Teaching Ear Training and Sight Reading

January 7, 2017

GOALS of ear and sight reading development: AUDIATION, SUBDIVISION, and READING

1. AUDIATING: A basic element of musicianship – being able to hear the music in

your head
- allows us to put small elements together into phrases and sections, ultimately
finding musical shapes and ideas
- allows us to play or sing together with good ensemble, all players imagining
or audiating pitch and rhythm (ie. piano duets)
- steps are first to hear the music in your head, then be able to vocalize the
rhythm, and then reproduce both rhythm and pitch (refer to Gordon)

Ear Development for melodic elements, including intervals, chords and playback tunes:
- use the sol-feg scale, and require all instrumentalists to use their voices
(sing), in order to internalize pitch, and increase ability to audiate
- relate intervals to the major scale, and build chords using sol-feg as well

Ear Development for rhythmic elements:

- subdivide beats to develop internal rhythm and understanding – professional
musicians are subdividing at some level all the time
- count out loud, or use words like “watermelon” or “Manitoba” or
“strawberry”
- get rhythm into the body, using body percussion and movement
- identify songs by hearing only the rhythm

2. SUBDIVISION of beats in sight reading:

- have the students write counting into their music (revealing!)
- have students identify the rhythmic contents of each beat – mark it
- tap or clap and count out loud – the brain listens to the voice

3. READING melody and harmony:

- count a full measure of subdivided beats in your head before beginning to
play or sing
- audiate the music (or at least the beginning of it) before you play or sing
- pay particular attention to the length of sustained notes – you must be
subdividing the beats
- use theory training to identify intervals in the melody, triads and other
chords or parts of chords in the harmony
- READ AHEAD – play “which of these things is not like the other”
- as a lot of reading is done by shape recognition, train beginners to identify
not only note names, but also the “look” of intervals and chords. Train
beginners to subdivide as well.
- stress good fingering

PRACTICE: As with all skills, practice is the only way to increase our proficiency.
(see preface of Four Star books) Can we fit all of this into our lessons,
or do children need another option to supplement their learning?
(ie choir or a theory/ear training lesson)