"Singers" vs. "Musicians" -- i.e. Why is Music Literacy Important for Singers?

If you have ever set foot in a music school or concert hall or a theater you have heard many jokes on the same theme... are you a singer or a musician?

While I often deeply resent the assumption that singers are not legitimate musicians, I have to admit that it can be a deserved criticism.  I have even avoided it myself by claiming my role as a conductor or theorist before that of a singer in order to establish my own skills as a musician.

The fact is, not only is sight-singing more difficult than playing most instruments, with the necessary pre-requisite of "hearing it in your head" more often a skill of conductors and composers, but it is easier to learn music "by ear" as a singer than it is with any other instrument.  This is a deadly combination when it comes to the discipline of learning music literacy as a singer.

However, in 2014, music literacy and especially sight-singing have become a competitive point.  In a business over-saturated with singers that are talented and technically skilled, people rise to the top of their competition in two major ways:  excellent acting skills that transcend the music, and music literacy and the ability to sight-sing.  I know several casting directors that focus on this second point because there is no longer the budget to pay a music director to teach music.  Of course a singer can pay a vocal coach or accompanist to teach them parts but that is not a guarantee -- casting directors and music directors want to see "sight singing/reading music" under a resume's special skills section, and if it is not followed up with absolute skills the singer will not be hired again and could quite possibly be replaced.

So, vocal coaches, if you have never taught sight-singing as part of your studio's culture, how to begin?  Singers that have always learned by ear, how do you turn the tide and become a master of your chosen craft?

I use a very incremental approach that first establishes rhythmic literacy, then note-reading and interval work on a major scale before learning other scales and steps on the already known "ladders" of intervals.  In the next several weeks, I will detail how sight-reading is part of the culture of my studio and my step-by-step sight-reading course.

Step one -- decide that it is important!  Make a decision to put in the work.  Remember that the rewards of not depending on another person to teach you or your students songs are great! 

Next week... A new way of looking at rhythms... clocks and circles of time... first worksheet pages!

Vimeo:  Beginning group voice class sight reading on numbers: https://vimeo.com/89637357