Cheesepuff asked:


I am a 13 year old girl and I took my Grade 1 guitar exam today (I have been playing guitar for around 1 and a half years), and I played the two songs perfectly, but I completely messed up on the rest of it.
I was asked what notes make up a major chord, which I haven’t even been taught by my music teacher. I also made a mess of the sight & ear test, where I had to read music, and listen to a rhythm and play it back.
Also the examiner gave me a piece of music, and asked me to point to the time signature. I was taught that a time signature is wrote like a fraction, but in this song it was wrote like the letter C.
So I didn’t know the answer to that.
By the end of the exam I was close to crying because I was so embarrassed and nervous.

How can I make sure that I’m not nervous for my Grade 2 exam?

Sight Reading Music

Moto64 asked:


I have been playing piano for about 2 years now, and I am self taught. I know how to read sheet music, but not that well. I can play songs like “The river flows through you”, “the portrait”, “Fix You”, and a few other songs. The thing is is that It takes me a really long time to learn a song, and I would really like get the point where I could look at sheet music and then just be able to play it right there, and read as I play, but I feel like at the rate I am going I am never going to get there. Also, like for example, when I play “River flows through you” I listen to Yiruma play it and he plays it so deep, amazing, touching and emotional (not that I am trying to compare myself to Yiruma) but when I play it doesn’t sound nearly as touching. Does anyone have any piano tips, tips on how I can get better at sight reading, how I can read while I play, and how to make my songs more emotional? Thanks

sight reading music

Pat Mcgirr asked:


i got a b+ in AMEB grade 3 (there are 8 grades)
i have a pretty good ear for music and can sight read to a point.
anybody know any easy, but cool songs to learn?
best answer will get rated
THANKS!

sight reading music

Kevin I-42 asked:


i’m in my school’s jazz band and i signed up to play guitar. i can only play notes, not tabs. i told my music director i wud learn the notes in about in 11 days b4 rehearsal and im getting better but now. i need tot sight read the hard stuff. how can i sight read in 10 days? wear can i learn songs like metallica, blink 182, green day, and all other artist just like ultimate guitar and 911 tabs except it’s all notes? and for free. for extra points, give me the source link.

Learn How to Sight Read Music

3xo asked:


So…

I will be volunteering to teach a Music Theory course to my local church this upcoming summer. From my experience here, I would say the majority of people who will probably take the course (or even show interest in it) are people who are guitarists and pianists who have never read sheet music before and only know chords. I would also say that the majority of people who will take this course are people in high school or older. At most, I would expect a class of 25 people.

I’m currently writing out the syllabus for the course. The class will be meeting about 2.5 hours a week for 11 sessions. I’m hoping to cover everything from reading notation to four-part writing. Depending on how the class paces, we may be able to get to nonharmonic tones, but I don’t know for sure – looks like we’ll find out when I start teaching the course.

I would really like some help with this since I’ve never done anything to this extent before:

1) What materials should I get? I don’t want the class paying for a textbook, so I will be doing a lecture-styled course in which the class will be taking notes, and if the class ever needs to contact me, they can contact me throughout the week and ask me questions in class. I have the following materials listed so far:

- Kostka, Tonal Harmony, 6th Edition (workbook, which the students will be paying for)
- Notebook of Manuscript Paper (96 pages)
- Blank CDs for listening assignments and excerpts (since the leader of the group that is sponsoring this works at Best Buy, he can provide these)
- Notebook & Pencil for general note taking.

Is there anything that I’m missing? I will be having a keyboard out for one of the 2.5 hours for aural skills training.

2) How much is too much to teach at the first lesson? Currently, I have listed:

Lesson 1: Introductions, Course Expectations, etc. Introduction to Rudiments.
o Written: Pitch notation (including accidentals), rhythm notation (excluding time signatures), key signatures, major and minor scales (natural, harmonic, melodic).
o Aural: Relation of pitch notation to keyboard, recognition of scales and intervals (intervals in major mode only).

and the assignments I have listed that are due the second week are:

o Write all notes from C4 to C6 in treble clef as quarter notes, using appropriate stem length and direction. Do the same in the bass clef from C2 to C4.
o Have all notes memorized by sight (musical notation and keyboard).
o A CD with interval examples will be provided (not required for next examination, but should be practiced on this week).
o Have all key signatures and corresponding major and minor modes memorized, and make sure that you can recognize all of your scales by listening to them. A CD will be provided to help you practice your ability to recognize scales aurally.

Thanks in advance.

(I couldn’t find a very good category for this question, so I’m throwing this in Classical and Other-Music.)

how to sight read music