I. Fundamentals
15 The Basics of Sight-Singing and Dictation
Kris Shaffer; Chelsey Hamm; and Samuel Brady
Key Takeaways
- Sight-singing means to sing at sight, having never before heard or seen what you are singing. Sight-counting is counting a rhythm you have never before heard or seen.
- Always practice sight-singing with the rhythmic and melodic solmization systems your instructor taught you. The more you practice, the easier solmization will be!
- Practice sight-singing and sight-counting while conducting when possible. If you’re having trouble, practice at a slower tempo.
- Dictation involves translating rhythms, melodies, chord progressions, or other aural sounds that you’ve never before seen, played, or sung into staff notation.
- Strategies for rhythmic dictation include dot grids, slash notation, and protonotation. Conducting and/or tapping while taking dictation can also help.
- Strategies for melodic dictation include contour lines, writing down solmization syllables, and protonotation. Conducting and/or tapping while taking dictation can also help.
Regardless of whether you are a vocalist or instrumentalist (or both!), you will likely study sight-singing. Sight-singing means to sing at sight, having never before heard or seen what you are singing. A related skill is sight-counting, which is counting a rhythm you have never before heard or seen. There are many strategies that will help you learn how to sight-sing and sight-count.
Strategies for Sight-Singing and Sight-Counting
If you are learning to sight-sing and sight-count in a classroom, then you are likely going to practice these skills sitting down. When you sight-sing or sight-count, it is important to make sure you have good posture. You will want to sit up straight, at the edge of your chair, with your thighs parallel to the ground. Breathe from your diaphragm (not your chest!) and articulate your singing and counting syllables as clearly as possible.
demonstrates proper singing posture while sitting down:
When sight-counting, it is helpful to use a rhythmic solmization system. Open Music Theory prioritizes American standard counting, but there are many other great counting systems available. Here are some other strategies for sight-counting:
- Do not write your counts on your music. This will save you time and will help you to learn to count at sight.
- When you first look at a rhythm to sight-count, note the time signature. How many beats are in each measure, and what note value gets the beat?
- Conduct while you sight-count. This will help you to keep a steady tempo and to remember which beat you are counting.
- If you are not conducting, try tapping a steady beat while sight-counting. This will help you to keep a steady tempo.
- If you are still having trouble keeping a steady tempo, practice with a metronome app.
- If you’re having trouble with a rhythm or with solmization syllables, practice at a slower tempo or break the rhythm down into smaller chunks.
When sight-singi