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A NEW APPROACHto

SIGHT SINGINGTHIRD EDITION

Sol BerkowitzPROFESSOR OF MUSIC

Gabriel FontrierPROFESSOR EMERITUS OF MUSIC

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Leo KraftPROFESSOR OF MUSIC

The Aaron Copland School of Music atQueens College of the City University of New York

New York: , W ,. W . NORTON & COMPANY. London

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Copyright 1960, 1976, 1986 by W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.

ALL RIGHTS RBSBJ.VBD

Music Typography by Melvin Wildberger

Layout by Ben Gamit

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Berkowitz, Sol.A new approach to sight singing.

1. Sight-singing. I. Fontrier, Gabriel, jointauthor. II. Kraft, Leo, joint author. II. Tide.MT870.B485N5 1986 784.9'4 85-28502

ISBN 0-393-95465-X

W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., .500 Fifth Avenue, New York, N. Y. 10110W. W. Norton & Company Ltd., 37 Great Russell Street, London WCIB 3NU'

Printed in the United States of America

.567890

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r:A NEW APPROACHr

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THIRD EDITIONr

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To John Castellini,our teacher, our good friend and colleague, our editor,

this book is affectionately dedicated.

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CONTENTS

Preface ix

1. Melodies 3

Section I: Elementary 5Section II: Intermediate I 27Section III: Intermediate II 56Section IV: Advanced 85

2. Sing and Play 119

Section I: Elementary 120Section II: Intermediate ISection III: Intermediate IISection IV: Advanced 161

129145

3. Duets 188

Section I: Elementary 189Section II: Intermediate ISection III: Intermediate IISection IV: Advanced 217

196207

4. Themes and Variations(Unaccompanied) 226

Section I: Elementary 227Section II: Intermediate I 234

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Section III: Intermediate II 241Section IV: Advanced 248

5. Themes and Variations forVoice and Piano 254

Section I: Elementary 255Section II: Intermediate ISection III: Intermediate IISection IV: Advanced 280

261268

Supplementary Exercises 292

Part I: Elementary andIntermediate I 293

Part II: Intermediate II andAdvanced 305

Appendix I: Glossary of Terms 315

Appendix II: Some Frequently UsedMusical Signs 319

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

It is a pleasure to acknowledge the whole-hearted help and encouragement given to us,during the period in which this book was writ-ten, by our colleagues in the Queens CollegeMusic Department. Their suggestions weremost stimulating and useful.We are especially indebted to Professor

John Castellini, our patient and devoted

editor, who continuously labored with ourmanuscript and helped define its final form.Many of our basic ideas concerning music andmusic theory were gained during our years asstudents and colleagues of the late KarolRathaus. To him, then, we owe a special debtof gratitude.

SOL BERKOWITZGABRIEL FONTRIERLEO KRAFT

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PREFACETO THE THIRD EDITION

This book consists of a coordinated body ofmusical material specifically composed for thestudy of sight singing. A mastery of that skillis essential to the instrumentalist, the singer,the musicologist, the composer, indeed, toany musician or intelligent amateur .. Ideally,the youn~ ..~!..ud~~l~.hould be taught sight .sing-ing from. tb~ beginning of instrumental orvocal instruction, Actually, "veryfewstudents. enjoy the benefits of such early training. Fa~too many reach an advanced level of instruc-'tion with little sightsinging ability, ..even whenthei~performance skills are on a professional'level. Courses in sight singing, therefore, are a'iie-cessary part of the music curriculum of sec-ondary schools, conservatories, colleges anduniversities.A number of textbooks utilizing examples

from the vocal and instrumental literaturehave been published for use in sight singingcourses. A New Approach to Sight Singing,however, is made up entirely of music writtenspecifically for the study of sIngiiig-aCsl.8!!hEXerCiSeSwritten for classroom use formed --.the basis of the First Edition of this book.Drawing upon three decades of teaching, aswell as valuable comments from users of thetext, we have added new material, improvedsome of the original exercises and written anentirely new chapter in the Third Edition.We are convinced that our approach i~

agogically sound. We find that we are able to. strike a particular level of difficulty and focuson specific problems more effectively by

writing material to meet the students' needsthan by using melodies drawn from the litera-ture. Classroom experience has also shown uswhich types of exercise are the most useful.That experience is reflected in the revisionsfound in the Third Edition.

A New Approach to Sight Singing containsfive chapters, as well as supplementary exer-cises and two appendices. The first chapterconsists of unaccompanied melodies; the sec-ond, accompanied melodies; the third, vocalduets; the fourth, sets of variations; the fifth,which is new, variation sets with piano accom-paniment. The supplementary exercises con-tain specific drills in scales and chords,chromatic notes, modes other than major andminor, whole-tone and chromatic scales, andadvanced chromatic and atonal melodies.Appendix I is a glossary of musical termsfound in the text. Appendix II explains somefrequently used musical signs.Each chapter is divided into four sections.

