Sight reading in 3...2...1...GO!

  The topic of sight reading continues to rear its head in my teaching and discussions with colleagues.  Notice I didn't say "ugly"!  To me, sight reading is one of the most enjoyable musical experiences we can have.  Sight reading a new piece can lend an air of excitement and the unexpected to times where we find ourselves playing the "same old, same old"!  Sight reading is also a very trainable skill.

In my current job, I have a lot of opportunities to sight read.  I often show up to a band commitment or a brass quintet performance and am required to read new music.  Especially on my longer days, the conductor may start pulling out pieces that don't get performed often, or that are new to most of us.  How does one go about becoming a better sight reader?!?!

First and foremost, and quite obviously, you must actually practice sight reading.  "No joke!", you say.  This is one of those skills that gets talked about, and most people know how to do, but few rarely ever actually work on it!  It is also a skill that I feel most musicians don't take seriously enough.  When you need it, you really need it!

There are a few avenues of approach here... If you are getting ready for a band or orchestra audition, then the most helpful thing is to go to your school's music library and ask for 2 or 3 pieces at a time to take out and read through...  The more music you know, the better your chances of successful sight reading on a job or audition.  As the old saying goes, "the best way to get better at sight reading is to never have to sight read!"

Now, most music librarians and band directors may be hesitant to let someone walk off with original ensemble parts to which they have no replacement... So, ask them if you might copy a page or two out of each part for practice purposes.  This often keeps the library from getting into trouble regarding copyright and reproduction of complete parts.  You should pull standard band pieces, marches, anything you can think of!  Sit down with the parts and look them over thoroughly before you read them.  Go slowly and really try to get an idea in your mind of what the piece is going to sound like.  In an audition, you won't have that much time, but through practice, you will get better and faster at this initial scan of the music.  Next, play the piece.  Go slower than marked as needed, and don't feel like you have to play every little part.  Play the big important sections.  Record your initial attempt and listen back.  Listen for: rhythmic accuracy, confidence, and tone quality.  Remember, sight reading is not about perfection!  It is about projecting  confidence to your listener that you know the music you are playing reasonably well.  Second, your time and ability to "stick with it" tells your listener that you have good fundamental skills, and that difficult passages won't get you rattled and cause you to implode and stop.  That is undesirable as a soloist, but disastrous when you are sight reading within an ensemble.

For trombonists, I can't recommend the old Andre Lafosse School of Sight Reading and Style étude books enough.  There are five volumes, A through E, with E getting ridiculously hard!  My teacher throughout my high school years used to plop one of those on the music stand and have me play them in lessons.  The manuscript is terrible and the clef changes are frequent and non-traditional.  They are a great tool to train your reading brain.

Sight reading can be an enjoyable and very rewarding part of your musical life.  If you have professional aspirations, it is an extremely important part of your bag of tools.  Regular practice and use of the right tools will go a long way towards preparing you to be ready for anything!

Yours virtually,

Chris

Vern Kagarice, 1942-2014

It is with great sadness that I learned about the passing of good friend Vern Kagarice this week.  Vern has been a member of the University of North Texas trombone faculty since 1983, among so many other amazing musical accomplishments.  You may read Vern's Bio here.  Details for his memorial service in Chataqua, NY as well as information regarding memorial contributions may be found here.  Vern's incredible knowledge, energy, and love of the trombone and his students will be greatly missed. I never had the chance to formally study with Vern.  However, it seems like every couple of years our paths would cross and he always had some quiet words of wisdom to offer or insight into what might be going on in my life.  I must tell a story about one of those times.

In spring of 1999, I was a young and somewhat lost trombone player, trying to make ends meet freelancing in NYC, and taking auditions when they came up.  I decided that I would head back down to Texas and audition at UNT for Vern's doctoral studio.  I took a trip home to Commerce and drove over to Denton at the appointed time and met Vern and Royce Lumpkin in Vern's studio at the music building.  After what I remember as about 20 minutes of somewhat unremarkable playing on my part, Vern looked at me and said:

"Look, Chris, your playing is fine and I would be happy to have you here as one of my doctoral students.  I just have to ask you why you want to come back to school and start on a Doctoral degree?"

