Ask Questions

I was standing next to a friend of mine the other day who is probably one of the best sight readers in town. I noticed how he hums a few notes before each entrance during a rehearsal. I figured since he was excellent at what he does, I would ask him a few questions.

During our break, I asked him why he hums before each take. He went on to explain how getting his cords ready, in position so to speak, makes the entrance much cleaner and allows him to focus more on performance when executing the piece. This way he is not searching for notes when trying to sing the next phrase.

I understand that this may seem like it would bring a lot of chaos if everyone did it but the humming is so minimal that mainly only he hears it.

This is only one occasion where I’ve tried to figure out what makes reading easy for others. Now, I always ask questions. Sometimes one little piece of advice will bring a huge revelation to your understanding and bump your sight reading up a notch.