5 Basics Pointers to Help with Sight Singing

Sight singing: the skill of reading and singing music just by looking at it. Even masters of music theory who can sight read as easily as they can read a book had to start somewhere, and they started with the very basics of sight singing. I teach sight singing and music theory at the Minnich Music studio, but there are a few ideas that I always begin with. Here are the five very (very) basic pointers to help you begin on the path to sight singing:
 

1. Take a Glance at the Music

Take a look at the music. Notice where the notes go, if there are runs or trills. Is it fast? Slow? Are there any sustained notes? Where are the crescendos and decrescendos? What are the other dynamic markings? Do the notes stay close together? Far apart? Where are the repetitions?
 

1. Look for Ups and Downs

One of the most difficult things about sight singing is catching the big note jumps. Up or down, take note of where the jumps are and look at the jump in relation to the notes around it. How many spaces or lines within the bar is it jumping? Bonus points if you can tell on which note the jump will end up.
 

1. Look for Changes in Key Signature

This doesn’t mean you need to understand to which key the signature is changing. What you have to remember is that the key you’re singing in will change. Understanding this will help ensure a key change doesn’t catch you off-guard as you’re moving through the music.
 

1. Find Matching Notes

It can be difficult to start on a different note than the one on which you ended. The best way to get around this? Find a matching note in the previous line and mark it in the music. If you keep that note in your head, you’ll have an easier time starting again.
 

1. Look at the Notes

This may seem intuitive. You are, after all, reading a piece of music. However, it’s important to take a closer look at the notes than you normally would. How do the notes move and, as stated above, how are they related to the large jumps and dips? Do the notes follow one-another more or less in a way you can predict, or do they jump all over the place as they do with many Stephen Sondheim pieces? Do descending or ascending notes go up the scale or do they skip notes?
 
If you don’t know music theory and you’re not used to sight singing, you probably won’t be able to sight sing a piece of music with just these 5 tips. But hopefully these tips will make learning and singing a piece easier. It may even set you down a road to being able to sing a piece at first sight!