chapters may be shifted to suit almost any method of learning theory. The arrangement of material in this book has been made primarily to facilitate reference to any particular melodic or rhythmic problem.

All the music is within easy singing range. The highest note for most melodies is E i> or lower, although there is an occasional E or F. Higher notes occur in the upper parts of ensemble music, but in these cases there is always a lower part in a range suitable for lower voices.

Many examples of rounds, canons, music in two parts, and studies in the important C clefs are integrated with the other material.

Because of the harmonic presentation of intervals, the contents of Parts I and II are limited almost exclusively to music of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in addition to folk music of a similar nature. In Part III the range of styles is considerably broadened for experience in singing music from the thirteenth-century troubadours to the present time.

Although the revised edition maintains the format and concepts of the original edition, many improvements within individual chapters have been made. The opening chapters have been enlarged and more carefully graded to make easier the students' beginning efforts. More emphasis has been placed on the use of the minor mode and the bass clef. Many melodies have been replaced by others that demonstrate the technical problem more efficiently and musically. More two-part examples are included, and the total number of melodies exceeds that of the original edition.