Please click on the link below to access the sight singing assignment for next week. You must bring the assignment to your sight singing lesson. You may choose to print it out, or to view it on a laptop or tablet device. Please do not attempt to read the assignment from your phone in the lesson. This seldom results in a high score.
Sightreading The coming week’s sight singing lesson will feature sightreading. The difficulty level will be approximately that of melodies we were studying back in Unit 4 and Unit 5. Your instructor will give you a moment to practice the sightreading before you perform it. As always, take careful note of the clef, the key signature, the time signature, and so on. What is the beat note? How many beats are in the measure? Where are do, mi, and sol, and other “signposts”? How is the beat divided? Sing and conduct confidently, aiming for a steady tempo, fluent solfege, and perfect intonation.
Prepared Material: Chords ii and IV In common chord progressions, the dominant is typically preceded by a pre-dominant chord. The most common of these is IV, though ii6 (which has the same bass note, fa) is often used too. This week, expect to sing a lot of fa, la (or le, in minor keys), and re as we explore these chords.
Another place we regularly find chord IV is in its second inversion as part of the “pedal 6/4,” one of the three specific uses of the 6/4 triad in harmony (the other two being the passing 6/4 and the cadential 6/4, which we will study in future units). The pedal 6/4 is often found as a variant of chord I in harmonic progressions such as the one that accompanies “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” and “Baa Baa Black Sheep.” This week, we will sing duets that demonstrate this harmonic progression.
Chord IV can also precede I in the plagal cadence. Part of developing professional-level musicianship is understanding the harmonic progressions indicated by basslines. We will sing several of these in this unit. You will notice that they often contain several large leaps. When you understand the rational order of harmonic progression, this will take some of the difficulty out of singing them.
For more practice singing Baroque basslines, please see this link to several hundred of Bach’s chorales in four-part settings.