Sight Reading S. T. A. R. S.

1. Intro Video: Hello, my name is Dawnn, and I'm the Owner and Principal Conductor of Ovation Symphony Orchestra. This video series is for anyone who wants to become better at sight reading, especially in an audition situation. We begin with a quick checklist/overview of the information and then we break it down by letter. I hope you all Become better Sight-Reading STARS. 2. S.T.A.R.S.: An overview of sight-reading: Welcome to Become Sight-Reading S.T.A.R.S. Sight-Reading Made Easy. We will start with an overview of the S.T.A.R.S. acronym. What is the S.T.A.R.S. acronym? S, T, A, R, S, standing for Signatures, Tempo, Accidentals and Articulations, Rhythms and Signs. S, standing for Time Signatures and Key signatures. Telling you the most important information about the piece. T, standing for Tempo, how fast or slow to play the piece. Things like Largo, Moderato, Allegro, Presto. A standing for Accidentals and Articulations. Accidentals are naturals, sharps or flat signs within the piece that are NOT in your Key Signature. Articulations are markings like staccato, marcato, bow markings, breath markings, and slurs. R, standing for Rhythms. Rhythms are note values plus tempo. The tempo tells you how fast or slow to player note values and how to count them. Creating rhythm within the piece. S, standing for signs, as in repeat signs, D.C.Al Fines, Del Signos, Vamps, and Codas. These extend the piece in various ways. This acronym is most important when auditioning. While you have a limited amount of time to look over the piece. These are the most important focal points to get a quick and efficient overview of the piece. Knowing there's a repeat sign at the end of an excerpt. Or knowing that you have an F sharp in a piece that has a key signature of flats is important. Now, join me in the next video as we begin to break down and explain S for signatures. 3. S: Key Signatures: Welcome back to Become Sight-Reading S.T.A.R.S. Sight-Reading Made Easy. We will now begin with an in-depth look at the first letter S for signatures. Please keep an eye out for the start videos as they indicate there'll be more in-depth video soon to come. This will be part one, standing for Key Signatures. The key signature tells you what sharps, flats, and naturals to play in the piece. The key signature matches the scale you would play. So the key of A means the A Major scale and the finger pattern would be the same. Reading the key: For sharps, you want to look at the last sharp and raise it a half step. And that would be the name of your key signature. For flats: You want to look at the second -to-last flat, and that would be the name of your key signature. Let's just try some simple examples. Here, We have two sharps. And the rule for sharps is to look at the last sharp. I've added treble clef, alto clef, and bass clef for easy musician comprehension. Our last sharp is C-sharp, and now we'll raise it a half step to D. Now we know we're in the key of D major. Let us try one with five sharps. Here, We're going to look at the last sharp, which is A sharp. And now we're going to raise it a half step to B. Now we know we're in the key of B major. Let us try flats. Here, We have two flats. The rule for flats is to look at the second-to-last flat, and that is the name of our key signature. Here, Our second-to-last flat is B-flat. Now you know you're in the key of B-flat major. Let us try with five flats. Here we will look at the second to last flat, which is D-flat. Now we know we're in the key of D-flat major. Now, I know what you're thinking. What are all those other sharps and flats that she kind of glazed over? How do I know which one is D-flat? How do I know which one is to raise a half-step? That's why I'm making a more in-depth video on how to read key signatures soon to come. Thank you so much for listening, and I will see you in the next video where we talk about part two Times Signatures. 4. S: Time Signatures: Welcome back to Become Sight-Reading S.T.A.R.S. Sight-Reading Made Easy. We will now begin with an in-depth look at part two of S for time signatures. Please keep an eye out for the starred videos as they indicate, there are more in-depth videos to come. Part 2 for times signatures. The time signature tells you how many beats are in the measure and what gets one beat. The top number tells you how many beats are in the measure 2,3,4,6,9,12, and even sometimes 5 while the bottom number tells you what note value is used to count the beat, 2 or the half note, 4 the quarter note and 8 or the eighth note, Let us try out a few examples. Here. We have your basic time signatures and we will be looking at 4/4 or how you sometimes see it. The letter C This letter C is the same as 4/4. It just stands for common because the C is shorthand for common time as the most common time. Now, let's talk about those top numbers. The top numbers will tell you how many beats are in each measure. So here into 2/2. The top number is going to tell you you have two beats in your measure, while in 3/4, you have three beats in your measure. And here in common time, or 4/4 the quarter note tells you you have, four beats in your measure. Here in 6/8. It'll tell you that you have six beats in a measure. Let us talk about the bottom number. The bottom number will tell you what note value is used to get one beat. Let us start with the most common time 4/4. Here, in 4/4, you will always have the quarter note getting one beat. Now, anytime signature that has a four on the bottom it 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, even 5/4 like I was telling you in the previous slide. Each one of those, the quarter note will get one beat. Let's look at 6/8. 