In Teach Skills not Songs, I discussed the importance of teaching singers skills to help them become independent choral musicians. But what skills exactly? Today, I will introduce the foundations of music literacy: ear training and sight singing. I offer strategies to help music educators foster music literacy in singers at all levels. These activities do not take much time and can be done at the beginning of every rehearsal. They key, of course is consistency and high expectations.
Before we get started, there are two important concepts to keep in mind.
Concept 1: Sound Before Sight
When children learn to speak, they observe, listen, and then practice. They become familiar with the sounds of the language, and then attempt to mimic the sounds as they formulate their own thoughts into words. Only after they are fluent in the spoken language do they begin to read and write. My approach to music literacy is similar: Singers must first become familiar with the sounds of music—intervals and rhythms—before they can begin to read it. Rote learning is an important skill and is the default method of learning music in many cultures.
As the singers grow more secure, I transition them to a broader understanding of the music by stretching their command of the information to include reading and writing music. Again, the singers should be comfortable with the aural skills before you transition them to paper. Sound before sight.
Concept 2: Solfege as a Base
I use the diatonic scale as the starting point for teaching the melodic elements of music, starting with the standard Kodály solfege and Curwen hand signs. Kodály’s pedagogy uses movable do, which is crucial for helping singers internalize interval relationships, feel the tendencies of the different elements of the scale, and eventually learn to change keys, harmonize, and improve their own intonation.
Now let’s apply these concepts to Ear Training and Sight Singing.
Ear Training
In just five minutes, you can teach any singer a few simple intervals, and then continue to build on these skills in subsequent rehearsals. Err on the side of high expectations, and challenge the singers, as you can always pull back.
- Begin with a comfortable key for singing: I find C or D major work well.
- Have the singers sing a five note scale, using the solfége syllables and accompanying hand signs. Make sure the singers mirror your actions.
- Repeat using the whole octave.
- After the singers are comfortable with the predictable scales, you can start to vary the stepwise motion (ie do-re-mi-re-mi-fa-mi-fa-sol)
- Once the singers can successfully follow these stepwise patterns, begin to skip around diatonically. Start with the descending minor 3rd sol—mi. This is a very singable interval, one the singers have heard in many traditional songs. They should be able to sing it easily, as it’s already a part of their musical language.
- Following Kodály’s sequence, next introduce la and then do.
- Introducing high do will then allow you to practice another minor third, do—la.
- Finally, to complete the pentatonic scale, add re.
- Introduce some melodic content, like the tune of “Amazing Grace,” on solfége, using only your hands.
- Continue to practice the solfége with hand signs using other pentatonic songs.
- Finally, add fa and ti, and your singers will be ready to skip around the entire major scale.
I find that if you wait until later to introduce intervals larger than a 2nd (always focusing upon stepwise motion), it becomes much more difficult to aurally discern these relationships. So start early and remember to keep your expectations high!
Congrats! You have taught your chorus to think about pitch relationships, and with the hand signs, they have a tactile tool to use in further exploration of music. Believe it or not, that’s it. Even with only five to ten minutes a day (or in my case, per week), you will be floored with what your singers can accomplish in just one year.
Sight Singing
The key here, just as with the aural training, is to build upon what you have already taught them, and keep adding intervals. Make sure your singers have a solid foundation in following your hands and singing intervals aurally before introducing the written notes. Remember: Sound before sight!
- Start by writing notes on a whiteboard and sing them as a whole class.
- Find examples of intervals or patterns you want to work on in the literature that they will encounter later on, and introduce them in the sight-reading warm-up. Make it a fun, interactive activity that all singers want to participate in (don’t make it feel like a pop quiz or single out only the most skilled students).
- Do this every rehearsal, and within a few months, they should feel comfortable skipping around the diatonic scales using both hand signs and written notation.
A way to ensure that each singer is picking up these skills is to have them individually demonstrate. My goal is for each singer to take ownership of their experience and continue to learn and grow within the classroom structure. This doesn’t always happen without a little help. So I will call on individual singers to sing an exercise. This has to be done in a safe environment where they are constantly being encouraged to try. When a singer finishes, the rest applaud. It’s the effort, not the results, that we are trying to encourage at these early stages. Remind singers that sight-singing is hard, and requires practice. Everybody has to start somewhere.
Expanding Their Skills
After you have laid the foundation, the next step is to secure comfort within the diatonic scale. I create games by using solfége and hand signs to modulate to distantly related keys, and then work back to the original key (if I can remember what it was!)
You may be wondering if this will work with your choir. Yes! I have done these exercises with singers as young as seven, in just ten minutes per week. Those same singers are now able to shift between major and minor keys, sing chromatic scales, and perform some pretty tough modulations—all by observing hand signs, and all with just two years of once or twice weekly rehearsals. The hardest part is getting started.
Applying Solfége to the Choral Repertoire
As the singers become fluent in hand signs and can accurately produce those pitches, you can teach them to read music with solfége. Encourage the students to write the solfége syllables into their music in pencil, and then gradually erase them as they become more fluent at reading on the staff. Eventually, they will not need written solfége syllables except for chromatic notes or particularly tricky intervals or passages.
When selecting repertoire, choose wisely and find music that allows the singers to practice the intervals they are learning—or, conversely, look at the music for intervals to teach. Each selection you make for your class or choir should include a section that even your least experienced singers will be able to sight read on their own.
This is a valuable skill, because the singers are doing the work. They are reading abstract notation and forming musical sounds. The end result is singers with the ability to sight read: independent musicians!
Music literacy starts with a good foundation and the strategies above are the first building blocks. It may feel like you’re taking the long road, but the end result is worth the commitment and will ultimately save you time. Remember: teach skills, not songs!
Tell us about your tips and tricks to get your singers starting on sight-singing. Leave a comment below and let’s start the discussion.
Note: A big thank you to Georgia Halliday, Michele Adams and Melanie Trecek-King for their contributions and edits.