TromboneChat

Hi there fellow boneheads,
I am once again endeavoring to break in to the world of sight reading. I came to music a pit later in life. I started on penny whistle at 24, then moved on to flute. about 4 years ago I got in to tenor trombone and then got my fist bass a little over a year ago. All so far has been playing by ear. I have done rather well for my self I would say, but I really want to be able to play whatever i want without having to learn it by ear first. Any suggestions?
I have found it hard to acquire material specifically teaching bass clef from the ground up. Also anything geared towards bass bone. I have several method books but they do not help to much as I lack some of the basic experience necessary to utilize them.
Like I said, any help is greatly appreciated.
EZ

Sight reading requires that you be able to read music fluently first.

Spend a little time with a tutor or two in bass clef. Reading slowly to make sure you can read the note, recognize the note, set the trombone up for the note, and then play the note.

As you get more proficient in the Read/Recognize/Set/Play scenario, you can start to do it more quickly. Eventually you will be able to read.

Sight-reading generally means you are looking a little bit ahead of what you are playing so there is a "cache" of notes ready to be played at all times. Getting the hang of it takes a little time and practice.

When you are ready to start increasing your sight reading speed, you need to have a pile of stuff to play. You pull up a page and play it. If you mess up, keep going. You won't have that luxury in an ensemble either. Again, keep trying to read new stuff. When you ruin out, buy more.

You can get there.

Thank you so much for the encouragement. Yes I guess more specifically I am desiring to lean to read first. Then with a hope of sight reading in the future.
Any books you might suggest for the reading process?
Thanks again,
EZ

You're going the opposite direction many of us learned, trying to read music after playing by ear first.

So I'm wondering about a different strategy.

What if your process were to align print to sound, instead of the more traditional sound to print? Most of us who are decent sightreaders can look at printed music and audiate it, hear in our mind what it should sound like.

To work on the reverse, maybe get a collection of scores, and listen to the music while following along in the print. Get a copy of Schirmer's Scores from the library, go to youtube to the same piece, and practice following along with one instrument line.

There are some things I wish I had been taught about sight reading. It has always been a huge weakness for me.

• learn to read ahead at least 1 measure

• see rhythms in patterns

• see notes in phrases

• use a metronome when practicing

• pay attention to markings for dynamics, articulation, tempo, clefs

• try to anticipate the tonality/chords

• scan ahead for tempo, key or time changes

• scan ahead for roadmap

• understand the genre in which you play (swing, Bartok, dixie, brass choir, etc)

• keep the time going even if you miss notes,

• jump back in (in time) if you get off

Andre LaFosse put out a series of short Sight Reading and Style books. They feature poor manuscript to add to the reading experience. They are nice little etudes in progressing difficulty including clefs, odd meter, lots of sharps/flats, and some rhythmic stuff. You might also just buy some Real books and sight read tunes you don't know. Sight reading can be anything. Go through online trombone parts from orchestral works. Buy up a lot of used Kopprasch, Arban, Ostrander, Marsteller, Mantia, etc.