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Post subject: Sight Singing/Ear Training
Posted: Wed Aug 21, 2013 12:39 am
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Well, I'm all signed up for college now. Since I'm majoring in music, I have to take music theory (not a problem for me) but I'm also required to take sight singing/ear training with it as well. It starts this Monday, and I just made the mistake of reading the syllabus. Because I'm a non-singing, play-by-ear-and-tab guitarist, I'm sort of wondering if I just made a huge mistake by being too prideful to sign up for the fundamentals class first. On one hand, I really need to know how to notate things, read things, and know more in-depth theory. On the other hand, I've never done anything remotely like sight singing and it scares the living daylights out of me. Ear training sounds like it would be fun to me, and I have a very basic idea of what a major or minor triad sounds like etc., but the whole "sing something you've never heard in front of 15 people and a professior who controls your GPA" thing is new to me.

Anyway, just wondering if any of you non-singing, play-by-tab guitarists had any experience with this pertaining to college. And please, no horror stories (I've been finding plenty of those already). It would be like the time they were showing "worst medical nightmares" or something on TV at the doctor's office.

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Last edited by texasguitarslinger on Thu Aug 22, 2013 1:06 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Post subject: Re: Sight Singing/Ear Training
Posted: Wed Aug 21, 2013 1:51 am
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Sight singing isn't as difficult as it sounds. If you can sight read a basic melody and rhythm then that's all there is to it, you're not expected to deliver a stunning vocal performance and they don't expect you to have perfect pitch.

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Post subject: Re: Sight Singing/Ear Training
Posted: Wed Aug 21, 2013 5:03 am
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I say drink heavily before the days you have to do such things :)

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Post subject: Re: Sight Singing/Ear Training
Posted: Wed Aug 21, 2013 6:09 am
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I took both of those courses, you'll do fine, don't worry. It's really not as bad as it sounds in a syllabus. And everyone in the class is in the same boat. Don't lose any sleep over it.

GilgaFrank is right on the money about sight singing, it's not about vocal technique at all, it's entirely about singing the right notes in tune.

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Post subject: Re: Sight Singing/Ear Training
Posted: Wed Aug 21, 2013 8:21 am
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You have to be able to read and recognize a 5th or a 4th, or whatever interval is on the staff. So the best thing to do is to practice major scales by taking each interval through the scale. Start with 2nd's and all the way up to doing the scale in octaves. This teaches you how it all sounds and you learn what a b7 sounds like and so on and then when you see it on the staff you know what it sounds like and how to sing/hum it.

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Post subject: Re: Sight Singing/Ear Training
Posted: Wed Aug 21, 2013 3:28 pm
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Texas, everyones comments except Dan (no drinking before classes, lol :lol: ) are good. When I took sight singing ear training I prepared by singing with my guitar or piano (I rented an upright for those 2 years and it helped greatly) what ever I played, scales, excercises, songs sometimes. Just la la la or me me me or woo hoo (just kidding on the last one). After the first couple of weeks singing intervals and such became pretty instinctive because I did it so much. Also, I was a little nervous about it at first too but everyone in class was. I did ask my instructor for help a couple of times and surprisingly he would meet me in the lab and actually sing with me showing me ways to get it right most of the time. :D

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Post subject: Re: Sight Singing/Ear Training
Posted: Thu Aug 22, 2013 1:10 am
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Thanks guys, I've been talking to some people I know who actually took the class from the same place and I've been able to calm down quite a bit. I'll just be the one asking for help all the time, which is cool I guess. I've also been going over some intervals. A major 7th is Star Trek and a minor 3rd is Smoke on the Water. :mrgreen:

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Post subject: Re: Sight Singing/Ear Training
Posted: Thu Aug 22, 2013 8:08 am
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Keep in mind that these are skills and tools of the trade you are aquiring which will serve you in many ways. You may wind up finding out that you're the next Susan Tedeschi. Few if any of your other female contemporaries do vocals, and Debbie Davies is of my generation. When I first started formal music education on piano I was handed a thick music book. It was written for technique virtuosity and the staff looked like it was filled with dozens of grapes. My task was to write the letter of the note under each. I had to do a page a day and had a one hour lesson every week. The purpose of all of this was instaneous note recognition as I learned to read music. I'm a tad rusty in that these days. However, it's something I will fall back on once I get my musical butt back in gear. That will be happening soon.

