As someone who is classically
trained in piano, my piano lessons almost always covered classical pieces once
I had finished studying the method books. My teachers may have had no training or
experience exploring other styles of music so I never studied them.
Additionally, I mostly never expressed interest in popular music or listened to
it very much. I suppose you could say
that my music teachers and I were for the most part classical snobs.
While being on the search for more
music to sight-read, I came across multiple books at the public library containing
sheet music of popular music. One of these books was even labeled by the publisher
as a “simplified version.” I thought well there might be the possibility that
this book may be levels below my sight-reading ability.
Well, it turns out that I was
completely wrong. I found this simplified book challenging not because of
reading the notes or technical issues were difficult, but because I found the
rhythmic reading to be somewhat challenging.
When your sight-read, music from unfamiliar
styles, the difficulty of the task will always be harder than what you expect.
The rhythms and harmonies of the idiom do not always resemble the expected notational
patterns that are familiar. Sure, you can still decipher the notes and rhythms
on an intellectual level, but because the patterns differ a bit from what you
have previously seen, the ability to do this automatically at sight is not so
easy.
To illustrate, in one piece I discovered
that even though I knew the rhythmic pattern well enough to count the subdivisions,
it completely fell apart when I read it. I knew the theory behind it and even
what it supposed to sound like, but I was not accustomed to seeing this
particular rhythmic combination on paper. I stopped playing and clapped the rhythm
with no trouble. So why did I have difficulty with this rhythm while
sight-reading? The problem was not so much an intellectual or rhythmic issue so
much as a processing one. My relative unfamiliarity with seeing highly
syncopated rhythms, which are common in popular music, was too much for me to
synthesize in sight-reading in real time. I was simply encountering more visual
information that I could readily absorb, assimilate, and integrate in a
sight-reading situation.
I am not alone with this problem.
Many classical musicians have a hard time playing popular music because they
are not familiar with it. And this experience helped me understand the struggles
of people who become quickly overwhelmed while sight-reading lower-level
classical music. While I can sight-read early grade classical music with ease,
many pianists have not learned the musical language of this style well enough
to sight-read it. With sight-reading you have to know and recognize the style
so thoroughly by literally reading tons of pieces. I simply have not sight-read
enough popular pieces to know the style well and automatically sight-read them
fluently.
Takeaway points:
1.
Unfamiliar music styles can be good for the
development of sight-reading.
2.
Don’t be overconfident. Some music that looks “easy”
may be challenging.
3.
Clapping rhythms at troublesome spots reduces the
sensory overload for better assimilation and integration
4.
Familiarity with a style makes that style of
music easier to sight-read.
5.
Sight-reading is not just an intellectual
cognitive exercise. In other words, just understanding the notation is not enough
to be fluent reader.
6.
A great quantity of previous reading experiences
in a style is necessary before sight-reading in that style becomes automatic.
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