Tuesday, July 31, 2012

How To Become A Better Sight-Reader





Copyright © 2005 RAW Productions
If you are like most people, your performance of a piece of music “at first sight” could probably stand some improvement. Oh, to be able to breeze through a brand new piece without all the stops and starts!

What you may not realize is that sight-reading is an art in itself, separate and apart from pianistic ability. Many conservatory musicians, even many soloists, are not the great sight-readers you might expect. Sight-reading is a special craft within the art of music that won’t come automatically.

You must work at it just as you work at technique, or interpretation. You could have the technique of a Horowitz on the keyboard, or a Segovia on the guitar, but still be a laughable sight-reader.

There are many tricks to the sight-reading game, no matter which instrument you play. If these tricks can be used properly, and with regularity, two things will happen: 1) your sight-reading improves, of course, and 2) your over-all technique automatically improves. And if you regiment yourself to a daily sight-reading program, even just fifteen minutes’ worth, your entire outlook on your instrument will change drastically in a matter days!

If you practice scales, for example, you only improve your ability in playing scales. Nothing more. However, with sight-reading practice, you improve your scale playing technique, your octave technique, your arpeggio technique, because you are using actual pieces, which can encompass all of these techniques and more.

Let’s talk more of those “tricks” that will get you on the road to better sight-reading.

First of all, you need a metronome. That’s trick number one.

What A Metronome Does For Sight-Reading:

Have you ever played chess, or watched people play chess by time-clock? The object of time-clock chess is that each player has a stipulated amount of time in which to make his or her move. They cannot exceed the amount of time allotted, or else the bell will sound and s/he will be penalized. This is exactly how we use a metronome in sight-reading. We must make our ”move” to the next note, or next chord, within a set time period.

And that’s the trick that gets our reflexes going. Sight-reading is nothing more than training our reflexes. In order to do this we have to fight the time-clock. In the case of music, our time-clock is the metronome. It’s an absolute necessity if you are serious about becoming a good, or better sight-reader. Besides that, you will find it invaluable for other practice purposes, which we will deal with in the future.

There are all kinds of reasons for having a metronome. So you might as well invest.
To learn more piano "tricks of the trade," you are invited to visit: http://www.mrronsmusic.comand http://www.playpianotonight.com 

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Aboriginal Art - A Long Standing Art Form With Numerous Forms

Aboriginal art is a well known type of art that is actually a relationship of native art and non-native Australian art. This form of art consists of a wide variety of mediums including sand painting, wood art, rock carving and even leaf art. This really is a fascinating type of art and possibly among the most interesting types of art the world has ever discovered. It wasn't until the later 1980's that rock painting was recognized in Western Australia, with these particular paintings known as Bradshaws; these mural paintings were first recorded by Joesph Bradshaw, a Western European explorer of that era.


 A variety of indigenous art forms around Australia Rock sculptures and engravings.  There are many varieties of rock engravings in Australia, with the most famous being the Murujuga in Western Australia. The many kinds of rock engravings and sculptures in fact is dependent upon the nature of rock being used and you will usually find that from one rock to the next, the styles and designs will be different. For instance, the Sydney rock art uses a specific design that can't be located anywhere else in Australia and uses people and animals as symbols for several definitions and ways of expression.

 Rock arrangements

 This really is another interesting type of art that is located in Australia and again, there are different forms over the land. Among the most famous stone arrangements in Australia has to be the circles of Victoria, which is made up of 1m stones which are usually set into the soil and are used to illustrate representations of anglers along with other everyday people of that time.

 Bark art

 Bark paintings are in fact fast changing to the most elaborate and highly revered art forms around the globe. In fact, bark painting is now considered a "fine art" and you'll see some very high costs on bark painting examples sold around international marketplaces in various places around the world. In reality, bark art is still very much, an active type of art form which was first started by the aboriginals many hundreds of years ago. Modern aboriginal art One surprising aspect of this style of art is that it's still definitely, a working art form in local Australia. During the mid 1930s, aboriginal artists became recognised as experienced artists in the nation and many of the paintings were sold out in exhibitions around Australian cities such as Adelaide and also Melbourne.

In the late 1980s, other forms of aboriginal art began to arrive on the scene and now, well into the 2000's, aboriginal art happens to be among the most well known styles of art found in the nation, and indeed all over the world. There are so many different factors that you can easily write about with regard to aboriginal art and this post just skims the surface.

Thanks for looking through and I really hope you found this particular article interesting. If you would like to get more info on indigenous art and different types that can now be found across the globe, please visit http://www.aboriginalartdirectory.com Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jennifer_Tanha

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