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How to do Sight Recognition Studies:
These are Movable Do exercises, meaning that whatever
key you are in, the tonic is Do. If you are in the key of F
Major, F is Do. If you are in the key of C minor, C is Do
etc.

Put the metronome on to a goal pulse of 72. (Remember
to pick a tempo that is not too slow so you don’t get
distracted, but also not too fast, because your focus will
be on keeping up rather than hearing and allowing your
mind and ears to make the necessary connections). Do
NOT sing the exercises. Only say the syllables that
correspond to the notes. The goal here is to make a
visual connection from what you see on the page (notes
on staff) to what the corresponding syllables are. Also
by doing this exercise, the eye gets trained to see the
visual space (intervallic distance) between the syllables.
Do exercises in all keys and in both treble and bass clefs.

Sight Singing:
This consists of conducting, solfège and singing. If
problems occur, the examples can be broken down into
rhythm exercises (Ta-ing the example), Sol-Fa or Sight
Recognition drills. Once problem areas are addressed,
all the elements can then come together for complete
sight singing.



 Sight Recognition Key of C Major

Metronome setting= 72

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 Sight Recognition Key of F Major

Metronome setting= 72
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SOL-­‐FA  Studies  
 
1      Do    Re    Fa    Mi    Sol      Do    “    (Do)  Re    Mi    Sol      Fa      La      Sol    “  
 
           (Do)    Sol    La    Fa    Re    Mi      Sol    “    Do  Ti    La    Ti    Do    Sol  
 
 
2      Do    Re    Mi    Sol    La    Fa    “    (Do)    Ti    Sol    Mi    Fa    Re    Do    “  
 
           Do    Fa    Mi    Sol    La    Re    “    (Do)    La    Re    Fa    Ti    Do    Mi        
 
 
3      (Do)    Mi    Fa    Re    Sol    Ti    Mi    “    Do    Sol    Mi    Re    La    Do    “  
 
         (Do)    Ti    Sol    Fa    La    Mi    Re        “  Do    Mi    Ti    La    Fa    Sol    
 
 
4      (Do)  La    Sol    Ti    Mi    Re    Do    “    Do  Mi    Do    Sol    Fa    La    “  
 
           Do    La    Sol    Re    Fa    Mi    “    (Do)    Fa    Ti    Do    Sol    La    Ti  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
How  to  do  Sol-­‐Fa  Studies:    
Any  Note/Key  can  represent  Do.  Each  day  these  exercises  
should  be  tried  in  different  keys  
Always  sing  a  Do  reference  before  singing  each  syllable.  If  
the  individual  “cells”  (between  the  pause  tracks)  do  not  
begin  on  Do,  I  provided  Do  as  a  reminder  in  (    )  so  that  
you  sing  it  to  yourself  to  establish  an  internalized  tonal  
center.  
 
Sing  Do  to  the  next  note  and  swing  back  and  forth  
between  the  syllables  until  you  have  a  secure  inner  sense  
of  the  pitch.  Then  sing  Do  and  move  to  the  next  note  in  
the  line.  Again  moving  back  and  forth  between  Do  and  the  
Solfege  syllable  and  pitch.  Once  that  note  is  established  
sing  BACK  DOWN  the  line  towards  Do,  then  go  directly    
UP  to  the  next  note  etc.    Note  however  that  just  because  
you  are  singing  the  syllables  back  down  the  line  in  that  
order,  you  can  still  sing  them  in  different  ranges.  Your  
choices  do  not  have  to  be  strictly  within  a  1  octave  scale.  
 
So  in  Example  1,  it  would  flow  like  this:  
Do  Re  Do  Re  Do  Re  etc.  Do  Fa  Do  Fa  Do  Fa  Re  Do,  Do  Mi  
Do  Mi  Do  Mi  Fa  Re  Do,  Do  Sol  Do  Sol  Do  Sol  Mi  Fa  Re  Do,  
Do  to  Do  (^up  8va)  Do  to  Do  (^up  8va)  Do  to  Do  (^up  
8va)  Sol  Mi  Fa  Re  Do…  then  take  a  pause  at  the  “  marking.    
 
Once  you  commit  to  a  pitch  in  the  line  in  a  certain  octave,  
you  must  keep  that  range  for  the  entire  cell.  However  you  
do  have  the  freedom  to  choose  different  intervals  each  
time  you  do  the  exercises.  As  your  ears  get  trained  and  
you  get  more  tonally  secure,  your  ears  will  lead  and  reach  
beyond  the  basic  tight  range  of  a  one  octave  scale.  This  in  
turn  will  expand  your  melodic  contours  for  improvisation  
and  increase  your  overall  hearing.  For  example  instead  of  
singing  up  a  Major  6th  you  could  sing  down  a  minor  3rd.  It  
would  be  the  same  syllable  and  pitch  BUT  you  would  be  
expanding  your  aural  awareness  and  relying  on  your  
muscular  memory  in  different  ways  to  achieve  the  
particular  interval.  This  serves  to  develop  the  
relationship  between  your  inner  hearing  and  your  
muscular  memory.  Both  work  together  to  fuse  pitch  with  
syllable.  
 
Once  you  have  drilled  the  exercises  as  explained  above,  
you  can  then  set  your  metronome  to  72  (or  a  pulse  which  
is  challenging  but  not  too  difficult  where  you  are  unable  
to  internalize  what  you  are  hearing).  Read  the  lines  
straight  thru  from  left  to  right  taking  a  1  beat  pause  at  the  
“  marking  and  hitting  the  last  note  you  sing  at  the  end  of  
each  cell  on  the  piano  to  check.  Then  keep  going  to  the  
next  cell,  check  ONLY  the  last  note,  go  to  the  next  cell  etc  
and  when  you  get  to  then  end  check  again  that  last  note.  
Hopefully  you  will  be  on  pitch.  NEVER  sing  with  the  
piano.  The  piano  is  only  used  to  check  after  you  have  sung  
the  note  first.