Posted by Chuck(G) on February 21, 2001 at 13:45:12:
In Reply to: Speed Reading posted by Brad Martin on February 20, 2001 at 18:35:23:
Since birth, I have had a visual defect (CN) that causes notes to sort of "wander" on the page (like ants), so sight reading is a particular problem with me. (Last night at rehearsal, a section mate observed that a bar line had been misplaced. My response: "bar line?").
"Baptism by fire" certainly helps develop coping skills. Play with a group of players MUCH better than you are and let them drag you along. Develop a solid sense sound (sight singing is good for this) so that you can look at a group of notes as a whole and play them as a "goes like this" phrase. I've got to confess, that under pressure, I play as much from what I think the music should sound like as what the ink says. Sometimes the two even agree.
I once served as page-turner for a harpsichord player in a chamber group. Initially, I guessed that one or two measures left on the page was about the right place to turn. Not with this guy--he wanted his turns at the middle of the page. If you think about it, this means that the page-turner ALSO has to read a half-page ahead! Then I noticed that the guy wasn't playing the notes on the page exactly--he was playing what he heard in his head. Aha! Things got much easier after that. But I'll still leave page turning to the professionals next time...