Sight Reading AND Transposing

[didi]

Hi all

I have read a lot of threats for sight reading and memorization, but

 - but how does sight reading and transposition work at the same time?

This is a skill which you quite often would need when accomany singers (?)

Sight reading is not a big problem for me.
I'm also able to transpose a piece on the piano - IF I HAVE MEMORIZED IT.
But combining these 2 skills does exclude them "ad hoc'.

How can you you do that?

You read it, hear the melody/cords internaly and transpose it then -
You play and hear something different you heard internally milliseconds
before   -  can't believe that.

Reading the differences to the previous score and adapt it to the
transposed scale? This even works for normal sight reading.

So, how can you do that????

Thanks // Dietmar

[galonia]

I read by intervals - so I don't care about letternames, once I know which note I start on, I just judge the distance to the next note.  So if I have to transpose something I'm sight reading, I just work out the key the piece is written in, work out the first note, then work out the corresponding note in the new key, and away I go.  No problems.

Except it does take practice - it didn't use to be so easy.  But you're right, singers in particular like their accompanists to do some pretty fancy acrobatics at the keyboard.

[timothy42b]

Yeah, but why bother?

Play it as written, just hit the transpose wheel on your keyboard. 

[quasimodo]

Yeah, but why bother?

Play it as written, just hit the transpose wheel on your keyboard. 

Not very easy on a Steinway B or a Yamaha C7..., the main difficulty is to find the transpose wheel...

[anda]

start with very simple things (as simple as czerny 599), preferably without too many altered notes, preferably in c dur and try transposing in g dur and f dur. once you have no problems with transposing to 1 degree related tonalities, try sight-reading again same works but this time transposed to 2nd degree related tonalities (d dur and b dur) and so on.

everytime you want to sight-read transposed, play arpeggios and chords of the new tonality before reading.

don't try sight-reading transposed from a difficult tonality (i.e. ges dur, des dur, h dur) before you have read many many works transposing from c dur, g dur, d dur, etc.

it's important to be able to sight-read transposed especially if you have to accompany singers. and it's not a piece of cake (especially because most of the times you have to transpose to distant-related tonalities - from e dur to fis dur and so on). but you get used.

best luck

[pianolew@yahoo.com]

Hi all

I have read a lot of threats for sight reading and memorization, but

 - but how does sight reading and transposition work at the same time?

This is a skill which you quite often would need when accomany singers (?)

Sight reading is not a big problem for me.
I'm also able to transpose a piece on the piano - IF I HAVE MEMORIZED IT.
But combining these 2 skills does exclude them "ad hoc'.

How can you you do that?

You read it, hear the melody/cords internaly and transpose it then -
You play and hear something different you heard internally milliseconds
before   -  can't believe that.

Reading the differences to the previous score and adapt it to the
transposed scale? This even works for normal sight reading.

So, how can you do that?

Thanks // Dietmar