Assuming two class meetings a week, eachsection corresponds approximately to onesemester's work (thirty class hours). Thematerial of each section is graded progres-sively. In every chapter, Section I consists ofelementary material, Sections II and III, in-termediate, and Section IV, advanced. Theunit of work is the section. Section I materialsin each of the five chapters make up a coor-dinated body of exercises to be used concur-rently. The same applies to Sections II, III,and IV.

ix

Preface

Students on the elementary level begin withthe first section of each chapter. A freshmanclass hour might begin with singing a group ofmelodies (Chapter One. Section I). The classmight then turn to the accompanied melodies(Chapter Two. Section I). the duets (ChapterThree. Section I). one of the variation sets(Chapter Four. Section I) or the accompaniedvariations (Chapter Five. Section I). It is notexpected that all five chapters will be drawnupon in anyone class hour. The bulk of classtime will probably be devoted to singingmelodies. which comprise about one half ofthe book. But frequent use of Chapters Two.Three. Four. and Five allows a variety of ap-proaches to the subject. offers a desirablechange of pace within the hour. and alsoshows the student how skills acquired in anyone area may be applied to other musicalsituations.A New Approach to Sight Singing is so

organized that it may be adapted to variousprograms of study. Sections I and II. beingessentially diatonic. may readily be integratedwith the study of diatonic harmony andcounterpoint. while Sections III and IV lendthemselves to coordination with the study ofadvanced harmony and chromaticism.A brief summary of each chapter offers an

overview of the book's general organization:The melodies in Chapter One encompass a

variety of musical styles. These tunes are fairlyshort and simple. introducing technical prob-lems gradually. To facilitate an orderlysequence of learning. the Third Edition in-troduces a number of topic headings. Each isfollowed by a short group of melodies focussedon a single topic. Immediately after. there is alonger group of melodies in which all topicspresented up to that point are reviewed.In the Third Edition the number of

melodies has been increased. In addition. wehave widened the scope of melodic andrhythmic types. writing many melodies with

(specific didactic purposes. All melodies are) now edited to show phrasing and articulationclearly.Section I of the first chapter consists of

diatonic melodies. emphasizing the funda-mental aspects of tonality. Stepwise motion.skips based on familiar chord outlines. and

basic rhythmic patterns introduce the simplestelements in sight singing.The melodies of Section II. while still large-

ly diatonic. include some chromatic notes.simple modulations to the dominant orrelative major. and more complex rhythms. Agroup of modal melodies concludes this sec-tion.

Section III includes melodies with .morechromaticism and additional modulations.Melodies are longer. phrase structures morediverse. and rhythms more complex.

In Section IV. the exercises present morechallenging problems in tonality. rhythm.meter. phrase structure. dynamics. andmusical interpretation. The section concludes '1with a group of melodies based on twentieth- Icentury idioms. r'

The treble. alto and bass clefs are used in allsections; the tenor clef is introduced in Sec-tion IV. From one melody to the next the stu-dent will encounter changes of clef. key.mode. meter. tempo. dynamics. phrasing.rhythm. and musical style. Some melodiesembody the expansive contour of the Baroque;some are in the Classical style; others demon-strate nineteenth-century chromaticism; manyare derived from the language of folk and .popular music. as well as jazz.

Experience has strengthened our convictionthat the piano is an invaluable aid fordeveloping musicianship. By playing whilesinging the student improves intonation.develops rhythm skills and learns much aboutthe harmonic implications of melody. In theThird Edition. Chapter Two. Sing and Play.has been augmented considerably. In par-ticular. a number of exercises based on simplechord patterns will be found in the first halfof this chapter. We have also written a newChapter Five. consisting of Themes andVariations for Voice and Piano. This chapterwidens the scope of sing and play exercises.offering a substantial body of graded materialwith varied piano parts. The short exercises ofChapter Five afford many changes of pace. - -_.. , .... -. __ ..-which can help maintainthe level of interestduring aclasshour. Sing and Play exercises.in.Chapters Two and Five need not be performedat sight; they are particularly valuable asprepared assignments. .. ,- .

The purpose of the Chapter Three, Duets,is to, develop skill in ensemble singing, Thestudent must not only smg one part correctly,but must do so while listening to another part.Chapter Three has been expanded and re-edited. In addition, we have added more sim-ple duets in Sections I and II. We have also

\ found that the duets, beyond their value as! sung exercises, are adaptable to dictation inL two parts.

Themes and Variations, Chapter Four, pro-vide the experience of singing relatively ex-tended compositions while emphasizingvarious problems of musical interpretation.Because the character of the melodies changesfrom one, variation to another, the student isstimulated to develop a sensitive performancetechnique. This chapter has been completelyre-edited.All chapters afford many opportunities for

practice in building rhythm skills of the mostdiverse nature on graded levels of increasingdifficulty.The SJ:!QQkmentar- Exercises provide a

large variety of materials designed as drills inintervallic relationships..!. intona~!~ILa.ndrhythm. Part One of the Supplementary Exer-Cises is to be used with Sections I and II of the

Preface

five chapters, while Part Two is to be usedwith Sections III and IV.

Everyone can learn to sing. Whether or notone possesses a beautiful voice, competence insight singing can be achieved by consistentstudy. Good sight singing is a developed abilitythat can be acquired through diligent practice.The satisfaction thus gained WIll more thalijustify the effort and time expendedcSightsinging i~certainly not.an.end in itself, but it isone of the necessary tools which any compe-tent musician must possess. Music doesrici".'lIve on papeL To bring it to life there must be '~--an instrument that can sing, an ear that canhear, and a sensitive musical mind that cansing and hear in the silence of thought. ./'

We take this opportunity to express our

appreciation and thanks to the many genera-tions of Queens College students whose reac-tions to our book have helped shape ourthinking and who have taught us so much.Beyond that, the widespread positive responseto the first two editions has encouraged us tocontinue our search for as many new ap-proaches to sight singing as we can create.

Berkowitz/ Fontrier / KraftQueens College, /986

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