Sight Reading Challenge

Hello and welcome back! I'm Joseph Hoffman, and today we're doing another sight reading challenge with three different exercises from Sight Reading Trainer Book 1. Let's get started with exercise 132. As these exercises get more challenging, I'd like to start by looking ahead and just seeing what's coming. So, taking a glance at the whole exercise, what do you notice? You might notice that we're starting to use whole rests. This kind of rectangle that floats below a staff line like this is called, well sorry that's a little scratchy looking. Oh my goodness. That's called a whole rest. It looks a lot better here. A whole rest I remember because it kind of looks like a hole. If you're imagining walking along, ah don't fall in the hole. A whole rest. It means to rest for the whole measure. So the right hand in this measure plays nothing it's just going to rest while the left hand plays TA TA TA TA, and then what do you notice here? Another whole rest. See, if you're walking along on that line, you'd fall in that hole. And then another whole rest here, and then here is that a hole? No, this one kind of looks like a hat, right? Can you imagine a little top hat on a guy? Right, a hat sounds like half. Think hat for half, and that's called a half rest, and a half rest just takes up 2 beats which is half of the measure 1 2, so do nothing for 2 beats. It's really the same thing as two quarter rests, but a quicker way to draw it. So that's a half rest followed by a half note, which also gets 2 beats. 3 4 Now, you also might have noticed we have some sharps now. So our sight reading challenges are definitely getting more tricky. Whenever you see a sharp in front of a note, that means to raise that a half step so we have an F here, but because of the sharp right in front of it, that would be F-sharp played right there. Now that we've identified some of the challenges that are coming, let's do our steps. What clefs do you see? If you said treble clef and bass clef, you're correct. That's what we expect to see, and what's our time signature? If you said 4/4 you're correct. So our next step is to tap and count the beat out loud. So, can you try this with me? Use your left hand to tap all the bass clef notes use your right hand to tap the treble clef notes, and we're going to count 4 beats to get ready, and then we'll start. So count out loud and tap I'm going to count, but I'd like you to do all the tapping, and don't forget to count along with me as well. Here's 4 beats to get ready, then we'll start. Get ready with your left hand, here's 4 beats. 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4, now right hand, 1 2 3 4, left hand, 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4 See while the left hand plays this whole note, 1 2, and the left hand is going to keep holding while the right hand rests for 2 beats, 1 2, the left hand plays while the right hand rests, and then the right hand joins in on 3 4, adding that chord. The next step is to point and name the letter name for each note. Can you tell me the letter name for this first note? if you said A, you're correct. It's a just a little bit below middle C. Now let's keep going. Say the letter names. If you said A G F-sharp A, you're correct. Now try this measure. Can you say the letter names? If you said D E F-sharp D, you're correct. Remember, the sharp always goes in front of the note that it's affecting. So this is F-sharp. Can you say the letter names here? If you said A A G G F-sharp, you're correct. And then we have a chord. Can you tell me the two notes that build this chord? If you said D and A, you're correct. That would be a D A chord. Let's try to play it on the piano. So now it's time to find our hand position. Since the left hand starts, let's find the left hand position first. You can use the first note and finger number to find the position on your piano. Finger 1 is on A, and we need to use the A that's very nearby but a little below middle C. And because we have an F-sharp coming, we'll be kind of in this D major pentascale. Now can you find the position for your right hand? It asks for finger 1 on D just a step above middle C. The right hand also has some F-sharps which also places us in a D major pentascale. So now with your hands in the correct position, and remembering to keep your eyes on the page not on your fingers. Once your hands are set just trust that your fingers are where they need to be. Keep your eyes on the page. Pause and try it two times. One time playing and saying the letter names, and then one time play and count the beat. Then press play and I'll show you the correct answer. Here's what it should sound like. 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4 If that matched what you played, great job. If you need more practice you can always pause, but if you're ready let's go on to the next exercise. Now we're actually going to back up a little bit to exercise 122. I wanted to look at this one together because it's one of the trickier ones in Sight Reading Trainer Book 1. What clefs do you see? Treble clef, bass clef, and what's our time signature? If you said 4/4, you're correct. Now, taking a look ahead what do you notice? You probably notice the left hand is playing lots of chords, but the chords change, so let's figure out what chords we're doing ...