122 Sight Singing Instructions

Irregular Meters

The exercises in rhythm comes from Mikrokosmos, a multi-volume series of progressive piano repertoire by the Hungarian composer Béla Bartók. Do not attempt to conduct in eighth notes; instead, conduct in large beats as shown. The beats will have the value of either two or three eight notes. Therefore, conduct 3/8 measures in one.

Trichords, Tetrachords, Non-Diatonic Melodies

Pitch-Class Sets

We will use the pitch-class set singing skills developed last week to build non-diatonic scales. Build your scales step by step using these easy, memorable intervallic patterns before attempting an entire scale on a neutral syllable like “la.”

Non-Diatonic Melodies

When melody is non-diatonic, moveable-do solfege is no longer practical or relevant. Therefore, please sing all excerpts on “la.”

Study the intervallic relations of the pitches in the melodies carefully before attempting them. Analyze them according to the principles of the pitch-class sets and scales we have already studied. An analytical understanding makes performance much more manageable. If you are unfamiliar with the style of this week’s melodies, look up the composers and study as much of their music as possible to familiarize yourself with their non-diatonic languages.

Struggling? Try an exercise where you move from pitch to pitch, isolating each interval until it feels more comfortable. Do this without the given rhythms a few times to strengthen your sense of pitch. Then add back the rhythms now you know the melodic shape better.