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Best sight singing book for students with NO previous musical training whatsoever? Help!Date: June 12, 2010 by Allie Kirk
 I know people have asked about the best systems and books for sight-singing in the past, and I did search the answers, but I don't feel like mine is completely answered.
Let me explaiin my situation. In the past, nothing has ever been done with choir or vocal music at this school. The position, until I was hired, was a K-12 position where the director taugth band, choir, 7th/8th grade music, and elementary music. Now the job is split so there is an elementary music teache rand I will do band, choir, and 7th/8th grade music. I would also like to explain that I am NOT primarily a vocalist; I'm primarily an instrumentalist, but I enjoy choir directing and I'm trying to learn as much as I can.
Well, the teacher that was there before me never did anything with choir. They sang, but they didn't learn any real singing principals and they certainly never learned to read music or sight-sing.
What is the best sight singing book I could use for students who have absolutely no concept of sight singing or reading music? These kids were never given any training in music reading in elementary or in jr high, but they WANT to learn. I need a series that, if possible, gives tips tot he director on how to present the material. It needs to be fairly easy to learn.
Also, I know most directors use either solfege or numbers. Is it okay to have the kids just sing a single syllable like "la" instead? It seems to me that solfege or numbers would be confusing. But, once again, I'm not primarily a vocalist and might be completely wrong!
Also, could anyone recommend a good book of warm ups, once again, for a choir with zero experience and for a director with very little choral directing experience?
Thank you! Replies (11): Threaded | Chronological
Rebecca R. Winnie on June 13, 2010 5:14am
Dear Allie Kirk,
I was in your situation 22 years ago (and still start students who have never read music every year in my high school choir). "The Independent Singer" published by Curtis Music Press (Edstrom) is still the best for teaching reading to singers, in my humble opinion. I have no relationship with the publisher or author -- but have taught for 27 years now. [On a separate note, I would suggest using moveable "do" solfeg (learning along with the students), because it is helpful in establishing relationships and intervals with students who do not read music. "La" works fine for folks who already see and hear the relationships on the staff, but not for students who are learning to see/hear those relationships.]
These are the reasons that I like these materials over others.
I'm sure that you can find this with any music provider, but here is a link
http://www.jwpepper.com/1468966.item
Best wishes to you. No matter what system you choose, persistance is the key.
Rebecca R Winnie
on June 13, 2010 5:47am
I used the Patti DeWitt sightreading materials for 8 years with my middle and high school students. http://www.pattidewitt.com/sightread.html This sightreading method is very sequential and goes at a slow pace, adding one or two syllables at a time. There is also a song after each unit, so the student actually applies the sightreading to reading music. Students are taught a moveable "do" and the Kodaly hand-signs. I found that students had a higher percentage of accuracy when they used the hand signs. Sightreading is like acquiring a foreign language. My students agreed that in the 3rd year, they became very proficient at sightreading.
on June 13, 2010 8:29am
I use the following for beginners:
Patterns of Sound Book 1 - Emily Crocker (treble voices)
essential Sight Singing Volume 1 for Male Voices- (boys' changing voices)
The key to effectively teaching choir kids to read music is to first separate rhythm and pitch. Books don't do that for you for the most part with pitches, but some do with rhythms. However, you can't really effectively begin with a book, because beginners cannot read before they audiate the pitches internally. It is the equivalent of trying to teach a baby to read from a book before the child can speak. Sounds silly, but choir directors do it all the time, and then wonder why most of their students don't read well. :-) I know, becaue I used to be one of them!
Echo singing pitch patterns and echo claping or chanting rhythm patterns is a critical first step before any "sightreading music" is put into the students' hands. In my 20 years of teaching beginners, I have never had a group that progressed as fast with pitch as with rhythm. So....... that means your studnts will almost certainly read rhytms before reading pitches. When they begin reading pitches, use all quarter notes in what you have them read at first, then slowly begin to add more complex rhythms.
A good resource for progressively divided echo singing material is "Vocal Connections" by Ruth Whitlock, published by Southern Music. It consists of two great CD's - one with a male voice and one female - who sing a pattern and then leave space for the group to sing back. It begins with neutral syllables (bum bum bum) then moves to movable Do solfege singing. Good luck!
