Dear Literate Musicians,

One of the top most important skills literate professional musicians AND literate hobbyist musicians need to perpetually bolster (in order to move forward in capability, stay in shape and further the art form) is SIGHT READING. Now, at 55 years of age, as a composer, oboist since 1974 and music teacher since 1992, I ask myself, HOW can - I - best serve the unmet or under met needs of our OBOE FAMILY moving forward in the 21st century during this time of social isolation, and while so many are offering so much….? My answer - helping ALL oboists including accomplished professionals - move forward with their sight reading skills and in continuing to compose pedagogy and repertoire for the oboists of today and tomorrow.

To do this most effectively - please email me directly kathrynjpotter@gmail.com with subject SIGHT READING and tell me of your present skill level so I may directly send you images of music for you to sight read and or suggest books I’ve composed for you to purchase.

($ - I offer this sight reading service free and request that those who can pay me for my time or make a contribution somehow if its “pinch free” do so with a donation through the PayPal link on the Oboe Brilliance website here www.oboebrilliance.com and please - if you or your students play my music books, buy and don’t copy if you can afford to buy the book. My expenses as a composer exceed beyond 10X any money I get for book sales, performances, or commissions. ALL donations greatly appreciated and needed. Thank you.)

SIGHT READING BASICS
1) Sight read music that is below your skill level - ideally - be able to read music that you can play a line accurately with no more than 3 - 5 mistakes

2) Before you begin to play - look over the page - notice patterns - and overall structure:
meter
key signature
form and structure like repeats …'“ Road map”
changes in style, form, tonality or accidentals, construction

3) What’s the gist and overall relationship with time and pace of the piece?

4) Once you begin to play:
keep your pace - always move forward (never stop or go backwards or repeat)
only play what you can play
drop what you can’t play

5) review piece silently and play through it silently

6) Play the same piece over again following the same above rules for about 5 more times, each time playing more and more better and better.

SIGHT READING to stay in shape:
1) Follow the above rules with music within your present skill set - meaning - stay within your comfort and knowledge zone.

SIGHT READING to expand your capabilities:
1) Follow the above guidelines except - introduce music to yourself that is off your radar, with a composer or style that is new to you, and with some challenges beyond your present level of capability. - this is where I can help you get UNCOMFORTABLE and grow - for some, or get happy if you desire to embrace a challenge or something new.

Our “Achilles Heal” as teachers/students/artists is that we don’t know what we don’t know.
Once we think we know something - we can learn that there is “another way to cook an egg”

I think SIGHT READING and introducing a new composer’s music into our lives gives us tremendous advantages.

1) A new way to understand what we already know. For example - a new treatment of an old scale - or a new treatment of a new scale, meter, or lack there of…
2) A new PSYCHOLOGY of interacting with the written page.
3) A new form of construction - or an old form of construction with a new relationship with time….

Sight reading offers us the joys and challenges of a new relationship within an old relationship. It’s a love affair with the unknown.

LET ME TAKE YOU THERE, IF YOU DARE.

Cheers - and stay healthy -
Yours in oboe playing LOVE,
K.J.P.
March 23, 2020

PS(Drink hot tea regularly while practicing please!!!!, wash your hands and wipe down all metal surfaces - like KEY WORKS - as the corona virus can live up to 9 days on metal surfaces. OUR OBOE FAMILY NEEDS YOU TO LIVE AND BREATHE.)