Posts made by BigDub

@j-jericho
I think I must be a robot.

@dr-go said in Traits that make a great sight reader?:

@bigdub said in Traits that make a great sight reader?:

@fels said in Traits that make a great sight reader?:
Often there is no time to preview a piece. There’s a book full of music, and you don’t always have an idea what is going to come up next, so you might have but a few moments to get an overview of it.

Perhaps a course in speed reading may help your sight reading skills!

Sounds like homework.

@fels said in Traits that make a great sight reader?:

I agree with Rowuk's earlier comments as a fundamental basis for sight reading. I will add:

Like any other skill -- you have do do it a lot. Accept sub invitations, play pieces you have not seen before.

Take a few minutes to survey the piece and perhaps mark the score. OK, the purists a say that is no longer sight reading. But down beats are down beats and a little visual reminder helps.

Listen to those around you. Accepting the music will help in terms of understanding your part and being able to play on sight.

This is very good. As I read this, I realize these are things I have been trying to do. It has helped, for sure. The point is, I think there are traits that enable some to be naturally better at sight reading than people like myself, who struggle with it more.
Often there is no time to preview a piece. There’s a book full of music, and you don’t always have an idea what is going to come up next, so you might have but a few moments to get an overview of it.
It is like everything else, really. Practice, repetition ( but with different music every time ) and scan ahead a little wherever possible.

@dr-go said in Traits that make a great sight reader?:

Add to the challenge of sight reading that most the parts I get are for C instruments, so in addition to sight reading I am also transposing the notes as I go, and trying to remember to add two sharps to the written key signature.

Man up. It’s good for your brain.

@dr-go said in Traits that make a great sight reader?:

I believe the hardest part of sight reading is being able to count. What really trips me up the most is reading where NOT to play (the rests) more so than were TO play (the notes). It all comes down to the rhythm, the feel of the song. That is what I find most challenging regarding sight reading.

I was thinking the same thing the other day. The rests. Long rests. If only there was some kind of an app for waiting out long rests. A little count down.....one measure to go, 1,2,ready, play, right?
I think for me, it’s laziness. I try my best to find sections of the music, like road signs to get around having to actually count 28 measures.
I celebrate the little “helps” like key changes and time signature changes during the rests. Those are dead giveaways. That’s my goal. I think I work harder at that than I would to just count.

@dr-go said in Traits that make a great sight reader?:

Two Main Rules:

1. Sight Read Often

2. Sing it before you play it, and if you're Rapier, sing it to yourself and all will be fine.

The point of being able to sight read, in my mind, that you can pick up the piece of music and play it. No preparation, no study, no premeditation. Like picking up a book or newspaper and reading it without ever having seen it before. That’s what I consider a good sight reader. I marvel at a pianist who can read a piece for the first time- and there are many more notes, two staffs, and two clefs to consider as well!
I do think my sight reading has come a very long way, mind you. Up until about 8 years ago when I started playing with the community band and basically had all new music all the time, I was not being challenged much. It was in a church setting playing stuff I more or less knew and could play first time without any trouble. It was also not as difficult or intricate.

I claim no expertise in this subject, but maybe a lot of experience and observation. Let’s get that out of the way first.
First, let me say I am not a particularly good sight reader. I have gotten better through osmosis, maybe because I sit next to people who are, so it elevates me to some degree. It seems to me that some of the great sight readers might have a strong aptitude for math. See the opening remark: it is my observation and experience over the years, not fact or scientific study. They have the numbers and fractions right there in their heads, constantly ticking off like a computer. Easy stuff for them.

My problem with sight reading, I think, stemmed from my relying too much on my ear. I’d hear it the first time through and know how it went, rhythmically and the tune was in the vault already, so, once again I escaped really having to figure it out on my own.
So am I way off base or is there some validity to this?

You might remember I had mentioned having to do a cat portrait. Actually 3 cats....same client. Here are the three ( it might take two posts )

@dr-go said in Any organists?:

Started out playing the Hammond B-3 at a night club in Mt. Washington called the Golden Roster. I played there one weekend once a month for over a year. Here is a pic of me at one of the gigs. I was 7 years old at the time.

Clearly you were a lot cooler then, Doc.
I, on the other hand lean more toward the organ donor side of things. Says so on my driver's license.

@dr-go said in On the, “ I wish I had had a little more sense of history” topic......:

@georgeb said in On the, “ I wish I had had a little more sense of history” topic......:

@kehaulani

I actually like playing Strangers In The Night, but I skip the Dooby dooby dooo at the end.

I sing Strangers In The Night if I first partake of some Dobby dooby dooos just prior to said song breakout...

This is of course legal in Colorado... and of more recent, New Jersey, as BigDub probably knows.... and perhaps, we may see more abstract art offerings from BigDub as a result, yes?

Well, if I was so inclined, there would probably be a lot less productivity.
As far as playing Strangers in The Night, I seem to end up playing more TO strangers in the night. They haven’t heard me play yet, so I can surprise them at least until they can escape for the exit

@barliman2001 said in How about a "Random Meaningless Image...let's see them string"?:

@bigdub Extremely rare... especially as in that picture a heron is standing in for the stork...

He was an auxiliary back up. The Stork had a day off, maybe

@dr-go
Very rare

How about this? I received an email from an Instagram follower that he had purchased a painting from a thrift store after realizing it was not a print but an original, and had my signature on it. Could I tell him any background information about it? he asked.
He sent me a good photo of it, and it even had a frame I had made some 42 years past. By the way, he paid $6.99 for the framed original.

I am working right now on three cat portraits. I will admit it is a struggle. Particularly with the eyes and getting the proper emotion. I was fortunate to find this reference poster. This really makes it crystal clear.

@dr-go said in How about a "Random Meaningless Image...let's see them string"?:

@bigdub said in How about a "Random Meaningless Image...let's see them string"?:

@dr-go
We now know you can’t perform a k-turn in a k-nal

Oh, but you k-an
I-kan, but that freighter Kaptain apparently k-ant.

@dr-go
We now know you can’t perform a k-turn in a k-nal

@dale-proctor said in Jackie Gleason Plays Cornet:

@bigdub said in Jackie Gleason Plays Cornet:

@dale-proctor
Another thought: how many times have you seen someone ( try to ) play the Carnival of Venice with about a 6”x8” sheet of music on a lyre?

It was probably the marching version...lol. I’d guess a few measures were all he needed, since the script called for him to go cross-eyed at that point. Probably 99.9% of the people watching the show had no idea what the piece was, anyway. We are an elite minority, for sure.

Must have been the Reader's Digest sheet music version.

@dr-go said in Jackie Gleason Plays Cornet:

@bigdub said in Jackie Gleason Plays Cornet:

@dale-proctor
Another thought: how many times have you seen someone ( try to ) play the Carnival of Venice with about a 6”x8” sheet of music on a lyre?

Not me, oh no, and trust this response as I am not a lyre.

Glad to hear that, Doc. Here is a true statement: I NEVER used a lyre after my freshman year of marching band. Not once.

@dale-proctor
Another thought: how many times have you seen someone ( try to ) play the Carnival of Venice with about a 6”x8” sheet of music on a lyre?

One thing seems clear to me. Both Jackie Gleason and Art Carney both played the cornet. Themselves. No fake dubbing. Something you almost never see anymore.
Another thing. My wife and I are about to celebrate our 45th anniversary. The couple who came to the Kramdens apartment were married 40, supposedly. They looked about 89.
Do I look 5 years older than those two?
Don’t answer if you have nothing nice to say....hahahahaha