> I seriously doubt that anyone posting here intended
> to say that basic skills
> such as reading music and sight singing aren't very
> valuable.
Exactly. For an opera singer, sight-singing is one of
the many ways you can learn a piece. It is a learning
tool, since by definition it only involves the first
time you look at a piece. Sight-singing only takes
place the very first time you sing an unfamiliar piece
of music. After you've sung through it (and, thus,
heard it) once, then you are necessarily no longer
sight-singing; you've heard it, and your ear (at
least, if your ear is good) takes over and helps out.
Then you are on no different footing than if you had
simply heard the piece through once and then attempted
to sing it.
My sight-singing ability is fair; but it's not great.
And when you add in the fact that most of us sing
through things poorly (technically) when
sight-singing, most people choose not to sing through
a piece by sight just because of that.
By "sight-singing," I mean the ability to look at a
melodic line for the first time and sing through it
without mistakes. I don't mean being able to tell
what key you're in, how those minor chords will sound,
where your ensemble line comes in, where and what the
flutes will play over you, etc. -- that's all basic
musicianship, and IS essential. Reading music is
different from sight-singing, right? Sight-singing is
when you can sing something you've never ever heard
before; reading is everything after that (at least,
that's what I meant when I asked the original
question).
Musicianship and being able to read and count along
and come in correctly and follow along in the score is
undeniably important. We are not parrots; we must
understand/interpret the warp and weave of the musical
fabric we create. But being able to perform the
specific task of singing through brand-new music the
first time through (while also singing poor technique
into the voice), is it that useful?
Isabelle B.
=====
Isabelle Bracamonte, ibracamonte@y...
San Francisco, CA
moderator of Vocalist: the mailing list for singers
(vocalist-temporary@yahoogroups.com)
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