If my vocal students can't read music or have access to a keyboard/piano, I
insist they do theory during their lesson. Of course it can be much harder
for them but some manage to develop better inner hearing than students who
can read music. To do this of course, I also include sight singing work. The
theory book I use is call 'Master Your Theory' by Dulcie Holland. Ms Holland
is Australian and the books are published and available anywhere in
Australia but I'm not sure if they are available outside Australia. Each
chapter has a simple explanation of, for example - what a sharp, flat or
natural is, followed by exercises. This is then followed by some revision
exercises of the material explained in previous chapters etc. I might spend
about 10 minutes of the lesson explaining the material and exercises, which
they do between the lessons and are corrected at the next lesson. For the
first couple of levels this is easy to do, but as the students become more
advanced, the lesson becomes longer or they come on another day just for
theory and sight singing etc. I'm sure there are similar books outside
Australia to these.
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