The results discovered while in "Fourteen Weeks to a Better Band" allows students to concentrate their learning to one rhythmic figure per week. A rhythmic figure can be defined as either two eighth notes or a dotted eighth followed by a sixteen or four sixteenth notes etc. The results of our research study in which students participated, I found students using "Fourteen Weeks" being able to reduce their reading errors by 74%. The students not using "Fourteen Weeks" reduced their errors by 21% during the same period. The study confirms that students are not confident in knowing how to interpret and play a variety of rhythmic figures including dotted quarters followed by an eighth, eighth triplets, eighth followed by two sixteenths, etc.
Repetition is the key to students learning and retaining their understanding of rhythmic figures. In order for students to develop sight reading music, they must be allowed to concentrate their learning to one rhythmic figure at a time. The continued use of teaching one rhythmic figure per week supports the theory that this approach can develop sight reading bands often in the course of several weeks. It is during this period that students learn the most important rhythmic figures used in music.
The purpose of the study was to try to determine the levels of students' comprehension and retention of rhythmic figures. The study wanted to determine whether this comprehension could be translated into playing music more accurately and if so, how and to what degree it could be measured.
The students who participated in the band development research study concentrated their rehearsals to one specific rhythmic figure per week during the study. The study supports the theory that the students that followed this format were able to reduce their reading errors by a significant margin versus the students who did not follow a similar format.
Students discovered it's also important to train your eyes to read ahead of what you’re playing in order to give yourself more time to mentally process the visual and react to it physically. Practice sight-reading often. After looking for the above priorities, play straight through the piece without stopping, and try to maintain a steady tempo throughout. Don't forget when you sight-read to also maintain good tone quality, intonation, rhythm, vibrato, and dynamics. Make sure you play musically!
Sight-reading is an essential element of musical life. It is also an acquired skill that you can learn to do very well. Learning to play your scales by memory can be half the battle. Major scales, minor scales (natural, harmonic and melodic forms), chromatic scales, scales in thirds and arpeggios all make up much of music, so if you know them in advance, you'll be better prepared to handle any sight-reading that comes your way. It is also important to know the definitions of musical terms as they are also big clues to interpretation. Knowing who the composer is and what time period the music was written in can be another important clue to interpretation, so try to learn music history, some of the main composers and styles of the different time periods. This is important because when a piece of music was written can affect how you perform grace notes, mordents and other ornamentation. When sight-reading, you should look for certain things before playing such as:
1. Key signature
2.Time signature or meter
3.Tempo
4. Style
5. Overall Structure
a. sections with repeats or endings.
b.D.S.'s or D.C.'s
c. changes in key, meter, tempo, style
d. temporary tempo changes such as rallentando, a tempo.
6. Stylistic markings
a. accent, staccato, legato, etc.
b. articulation patterns (slur 2, tongue 2, etc.)
c. dynamic
d. ornamentation
7. Rhythmic patterns
8. Scale Patterns
9. Accidentals
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