Sight-Sing Any Melody Instantly: Voice

As an adult learner of classical guitar, I’ve struggled with two things that my teacher would view essential if learning to be a musician. Firstly being able to understand the rhythm from music notation, and secondly being able to sight sing. I found the Mark Phillips rhythm book when clearing my study during the coronovirus thing(..), the ‘how read rhythms instantly’ book. These kind of titles put me off to be honest, and I cannot remember where or when I got it, but I figured I may as well work through it and see what happens......and now I can sight read most rhythms instantly! And so quickly! I guess the way he explains things works for me. I bought this book on the strength of that, and looking through it it has the same clear explanations, and cunning exercises, that make things click for me. I would recommend them both whole heartedly. If my guitar teacher survives the pandemic, the sheer shock at my new found skills may just finish him off.

Great as another tool ... any help is useful. But beware there are no quick fixes in sight singing unless you've perfect pitch. You may be able to do it instantly eventually... but to be successful you still need a) time and b) effort as with everything else in life.

Bloody hell, I can sight-sing! And write down songs from memory! I couldn't do that last week! I have no idea how this is going to work out in minor keys or weird modes, but I don't care. Details that can be tidied up later.

This book is largely impenetrable unless you already play an instrument - preferably the piano - to a high level. It's also extremely hard going if your theory is less than spot-on. It absolutely needs a CD so that you can hear what is being asked for. Otherwise you need to be able to play the examples yourself or use the book with an accompanist/teacher. As it is, without a CD, it is simply not a self-study book.

Ce livre utilise la méthode tonale pour apprendre à chanter ou entendre intérieurement des partitions. Cette méthode s'avère plus efficace que la méthode intervallique, dans la mesure ou écoute et joue essentiellement de la musique tonale. Il ne demande pas un grand niveau de lecture, mais il vaut mieux avoir les bases de la notation du solfège.

Sight-singing and ear training per se are different though complementary skills. What I really enjoy about this book is the way they're effectively combined. I studied classical sight-singing years ago in college: Pasquale Bona's Rhythmic Articulation, melodies from sightsinging anthologies. I felt little connection with that music at the time and the only thing that's stayed with me is the warmup drill the class recited: "do-mi-sol-mi, do-fa-la-fa" (Thank you Mrs. Rapp). Later on I worked through the first level of David Burge's Relative Pitch course but found drilling intervals abstracted from real music to be exhausting and not relevent enough to my musical experience. In "Sight-Sing Any Melody Instantly" you build a sense of intervals within a musical context using well-known tunes many people probably know from childhood. This is a fundamental difference from Burge's approach: he regards using reference tunes to identify intervals as a crutch to be discarded as soon as possible. I bought into that for many years but now see the value in drawing from the vast memory of music we all possess. That bank of music contains what excites us about all music and incorporating it into the learning experience is, in my opinion, an effective and satisfying way to go. By definition a book on sight-singing is notation-based and there are no recorded examples; you have to read music in order to make sense of it. I found myself with a new appreciation for 'tired' melodies such as "Deck the Halls" and "Swanee River" once I got inside of them intervallically. The material progresses through diatonic major and minor, gradually introducing chromatic intervals. The pacing is relaxed and you're encouraged to seek out your own examples, which is the real value of the book and where the sight-singing and ear training come together. Once you get the hang of recognizing intervals within melodies, you can use any music that interests you in whatever genre and whatever level of complexity. It's a real blast to rediscover melodic twists and turns in rock and jazz tunes I've listened to and played for decades. Without hesitation I would say I've improved my ability to both hear music on the written page (I'm an instrumentalist, not a singer), as well as to take imagined phrases out of my head and notate them. While not as rigorous as a college-level classical sight-singing course, I would recommend 'Sight-Sing Any Melody Instantly' wholeheartedly to musicians of all genres with reading skills who are interested in improving their aural skills.

Learning by this method does not happen "instantly", at least not for everyone. A lot of practice is necessary before one can become quick at recognizing each key and mapping the memorized seven notes onto a staff. It's taken a couple of weeks to get halfway through the book. My choral director told me there are faster ways of learning. Having said that, I can give the publication high marks because it actually works. I may be slow, but if given enough time I can accurately hit the right notes. At rehearsals my sight reading has improved noticeably and I'm starting to get a feel for other keys besides C major.

Good book

Best book for my sight reading students. It breaks it down well!!