Keep us posted. We are all going to enjoy being a fly on your wall and watching you continue to grow professionally. Tell your dad we are all very proud of you. :wink:

Doc.

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Post subject: Re: Sight Singing/Ear Training
Posted: Thu Aug 22, 2013 6:56 pm
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First thing to remember about college... YOU PAY THEM to teach you. If you show interest to the professor, you'll find he/she will be very eager to help.
Basic musical notation is very easy to learn and understand, so just sit back, and when you hear something in class, and say to yourself "hey... I've played that before!" you'll see what it looks like on paper... maybe even charge you up some. Watch Amadeus again... great movie! "scribbling and diddling..." writing music at the billiards table, while his wife and father argue in the next room. (sorry... that's what happens when you get old!)

Show 'em what you got Tex!

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Post subject: Re: Sight Singing/Ear Training
Posted: Thu Aug 22, 2013 7:40 pm
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Although my father never learned an instrument he was a choir director for years and had passed several levels of theory,sight reading and singing etc. from the Trinity College of Music. Even though he couldn't play an instrument,it always amazed me that he could pick up any piece of musical score and sing it.Good luck on your training.

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Post subject: Re: Sight Singing/Ear Training
Posted: Fri Aug 23, 2013 12:02 am
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I got my text books today! (The books are actually worth more than my main guitar...) It's not quite as bad as I thought, although I'm having to really dig back into the days of taking lessons with my classical instructor to remember all these terms. I went over the whole first chapter of the theory book with my teacher (who has a degree in Music Composition). I learned that there are actually two other clefs besides bass and treble, that Cb is actually a note that is slightly different from B for violin players, and that the reason there wasn't anything written in parts of my ear training book is because you have to write what the instructor plays. I also went back over the circle of fifths, and went in depth into intervals.

I know most of what I'm seeing, but I know it by ear or I haven't seen it for a long time. I think I'll do ok, but I'm going to be a studying fiend.

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Post subject: Re: Sight Singing/Ear Training
Posted: Fri Aug 23, 2013 5:54 am
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Textbooks :shock: ....their cost is sky-rocketing. Imagine having an entire professional school's curriculum on a set of CD ROM's such that you never carry a book again. All you need is a lap top. It was so at the school I used to teach at and had been that way for nearly a decade.

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Post subject: Re: Sight Singing/Ear Training
Posted: Fri Aug 23, 2013 9:44 am
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Yeah, I was pretty shocked by it. I mean, it's just paper... But at the price you'd think they used gold ink.

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Post subject: Re: Sight Singing/Ear Training
Posted: Fri Aug 23, 2013 5:53 pm
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ZZDoc wrote:
Textbooks :shock: ....their cost is sky-rocketing. Imagine having an entire professional school's curriculum on a set of CD ROM's such that you never carry a book again. All you need is a lap top. It was so at the school I used to teach at and had been that way for nearly a decade.

You oughtta see my Bible Study library... all electronic. Saved quite a few trees there, and whatever critters they use for ink have been seen walking around talking about what a good thing E-Sword is!

I attended Northeastern U in Boston a few years back, Tex... I'm feelin' for ya on the textbook thing.
The only "circle of fifths" I can remember is when me an my buddies used to get together, sit in a circle around a campfire, and compare what proof each fifth was that we brought to the party. :mrgreen: 8)

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Post subject: Re: Sight Singing/Ear Training
Posted: Fri Aug 23, 2013 7:36 pm
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FrankieTheKid wrote:
.
The only "circle of fifths" I can remember is when me an my buddies used to get together, sit in a circle around a campfire, and compare..... :mrgreen: 8)

I'm not going there! :oops:

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