Mary Jane Phillips
on June 13, 2010 12:58pm
May I also suggest introducing the Curwen Hand symbols to them? It helped my high school students this year. I decided to try something new. I decided not to use a method book but actually try to teach them through the music that they would be singing. I made sure that there was something that they could solfege in every song that we sang. We broke our music down by key and solfege syllables (I did this in small groups by sections) and they wrote the syllables in their music. Then we sight read our music using the hand symbols (after a month of sight reading exercises based on the major scale) and they were able to really grasp the connection to the music. By the end of the year we had moved into melodic minor.
There were some that were resisitant to this method (seniors) but I stood my ground and by the end of the year we had really made progress. I had them solfege rounds like crazy and anything that resulted in being able to create a musical performance, rather than go the exercises route.
Just a thought. I just think that method books are only effective if you tie what you are doing in them to the music that you are singing in class. With high school kids that have no previous background it can be difficult because vocally you can't expect them to perform things like twinkle twinkle little star, which may be the level that they are at musically with sight reading. However, you can teach them to read in the key of C and then present something like Hallelujah Amen to them and have it make sense. additionally, you may get new kids in there that are all ready to sing and if you bog them down with too much theory they may turn off. They want to sing. So they more you relate the sight reading to the music the better the will accept the challenge. That is just my personal opinion.
on June 13, 2010 5:56pm
Gayle: What you're describing is good, basic Kodály philosophy and methodology. I haven't had that training, but I've watched my wife use it very effectively. You're creating a selective musical environment by building exercises out of the music they will be doing, but perhaps preparing them before you pass out the music.
And--from her experiences again--I do recommend using movable do solfege and la minor. Kodály chose to use those methods after becoming completely familiar with the other methods that were in use, because in terms of pedagogy they make very good sense. In fact, they are much closer to the system that Guido developed way back in the 11th century, and he ALSO developed it specifically for music educational purposes, not from some high-flying music theory ideas. Use what works!
All the best,
John
on June 13, 2010 4:02pm
Allie,
There are many materials that can be used for this. I suggest that you explore the materials available through Masterworks Press (masterworkspress.com). They have a number of different sets that can be purchased, allowing you to select the set that is best for your groups. With Masterworks Press, you are purchasing the rights to photocopy the materials, as needed, from year to year, relieving you of new purchases each year as your program grows.
I have a very strong bias to using moveable Do with a La-based minor. While it may seem confusing at first, I have found that students quickly become comfortable with the syllables and their use, particularly if you follow a sequential approach and if you echo-sing, as suggested by Mary Jane Phillips. Simply using la fails to give students an anchor, or sense of tonality, particularly if they are in the very beginning stages.
A key to successful teaching of sight-singing is regular practice---every day. It will only take a few minutes of your class time and the students will grow to expect it and enjoy it. I would encourage you to use the same materials with your band. If they, also, learn to sight-sing, as well as sight-play, you will find them learning music more quickly and better than they do already.
Best wishes,
Tony Mowrer
on June 14, 2010 10:08am
Free musicianship materials by Kentaro Sato.
I use these in the warmup part of the class. With a little bit of explanation, students usually have no trouble using solfege by the end of the semester.
on June 14, 2010 5:02pm
I highly recommend Brudce Phelps Sight Singing Mastery. I have used it for a few years and really like it. Good luck!
Wendy
on June 28, 2010 3:47am
Hi Allie,
This is a very late post and don't know if you will even read it, but after teaching 37 years I have to recommend the Jensen Sight singing book by David Bauguess. I used it daily for 5 - 10 minutes and over the years it had amazing results. It is quite methodical and many don't like it because of that, but that is the reason it is so successful if used on a regular basis. It really trains non readers well to both the visual and aural aspect of sight singing. Any student of mine who went on to sing in college and or major in music always came back and thanked be for teaching them that method. It is a movable do system and because of the nature of the material also teaches theory, musical terms, and concepts along the way. Whatever you do don't give up on teaching sight singing! It worth the effort.
on June 28, 2010 6:23pm
Hi -
I figure you've read all the posts and have come to a conclusion; however, I would recommend Patterns of Sound for the rank beginner. Also, Carol Krueger's Progressive Sight Singing is well-sequenced, but not as user friendly for beginners. A colleague of mine recently attended a workshop with her, and Krueger is working on visuals to supplement this text, I believe.
Find the approach that works for your students, echo singing and active learning through Kodaly hand signs to proceed reading notation.
Amalie Hinson
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