The quick and the....

Hello, Quick-Draw Solmizators!

Ugh! Your blogmistress is recalcitrant this week.... The aforementioned Madrigal Festival reaped way more than its share of my brainpower, and then my beloved friend Susan (with Melise Gabrielle, age 2, in tow) arrived in combination with the Boulder Chorale's concert weekend (for which I served as page-turner/shekere shaker) and a gig with the Denver Gay Men's Chorus Ambassadors....so, the poor little blog has gotten shortchanged. And, I am certain that all of you are similarly feeling November's pinch....it's the drive to the cadence, I believe. Oh, and the scent of snow is in the air at last -- just to really spice things up (no, I'm not being poetic....in Denver and Boulder, the smell of cow poo in the air means the wind is blowing from Greeley, which means impending snow...and while snow is pretty, cow poo does pretty much sum up how I feel about its presence on the whole).

Anyhow, it's a busy, busy time, and for that reason, a great time to practice the fine art of true, straight-up, quick-draw sight-reading: 30 hot seconds to glance at the key signature, time signature, and starting and ending notes, a measure of beating time to set your tempo and meter, and you're off! No going back, no slowing down, no mulligans. Try to get all the syllables you can, and try not to stop.

Rising Level 2's

Select two examples per day from Ottman, chapters 3, 4, and 5. Try to pick examples we haven't used in class or in other places on the blog. The idea is to use stuff that'd be easy for you to prepare for flawless performance, in hopes that you can read it at sight with a high degree of accuracy. Do take your 30 hot seconds (as mentioned above) to survey the landscape.

Rising Level 3's

Select two examples per day from Ottman, chapters 6, 8, and 9 (and 7, if you'd like to practice your C-clef skills). Follow the same rules as the rising 2's.

Rising Level 4's

Select two examples per day from Ottman, chapters 10 (yes, I know it's just rhythm), 11, and 12. Follow the same rules as the rising 2's and 3's, and split your picks between melodic and rhythmic exercises.

And, just between you, me, and the interwebs, I find this kind of sight-reading easiest after about a glass and a half of wine...just sayin'...

Good luck!