6/8. When you have an eight on the bottom, that's telling you that the eighth note is going to get one beat. And that goes for any time signatures that had eight on the bottom, 6/8, 9/8, 12/8, they all will get one beat for the eighth note. Now, let us look at 2/2 here. 2/2 the time signature is telling us that the half-note will get one beat. Now. 2/2 is, also known as cut time. And so sometimes it will look like that. Literally C the shorthand for common time with a slash in the middle, cutting it in half because half of 4/4 is 2/2 :cut it in half, so it's cut time. Now, I know what you're thinking. Wow, the time signature and the note values are all changing. How am I supposed to keep this all straight? Well, I will be making a more in-depth video on how time signatures and note values change, explaining all the note values and when they change and how change. Please keep an eye out. I'd like to thank you for listening and I will see you in the next video where we talk about T for Tempo. 5. T: Tempo : Welcome back to Become Sight-Reading S.T.A.R.S. Sight-Reading Made Easy. We will now begin with an in-depth look at the next letter, T for tempo. Please keep an eye out for the starred videos as they indicate, there'll be soon more in-depth videos to come. T, for tempo. Tempo is the speed in which you should attempt to play the piece. Not a metronome? Have no idea what the moderato tempo feels like? or what expressively means as far as tempos go? Here's some tempo landmarks. Another one Bites the Dust, the macro beat, Is at 50 BPM, while a clock ticks at 60 BPM. Those would both be labeled as adagio. The Star Wars theme is at 80 BPM while in the Hall of the Mountain King, Is that 100 BPM. Where as Stars and Stripes Forever is at 120 bpm. Stars and Stripes Forever would be labeled as Allegro or sometimes Moderato. Whereas the Star Wars theme and in the hall, the Mountain King, would be labeled as Andante. Now, of course, when you are sight-reading, you will tend to play at your natural internal metronome tempo. Unless it's for an audition in which you will make a strong attempt to play it at the tempo that is printed. Now, I have attached a tempo marking PDF for you guys as reference with all the words and all of the ranges and numbers for your easy understanding. So please check it out. Now, let's talk about some of the words that they use in place of expression for tempos, like "brilliantly" that usually somewhere around the Andantino, tempo, which is usually 108 to 120, roughly. They want you to play it with like a little bit more pep in your step, a little bit more excitement. Whereas words like piu meno mosso, pui mosso , or meno mosso mean that they want you to back off. they want you to relax. And words like accelerando mean that you're going to gradually accelerate, the music will gradually get quicker. However, markings like A Tempo, the letter A and the word Tempo, or Tempo I (one), both mean that you're going to go back to the original tempo of the piece. Whether that means that you're playing faster or slower prior to. Now, one thing we don't talk about is the conductor of a band or an orchestra when we speak about tempo. But they have an important job. Now their job is not just to look silly and wave their hands around and point to you aggressively with their baton, but it's to help them keep tempo, a well-oiled group/ ensemble, if you will, can technically keep time without the conductor, however, one does get lost. And in that, that's what the conductor is. Therefore, they're cueing you, telling you when to come in, making sure that you guys are on the same page. I will be making a in-depth video on how tempo and the patterns that the conductors are making with their hands and batons, how that all works together. And what it means for the four pattern and the six pattern and a three pattern and understanding those conducting patterns. So I wanted to say thank you so much for listening. And I hope you check out that video when I have it posted. And I will see you guys in the next video where I talk about A for accidentals and articulations. 6. A: Accidentals & Articulations: Welcome back To Become Sight-Reading S.T.A.R.S. Sight-Reading Made Easy. We will now begin with an in-depth look at the letter A for accidentals and articulations. Accidentals. These are sharps, flats, naturals that are NOT in your key signature. They add color and change the sound of the piece. These are "accidentally" left in the piece. The accidental only applies to the measure that it is in and all the same notes within that measure. When the measure changes, you'll go back to following the key signature. A for articulations. These markings are in the piece and they add texture to the piece. These can make the notes longer, shorter, louder, quieter. These are markings piano and forte, mezzoforte mezzopiano. These are slurs, staccato, ties, hooked bowings, trills, marcato, spiccato, tongue markings, tenuto markings, accents, fermatas, cesuras, (grand pauses), hairpin dynamics, crescendos, decrescendos, all of those types of things. These are all very important to look at when you are sight reading. To try to make sure that you can catch some of them. is very, very important that you try to catch all of your accidentals because that is what they're really looking for with your sight reading. But if you didn't catch all of your dynamic markings, so all of your staccato or even some of your solos. That's pretty okay. Now, thank you for listening to this very brief video on accidentals and articulations. And I will check in with you in the next video for R for rhythms. 