Can anyone speak on “buffering” the music, rhythmic changes, dynamics etc that one might have read forward a measure or two (or six)? For example with 4.1 there is a series of whole notes. If one is proficient at reading notation it is relatively easy to read all bars quickly. However, a slow tempo might mean you have read all the bars but be playing bar 1. Are we storing all the notes as we read them or constantly shifting our eyes back and forth? Further if there are any changes in rhythm etc it would be a larger memory task to play and read and play and read.. In practice it must be a mix of setting a good tempo, etc. But are good sigh readers only storing the information for say the next 2 notes or could it be 10 notes? i hope my questions help to elucidate my larger question. Sorry for the clarity.
Great question. This is where “chunking” patterns can be so useful. If you’re looking at several whole notes in a row, you can kind of not think about the rhythm and only look at the pattern of the notes. Maybe they move in stepwise ascending sequence like a scale; or maybe there’s some other predictable way they move. Chunking the information in front of you can be so beneficial to seeing ahead and not just where you are (in terms of time/rhythm).
To answer your question, yes, good sight readers can read ahead quite a bit, mostly because they are chunking patterns moreso than reading every single detail one bit at a time. Best wishes and happy sight reading!
Peace,
Dave B (CGC team)
Drew Gonsalves
January 24, 2024 at 9:09 pm - Reply
Dave, thank you! I’ll trust that the details only come with experience and background motor and muscle memory will play a large part (and knowing scales,intervals etc without having to actively think about them). I didn’t know if there were some specific memory tricks that helped to store the information.
How long is recommended to sit with each lesson? There are parts of this that are easy for me and some that felt easy till I tried to keep pace with Simon. For the most part, I was able to play and keep up but my brain feels broken- or at least like I’m using a muscle I’ve never used before.
Should I wait till it feels more natural? I fear if I keep at these exercises I’ll just memorize them.
Can anyone speak on “buffering” the music, rhythmic changes, dynamics etc that one might have read forward a measure or two (or six)? For example with 4.1 there is a series of whole notes. If one is proficient at reading notation it is relatively easy to read all bars quickly. However, a slow tempo might mean you have read all the bars but be playing bar 1. Are we storing all the notes as we read them or constantly shifting our eyes back and forth? Further if there are any changes in rhythm etc it would be a larger memory task to play and read and play and read.. In practice it must be a mix of setting a good tempo, etc. But are good sigh readers only storing the information for say the next 2 notes or could it be 10 notes? i hope my questions help to elucidate my larger question. Sorry for the clarity.
Hi Drew,
Great question. This is where “chunking” patterns can be so useful. If you’re looking at several whole notes in a row, you can kind of not think about the rhythm and only look at the pattern of the notes. Maybe they move in stepwise ascending sequence like a scale; or maybe there’s some other predictable way they move. Chunking the information in front of you can be so beneficial to seeing ahead and not just where you are (in terms of time/rhythm).
To answer your question, yes, good sight readers can read ahead quite a bit, mostly because they are chunking patterns moreso than reading every single detail one bit at a time. Best wishes and happy sight reading!
Peace,
Dave B (CGC team)
Dave, thank you! I’ll trust that the details only come with experience and background motor and muscle memory will play a large part (and knowing scales,intervals etc without having to actively think about them). I didn’t know if there were some specific memory tricks that helped to store the information.
How long is recommended to sit with each lesson? There are parts of this that are easy for me and some that felt easy till I tried to keep pace with Simon. For the most part, I was able to play and keep up but my brain feels broken- or at least like I’m using a muscle I’ve never used before.
Should I wait till it feels more natural? I fear if I keep at these exercises I’ll just memorize them.
Never mind: apparently I just needed to sleep on it. The update has been installed and I can play exercises without that muddled feeling in my brain.
Glad to hear, Valerie! Yes, it’s important to avoid memorizing them, but we don’t want to feel like the exercises are impossible. Best wishes.
Peace,
Dave B (CGC team)