EmilyDimond

Emily Dimond

Hometown: Henderson, NV

Major: Music - Vocal Performance

Engagement Track: Creativity

 

Sight-Reading Skill Development

 

    For my EDGE Project I chose to write a book of exercises to help develop sight-reading skills.  These exercises were written for beginning pianists to use in their private lessons. I began my project by sight-reading materials at my skill level in order to determine the most difficult aspects of learning to sight-read.  I also took a job as a teaching assistant for a Music Theory III class. This allowed me to work on my teaching and composition skills in preparation for writing this book.

 

   When I felt that I had a solid understanding of the difficulties presented by sight-reading, I moved on to composition.  I used Finale Notepad music software to write out exercises of various difficulty levels. I used a variety of keys, time signatures, and clefs to ensure a well-rounded group of exercises.  I then sent the finished exercises to my graphic designer, who helped me compile them into a book. He and I met together several times to go over the layout before printing.

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    I was inspired to write this book because I want young musicians to feel confident as they pursue musicals careers and opportunities.  In my experience, the most successful musicians are often skilled sight-readers, and I personally have received great opportunities because of my experience with sight-reading.  At the same time, I have noticed that many teachers wait until their students have been training for quite some time before they introduce the concept of sight-reading. With my own students, the ones who progress the fastest are almost always the ones who are comfortable sight-reading and practicing on their own.  I wanted to have a book to use in my lessons that would focus specifically on developing this important skill.

 

   One of the biggest challenges I encountered during this project was learning to use the Finale Notepad music software.  I had used computer software similar to this in the past, but in an effort to save money on this project I chose to switch to this specific software because it is free.  While it was effective in allowing me to produce simple sight-reading exercises, there were definitely limitations presented with the use of this particular software. For example, single-staved exercises could only be written in the treble clef.  Because I wanted some exercises written in only the bass clef, I had to write them on a full piano staff with rests throughout the treble clef line.

 

   Firstly, this project benefited my husband, who is just starting to brand himself as a graphic designer.  He helped me design the book and was able to list the project on his website, joshuadimond.com. In the future, I hope that the book will benefit other piano teachers and students.  I also plan to use the book in my own private studio so that it can benefit students of my own.

 

   This project has benefited me in a number of ways.  Firstly, it gave me incentive to practice the piano more frequently over the summer.  Because my major concentration is voice, I often cannot find the time to practice the piano, even though it is a skill that I value deeply.  It also gave me the opportunity to work on my composition skills, which has never been my strongest suit. In the future, I hope that I will be able to sell this book to other teachers, and as such the project will continue to benefit me financially.  

 

    “Sight-read Messiah piano reduction for ‘If God Be for Us Who Can Be Against Us’ on organ.  I realized sight-reading without a pedal presents unique but common issues for beginning students who often only have access to keyboards for practice.  Exercises will need to strengthen the concept of sticking to keys through note lengths, especially over leaps.” - Journal Entry 7/23/18

 

   “Sight-read a single melodic vocal part with multiple key signatures.  I think this may be a good goal to work toward for students. Exercises will need to make sure that the students can play a melodic line by feel.”  -Journal Entry 8/2/18