Sight Reading Challenge

Hello and welcome back. I'm Joseph
Hoffman
and today it's time for another sight
reading challenge. We're going to be
using Sight Reading Trainer Book 2 for
today's lesson. So pause the video if you
need a moment to get your Sight Reading
Trainer Book out and ready.
Remember that Sight Reading Trainer Book
2 is available from our website along
with all of the Hoffman Method
materials. Okay, let's check out today's
first challenge. So in your own Sight
Reading Trainer Book, why don't you find
exercise number 84, and tell me what you
notice about this exercise.
What clef are we in?
We're in the bass clef. We know
from the top of the page that we're in
the F major pentascale and so we'll see
that B-flat to remind us about the
B-flat in F major.
What's our time signature?
We're in 3/4 so we'll be counting 3 quarter
note beats per measure. So let's do step
one together, which is to tap the rhythm
while we count the beat out loud, and as
we tap let's follow the dynamics. Notice
will start piano, then crescendo to mezzo
forte, and then decrescendo. Here we go.
I'll count 3 beats to get ready, and
then we'll start here on beat 1 with
eighth notes. 1 2 3, remembering
to do it piano. Here's 3 preparation
beats and then we'll start. 1 2 3
1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3
Good, now for step two I'd like you to do this on your own. Pause the video, and then say how the
notes are moving. You can say start, up a
second, up a second, down a third, down a second,
and then do the rest on your own. Pause
the video to identify all of the
intervals up and down, and then press
play to go on.
You should have said start, up a second, up a
second, down a third, down a second, up a third, up a
third, down a second, down a second, down a second, up
a third, down a second,
repeat, down a second, down a second. Alright, step three.
Can you point and say all the letter
names? When you get to a B you can say B-
flat if you like, because it will be flat
when we play it. Pause the video to say
all the letter names, then press play to
go on.
You should have said G A B-flat G F A C
B-flat A G B-flat A A G F. Now let's try
to play it on the piano. Okay, we know
we're in the F major pentascale, but
should we place it in this one, this one,
or this one?
How would we tell? Well we look at the
first note and we see if we scan the
whole line we see that we're kind of
near middle C, in fact at some point we
are going to play a middle C, so that's a
strong clue that we've got to place our
left hand in this F major pentascale
with the highest note being middle C.
So go ahead and get your left hand in
position.
Now, why don't you see if you
can figure out this exercise on your own. Remind me what the first note is. Tell me the letter name.
If you said G you're
correct, and our finger 4 is on G, so
that will be the first note that we play.
So, press pause and on your own see if
you can figure out how to play this
exercise, and then press play we'll try it together.
Now, here's what it should have sounded
like when you play it on your own.
1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3
Did you remember to play with those
dynamics? I hope you did. If not that's
okay. Press pause and try it one more
time on your own using dynamics if you
need to, otherwise let's talk about how
you can sight-read your very best by
looking ahead. We might have talked about
this before, but I want to remind you
that when you're sight-reading
don't look at the note you're playing.
You always want to look at least a
couple of notes ahead. For example, when
you're here in measure one, as you're
playing these notes skipping down,
actually let's back up even further.
Before you even start to play, your eyes
should have kind of scanned through the
whole measure, so you know that that down
skip is coming. Once you're on the skip
it's too late to be ready for it. You
want to have already noticed it before
you get there. It's kind of like driving
a car. Imagine if you're driving a car
down a street.
Would a driver ever be looking at the
place they are on the street? No, if
they do that they're going to crash into
something. A driver is always looking
down the street at the obstacles coming
ahead. So the same is true when you sight
read. You want to be looking ahead
at the notes that are coming, not at the
note that you're playing. So, just like
driving a car, when you're playing these
notes in measure one, you should have
already seen that in the next measure