Introduction to Intervals
6 Sight Singing Instructions: Simple Meters and Finding Do
Simple Meters
In any simple meter, the beat is divisible by two. A simple time signature contains a numerator and a denominator. The numerator indicates the number of beats in the measure, which gives you your conducting pattern. The denominator indicates the beat note, i.e. “4” is a quarter note, “2” is a half note, and so on. Therefore, if you see the key signature of 2/2, you should conduct it in 2, using the half note as the beat note.
Conducting Patterns
In all simple time signatures, certain factors remain the same. The downbeat is indicated by a downwards movement, and the pickup by an upwards movement. In triple time, the second beat goes away from the body. In quadruple time, the strong beats—1 and 3—are indicated by strong movements, 1 downwards and 3 away from the body. The second beat—a weak beat—goes across the body. There is a simple reason for this: in an ensemble, players and/or singers can keep track of beat patterns by looking for the strong beats, so the strong beats must be indicated by unmistakable movements. In quadruple time, it isn’t a problem for the second beat to be less visible to the players because it’s a weak beat.
Solfege Syllables
In this class, we will use a sight singing system known as “movable-do solfege.” The tonic of any key will be assigned the syllable “do.” The other syllables will be assigned accordingly.
| Major Scale Degree | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Theoretical Name | tonic | supertonic | mediant | subdominant | dominant | submediant | leading tone |
| Solfege Syllable | do | re | mi | fa | sol | la | ti |
Sight Singing Focus
- Simple meters with beat notes of 1/16, 1/8, 1/4, 1/2
- Understanding rhythms in simple time, including easy divisions and subdivisions of the beat
- Chanting rhythms while conducting in beat patterns
- Simultaneously clapping and chanting rhythms
- Singing mostly stepwise diatonic melodies in major keys using solfege and conducting
- Singing stepwise melodies in duets to understand simple harmonies and maintain a melodic line without becoming distracted by the second line
