Sight Singing Made Simple (Book/CD Pak)

This is a great *introductory* book for someone who knows how to sing but is intimidated by sight singing. It is very basic--just a start--and you will need to supplement it with subsequent books or lessons. But it doesn't cost much and will get the student going. Here's a true story:My wife has an excellent voice, but did not know how to sight sing and was convinced that she could never learn. I bought her this book and she went through it in one weekend. That Tuesday she auditioned for a chorus and was asked to sight sing a simple piece. She did, she passed, and now she sings in the chorus. I have her going through another book and she is progressing well.

It was just what I expected. It is a great starting point for someone who has little to no knowledge of music.

I am actually a student preparing for an audition, so I needed help improving my sight reading skills. This book is very easy to use and has great induction for someone who is doing private study. Very happy with this purchase. Great for beginners as well.

Very helpful for sight reading practice!

great product and seller AAA

It's simpler than my husband expected.

As a sight singing teacher and author of the Sight Singers Resource web site ..., I was using a variety of methods to teach people to sight sing, until discovering Mr. Bauguess' Sight Singing Made Simple course. Now by just using his materials I can impart this skill in the easiest and most enjoyable way to my students. It's a straight-forward approach dealing with one thing at a time and slowly adding the layers of skills of this multi-sensory art only as necessary. I strongly recommend the Sight Singing Made Simple course for learning this skill which is, through Mr. Baugess' creative efforts now available to anyone interested in acquiring it. He has virtually democratized the fundamentals of the art of sight-singing. Since I posted this review originally in October of 2000, many others have also now been posted reviews and the array of different reactions is interesting and helpful. They point out just how tricky this skill is to learn and how often frustrating. It is very true that if one finds matching, or mimicking pitches (as is required when used the CD) difficult or impossible, prior ear-training is essential. There is a wide range of ability in this facet of "musical intelligence" (see Howard Gardner's work on Multiple Intelligences). Some people, on the other hand find rhythm and "keeping a steady beat" more problematic than re-producing sounds accurately. This has more to do with "kinesthetic intelligence". Everyone is different. Vocalizing music notation (sight-singing) is a multi-layered activity/skill and all these separate skills must be coordinated in order to sight-sing. It is also true that Sight Singing Made Simple teaches just the very basic fundamentals. This means step-wise intervals within the major diatonic scale (do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do), skips (or intervals) within the major tonic (beginning on 'do') chord, and a blending of these two types of intervals. Rhymtically, one learns to sing whole, half, quarter, eighth, and dotted half notes with these intervals. A more advanced set of exercises (which comes with manuals that explain how to use the exercises, either for use by a teacher or student who has successfully used this introductory course) can be bought through music stores. It's called the Jenson Sight Singing Course. It's basically a two year course and goes into reading in minor keys as well as chromatic tones. It takes one through intermediate sight-singing. I use other texts after this. But the important thing, in a basic course, is not how advanced one gets but rather that a good and firm foundation in the approach to the skill is established. This, more than any other such method, is accomplished in this first course. The reason for teaching the entire scale (all seven tones) at once, from my perspective is that it forms an integrated organic whole which if cut up into parts does not convey the true structural foundation upon which most music we in the United States listen to, is based. Most people intuitively know how this scale sounds and Mr. Bauguess capitalizes on that fact by presenting it in its entirety and showing the student how the sounds that make it up move in an up and down, step-wise fashion from one note to a contiguous note. Again, if one cannot by oneself mimick these sounds as heard on the CD then preparatory work must be done with the aid of a teacher. There may be some kind of feedback software out there to help one do this on one's own, but I have never come across it and would recommend, in any case, the personal touch here that is so important of an experienced teacher. Just one secret in this process: Very few people DO NOT actually hear the correct pitch in their minds. It's just that some find it difficult to translate accurately the sound they hear mentally into physical sound through the vocal mechanism. Why? Because they don't take enough time to assimilate the sound they hear by actually hearing that sound in silence for 5-10 seconds before they sing it. This gives for the brain/body system to coordinate the message and render it properly in sound. It can be a very tedious process but I've seen someone who actually teaches people who were thought to be 'tone deaf' and this is the approach he uses and makes it not so tedious because of the creative interaction between himself and the student. It was quite an eye opener for me to watch him work.

I basically agree with Lee Goldberg's review and I wish I had listened to his review. If you have ever played a musical instrument or sung in a choir, then this book is not for you. It is extremely basic and clearly oriented for someone who knows next to nothing about music notation. I was able to sight sing all of the exercises in the book immediately.Perhaps my daugther can use this book, but as a church choir singer trying to improve my sight singing, this books was a waste of money.

This book is invaluable if you are learning to sight sing. I am only at page 15, and yet it has helped my understanding of sight singing. The exercises are explained very clearly.I winged it for my Grade 1 singing exam, however, with this book, I know my Grade 2 will be much easier and I will attain a higher score. The CD helps you along, and there are practise sessions for you to test yourself. My sing coach was also very impressed with this book.It has also helped me with my actual singing to a music sheet.I cannot recommend this book enough. I had previous purchased another 'singing in time' book, however, this is book much better.

Great if you have little to know experience in sight singing, but understand the basic principles of reading music and rythm.Great first steps with accompanied CD. I would like follow on steps to improve further and reach lone singer choir level without having to attend a choir. A potential opening in the market from my relatively thorough research in this market area.

This came packaged well and on timeThe book is a really useful tool for helping children with sight readingan area that needs to be covered in more detail .

Nice layout. Easy to follow with the CD.

Great Book. Helped a lot with sight reading for grade 8