News & Views Friday, March 29, 2024

Keep your sight-reading sharp! Thursday, May 02, 2013

Have you ever done this?

To keep up your sight-singing/sight-reading skills, try this, if you haven’t already!  At church, when singing out of a hymnal (especially when there are four verses) sing the soprano line on the first verse, the alto line on the second, tenor on the third and bass on the fourth.  Your eyes have to look down for the lyrics on each verse, so push yourself a little more and read a different harmony on each verse too.  If your organist tends to freely harmonize the last verse, try going the other way – bass on the first verse, tenor on the second, alto on the third and soprano on the fourth, so the melody will still fit the free harmonization on the last verse.  It’s a fun challenge and good musical exercise!  Have fun!

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