Finale, Essentials of Music by Alfred, or Music Ace I and II. The remainder of the respondents answered they used their own or someone else’s unpublished self-designed methods that included melody, rhythm, and interval exercises in conjunction with Kodaly hand signs, rhythm syllables, and numbers to represent the pitch names.
Kuehne noted the common theme that drives the
motivation for the Florida Vocal Association (FVA) members to teach sight-singing was in direct reference to the participation in choral contests, festivals, and assessments. The FVA members felt the contests were their form of assessment for the choral group(s). When polled, the respondents commented that their lack of assessment came from their lack of choral sight-singing experience either in their teaching career or in the undergraduate or graduate setting. For the majority of the respondents, their choirs are being taught sight-singing at least five to ten minutes during each class.
CONCLUSION Choral sight-singing is the action of singing a melody or
piece of music at sight without instrumental accompaniment. Choral sight-singing is an integral component of singing and is an ongoing challenge for choral music educators. Choral educators use a variety of sight-singing methods, i.e., solfege syllables, fixed “Do”, moveable “Do”, the use of Curwen hand signs, numbers, and tonal intervals with an anticipation of improving musicianship skills to create independent musicians. Interestingly, in the states of Texas, Michigan, and Florida, assessments and competitions are becoming a mainline sight-singing method to receive higher ratings at adjudications. The more traditional sight-singing methods of solfege syllables, fixed “Do”, moveable “Do”, the use of Curwen hand signs, numbers, and tonal intervals are being used as a sub-method to achieve higher ratings at adjudications. Have we, as choral music educators, begun to stray away from teaching the fundamentals of choral musicianship skills to improve the quality of the individual singer and the overall ensemble for the highest adjudication rating? Have we lost sight to why sight-singing is important for our choral ensembles? Although teaching sight-singing is a perennial challenge for choral music teachers, the skill of sight-singing is an important skill for choral singers to develop and master. Sight-singing helps choral singers to become independent singers and stronger musicians. It also assists with developing better pitch and rhythm accuracy; which again is creating stronger and more confident singers. Yes, the looming factor of receiving a higher rating at adjudication is a main contributor of teaching sight-singing. However, sight-singing is still being taught in the choral classroom and choral students are becoming strong, independent, and more confident choral singers. We, as music educators, need to be mindful to not merely go through the motions of sight-singing to receive a placard to hang on the wall, but we need to keep in mind that as we are preparing for that next adjudication that we are still preparing our choral students to be confident, stronger, better accuracy, and independent choral musicians in and outside of the choral classroom.
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Method 1816-1880: A English Minster Teaching Music through the Sound of Tones and Only Later Using Notation. Music Educators Journal, (October 1983) 46-47. Demorest, S. M. (1998). Improving Sight-Singing Performance in the Choral Ensemble: The Effect of Individual Test. Journal of Research in Music Education, 46 (2). 182- 192. Demorest, S. M. and May, W. V. (1995). Sight-Singing Instruction in the Choral Ensemble: Factors Related to Individual Performance. Journal of Research in Music Education, (43) 2. 156-167. Frederickson, K. B. (1993). The Relationship of Spatial Ability and Encoding Ability to Kodaly Hand Signs and Singing Performance. (Doctoral Dissertation, Arizona State University).
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Martin, B. A. (1991). Effects of Hand Signs, Syllables, and Letters on First Graders’ Acquistion of Tonal Skills. Journal of Research in Music Education, (Summer 1991) 161-170. McClung, A. C. (2008). Sight-Singing Scores of High School Choristers with Extensive Training in Movable Solfege Syllables and Curwen Hand Signs. Journal of Research in Music Education, (October 2008) 255-267. Moore, R. S. (1994). Effects of Age, Sex, and Melodic/Harmonic Patterns on Vocal Pitch-Matching Skills of Talents 8-11 Year-Olds. Journal of Research in Music Education, (Spring 1994) 5-12. Norris, C. E. (2004). A Nationwide Overview of Sight-Singing Requirements of Large-Group Choral Festivals. Journal of Research in Music Education, (52) 1. 16-28. Powell, S. (1991). Choral Intonation: More than Meets the Ear. Music Educators Journal Vol. 77 No. 9, (May 1991) 40-43. Stegman, S. F. (2009). Michigan State Adjudicated Choral Festivals: Revising the Adjudication Process. Music Educators Journal, (95) 4. 62-65.
Dr. Jeramy A. Nichols is an Assistant Professor of Music Education and Choral Music at Indiana University Southeast in New Albany, Indiana. Dr. Nichols coordinates the Music Education program and is the Director of Choral Music. He assists with local choral music educators, is an active choral clinician within the area and region, and has presented at state level conferences. Dr. Nichols earned a Ph.D. and Masters degree in Music Education with a concentration in Choral Conducting from the University of Florida and a Bachelor of Science degree in Vocal Performance with concentrations in Choral Music Education and Church Music from Olivet Nazarene University.
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