As a classical guitarist I was an excellent sight-reader, and found
memorization moderately hard (I memorized very little as a guitarist). As a
singer I read moderately well, and have found that memorization has become
easier the more that I have practiced it. It still takes me a long time to
memorize something though, and I have to go into a song in considerable
depth (often looking up *every* word, even in a language I have a good
knowledge of). The words are the tough bit - the notes usually don't take
nearly as long unless the idiom is very unusual. Memorization is now
time-consuming rather than tough. I assume that successful professional
singers must have little spare time!
As a chorister memorization wasn't required, but tended to happen with
anything that was repeated a lot, resulting in a more musical performance.
john
At 11:31 AM 5/11/01 -0500, you wrote:
>I happen to agree that sight singing is an essential (in the sense that it
>makes us "musicians", not in the sense that you can't live without it) part
>of our craft. I hate it when people make the jokes about vocalists being
>"singers" and not "musicians." Having an aversion to reading music only
>encourages (and lends truth to) such jokes.
>
>There is a part of this discussion that interests me a lot. I would like to
>see how many of you who consider yourselves to be good sight-readers (I do)
>have trouble with memorization (again, I do!). Have there been any studies
>on this phenomenon, and is there really a correlation?
>
>Thanks for your insights here...
>David Grogan
>ETBU Music
>Marshall, Texas
>dgrogan@e...
>
>"The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese."
>
>Author unknown
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "SMSchneider" <smschneider@e...>
>From: "SMSchneider" <smschneider@e...>
>To: <vocalist-temporary@yahoogroups.com>
>To: <vocalist-temporary@yahoogroups.com>
>Sent: Friday, May 11, 2001 11:27 AM
>Subject: [vocalist] Sight-reading IS important
>
>
>> OK, guys, I don't want to get off on a rant here, but it frightens me for
>> the future of classical music that so many of us are so "dumbed down" that
>> we don't even have a distant vision of the benefits of having basic
>skills.
>> How can having the best skills you can develop NOT make you a better
>> performer? Why do you think instrumentalists laugh at singers? Being a
>> *musician* on any instrument, especially voice, is hard. That's the way
>it
>> is. Get your skills together as far as your ability will take you, and
>stop
>> denigrating their importance just because you don't see it. Or learn to
>see
>> where they can take you and get to work. Once you start to develop the
>> skills, you'll see their importance more and more clearly because using
>> those skills will make you perform at new levels of expression and
>> intelligence. It's not just about being able to sing a piece at sight.
>> That's only the beginning.
>>
>> Susan Schneider
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
>Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>
>
John Blyth
Baritono robusto e lirico
Brandon, Manitoba, Canada
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