7. R: Rhythms : Welcome back to Become Sight-Reading S.T.A.R.S. Sight-Reading Made Easy. We will now begin with an in-depth look at the letter R for rhythms. Please keep an eye out for the starred videos as they indicate there will be more in-depth video. soon to come. R for rhythms. Rhythms: counting the notes and the rests. Notes plus tempo equal rhythm. Now, the note values are determined by the bottom number of the time signature, and counting is determined by the note value itself. So for quarter notes it's going to be 1,2,3,4. But eighth notes, will be counted 1 and 2 and 3 and and on and on. If you have 16th notes, it will be counted 1 e and uh, 2 e and uh, and on and on. The vocabulary can be very tricky, but it will help you sight-read a lot easier. In time signatures like 3/4, where the quarter note is going to get one beat. So the eighth note will now get half a beat, and it will be counted as 1 and 2 and 3 and. And anytime you have a 4 on the bottom of your time signature. When you're in time signatures, like 6/8, the quarter note is now going to get two beats. It's quite long. And the eighth note will now get one full beat. And so it will be counted as 1,2,3,4,5,6, all the way to six because we're in 6/8. 6/8, tends to be slower than any of the 4 based time signatures because all of your note values are doubled. So that means that when you're counting note values for rhythms and things, please keep in mind the tempo. Count slowly. For adagio, you're not going to count 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and fast. for eighth notes that are adagio, you're going to count 1 and 2 and 3 and nice and slow. If you want more help with putting the vocabulary with the time signature changes in the note value changes and how this all works together. I will soon be putting up a video called No rhymes, just rhythm, where I teach you how to count quarter notes and half notes and eighth notes and 16th notes in time signatures like 2/2, 4/4, 6/8. So thank you so much for listening and I will check in with you in our next video for the last letter S for signs. 8. S: Signs: Welcome back to Become Sight-Reading S.T.A.R.S. Sight-Reading Made Easy. We will begin with an in-depth look at the last letter S for signs. Signs are markings to add length to the piece. The most common are repeat signs. So be vigilant, make sure you look at the end of your sheet music to make sure there's not a pesky repeat sign out there. hiding. Signs are repeat signs. Vamps, D.S. Al Fines, D.C. Al Fines, D.C. Al Codas, Fines, Codas, and Cadenzas. Repeat signs tell you to go back to particular section with a backward repeat sign or back to the beginning of the piece. Vamps are bracketed and they are usually two to four bars. They're really short. And you're just going to repeat that section over and over until you get cues to do otherwise. Those are usually used in musicals. D.S. Al Fines, D.S. Al Fines, Del Signo Al Fine, Del Signo means the little squiggly S, the sign Del Signo is a sign. The little squiggly S. You're going to go back to the squiggly S in the sheet music and then you're going to play wherever it says Fine, you're going to play to that spot. And that's when the piece is over. Fine and can be located at any point in the piece. It's not at the end of your sheet music. D.C. Al Fine De Capo Al Fines. So De Capo, meaning the head, the beginning, the top. Go back to the beginning of the piece and play to the end. Fine means, and you're going to play to wherever it says Fine and that'll be the end of your piece. Fine, the end. That's what that means final el fin. All of the same. The Fine is the end of your piece and it can be located anywhere. It doesn't necessarily have to have a double-bar line. You're not going to necessarily find them with double bars. A coda, a coda is usually put at the end of your piece. It's similar to like an alternate ending that's in the movie theaters. When you sit and, the credits are already rolling and they have a piece of film that they've shown. And it wasn't in the movie. Like alternate ending type of situation. The coda is an alternate ending. Essentially. It adds a little bit more time to the piece, of course, but it also is adding a little bit of a roadmap. So you would usually see D.C. Al Coda. So it's telling you, go back to the beginning, then play to where it says Coda. And I'm sorry, where it says "To Coda" and then you'll cut to the coda. And that's how the piece will end sometimes it says DS al Coda. So that means they're going to go back to the squiggly S. And you're going to play that spot to where it says To Coda. And then you will cut to the coda and that's how the piece will end. Either way it went with the coda. Cadenzas. Cadenzas can be ad- libbed, or written out. So a cadenza is essentially a guitar solo or a drum solo. But for classical instruments, a cadenza is a moment where they're playing the solo and it's gotten a little bit of rubato. Rubato, meaning that it's got ebb and flow. So sometimes you play a little faster or sometimes slower, stretching out the music there. So that's the point of the cadenza. It's supposed to show off extra talents. But these all have you playing a section over or cutting to a new section or repeating this section or in a specific spot and play this to the end and cut to a new section here. So that's kinda the point of signs. Thank you guys so much for listening to the series. I really appreciate it and I hope that you guys have all become sight-reading STARS. And if you have any questions, comments, concerns, please put them in the comments.