I muttered something about, "not playing enough in New York", "want to be closer to home", etc., etc.

Vern said, "Listen, you just need to be clear on what you're getting yourself into by pursuing a doctorate here.  You will spend a LOT of time in the library, working on the foreign language requirement, and doing a lot of teaching.  You will also probably have some trombone choir rehearsals to run as well as all your own ensemble commitments.  I don't think you will be playing as much as you might think.  You should really think it through before you commit to it."

The reality was, I didn't enroll, and I won my position in the U.S. Marine Band a few months later.  I have often reflected on the care and consideration of a musician that wasn't even his student that went in to that conversation.  Vern's honesty and selflessness represents a great example to emulate for anyone tasked with the shaping of young people's lives and careers.

Vern, may you rest in peace.

UNT trombone faculty: Vern Kagarice, Steve Wiest, Tony Baker, and Jan Kagarice

Failure and Integrity

Recently, I was discussing some college beginning-of-semester auditions with a university professor.... Apparently some students found out what the sight reading on their placement audition was beforehand, and they had a chance to prepare the music before their turn to play came... I have to say I had mixed feelings about this.  Part of me feels like, in an audition, I'm going to do anything I can to get an advantage, especially if a great job or career enhancing position are at stake... However, in a school setting, where we are there to learn, I was somewhat appalled at this type of behavior...and, these students passed up one of the greatest gifts of making music in an educational setting - permission to FAIL!

Failure is one of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves in our musical lives.  I don't mean not showing up for work and getting fired from your job... I mean taking a chance, giving your best effort, and falling short.  And then, LEARNING SOMETHING ABOUT YOURSELF.

I feel that most people have forgotten what a great tool failure can be.  As John Kitzman once said to me in a lesson, "If you sound good, you're just entertaining yourself!"  That statement couldn't be more true!  What John was getting at on many levels was that we all tend to do those things that are safe.  We play the solo we sound good on, we practice the things we already can play well, we take the piece to our lesson that we play well so as not to endure the embarrassment of not sounding our best in front of our teacher... In short, we shy away from failure.

Look, no one likes to fail.  I mean, if someone tells you they enjoy failure and having their weaknesses exposed for all to see, they're crazy.  BUT... and it's a big one... I will say that none of us learn anything without failure.

There is a big qualifier to that statement.  Failure in itself doesn't do anything for us.  Only failure where we STUDY WHY WE FAILED has any value.

Say I take an audition and don't advance past the prelims... What did I learn?  Did I take my recorder in to the audition and record my performance?  Was my time poor?  Did I achieve the musical goal I had for each excerpt?  What happened?  Did I just spend $1000 in travel expenses to take an audition from which I literally learned nothing?!

Take a lesson from our military.  In the military, most units have what they call a post operation analysis or debrief.  Every aspect of the operation is reviewed and all mistakes are called out and discussed.  No one gets the feel good treatment and a pat on the back if their part of the mission wasn't performed well.  People's lives are at stake!  Do you do any post analysis of your own performances?  What went wrong?  What should you have done differently? Do you have a recording to review?  How could you have prepared more thoroughly?

Back to the students who cheated on their sight reading... What is the real issue here?  Well, the biggest thing is integrity.  I don't want to hire someone who has a problem with being honest or with fulfilling their commitments with a clear conscience.  Second, these players missed a golden opportunity to see where they really stand with their sight reading ability.  You can train sight reading!  (Future blog post...)  Finally, those young players have planted the seed of doubt in the minds of people who matter in their educational and musical careers.  And as we all know, first impressions are hard to overcome!

In summary, prepare to succeed but don't pass up the chance to learn something about yourself when you fail.  Lead your life with integrity, work hard towards your goals, and when you fall short, use that experience to make yourself better.  Keep moving forward!

Thanks,

Chris Clark

The Virtual Trombonist