The Visual Approach to Sight-Reading

You might as well know this now – the Visual approach to sight-reading is different from most others on the market today. Why? Because it takes a different path – one that’s based on vision and customization, not rote learning.

The Traditional Approach – Sight-read it, then Forget It

Most sight-reading methods use a traditional approach that’s not very effective. You buy a book of etudes or exercises, you play through them and master them, and then you either go out and buy another book or leave the current book on the shelf until you’ve forgotten the exercises you learned.

Here are the obvious problems:

• You could end up spending a ton of money on reading material.
• You have little control over how hard or easy the reading material is.
• You’re usually low on material – you wish you had more to read, right at your fingertips.

The Visual Approach – Customized Exercises

In the early 1980’s, Sightreading Jazz pioneered the concept of customizable reading exercises. Through an ingenious system of flexible rhythm and pitch pages, Sightreading Jazz offers you hundreds of thousands of possible exercises in one book.

Here are some of the advantages of the Visual approach through Sightreading Jazz:

• You have tons of reading material without spending tons of money.
• You can customize the exercises to help you work on the keys and rhythms you need the most.
• You can determine the difficulty level of most exercises, from very easy to very difficult.
• The pitch exercises help you identify trouble spots in your reading and ear-training skills.
• The exercises are available in treble or bass clef.

Sightreading Jazz in the Classroom

Did you know you can use Sightreading Jazz in the classroom as an exceptional method to sharpen reading skills? Schools around the world have used it, often as a warmup or reading source in jazz ensembles. Here’s how it works:

1. Each student gets a treble or bass clef copy of Sightreading Jazz, or a Sightreading Jazz packet. The packets contain the transposed pitch exercises for Bb or Eb instruments.
2. Students can read the exercises together in unison or harmony.
3. Using the Teacher’s Guide to Sightreading Jazz, the director can control the difficulty and variety of the exercises for maximum class benefit.

Conclusion

Whether you sight-read by yourself or in groups, whether you’re a beginner at reading or a seasoned pro, Sightreading Jazz offers you a lifetime experience in reading. And it’s an experience you can control and shape, at your own pace and at a difficulty level that’s best for your growth.

Enjoy the Sightreading Jazz advantage today!