Reply To: Sight Singing in beginning choir

[nafmeadmin]

It sounds like the class needs some sort of AHA! moment; something that makes them realize, “hey, I’m sight-singing and this is awesome!” With that in mind, sight-sing familiar, catchy tunes, but don’t let them know that they are familiar, catchy tunes. These tunes can initially be taught to them aurally with words; get them familiar with the tune. Another day, after you’ve finished with these familiar, catchy tunes, hand them some notated music with no title, no words, nothing recognizable to them that wouldn’t get to excited about. At first, yea, they’re not gonna have any idea what’s going on. But once you get past the first three and a half notes, they’ll realize, “AHA! I know this!” and start singing away. Not so much teaching them how to read like pros, but at least getting them introduced and interested regarding sight reading.