5 Wheels to Successful Sight-Singing

by John Bertalot

Book Overview

A Practical Approach to Teach Children (and Adults) to Read Music. Bertalot's fresh approach motivates both experienced teachers and novices alike. He identifies five basic principles and twelve steps... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0806626925
• ISBN13: 9780806626925
• Release Date: February 2008
• Publisher: Augsburg Fortress Publishing
• Length: 132 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.5" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Note reading for children

I have been teaching music to young children for 22 years and this book has changed the way I teach. I read it through twice and will read it again. The combination of technique and experience with warmth and humor is unbeatable. Roger Mason, Ph.D. Miami, Florida

5 Wheels

This book is so easy to read, clear, and helpful to music teachers and students alike. It has step-by-step guidelines, reviews often, and is written as a story that can read in an hour. I found it very insightful and helpful in my teaching.

Brilliant way to teach choirs or singing classes to read music

This is the best approach to teaching sight-singing I've seen. The five wheels are an analogy to a car - four wheels plus the steering wheel. Each wheel represents a point that a choir director or music teacher should use to guide the student quickly to learn how to pick up a piece of music and sing it successfully. You can memorize the five wheels if you assign one to each finger of your hand. But the author - wonderfully patient, experienced, and something of a genius among choir directors - doesn't leave you there. He then gives you 12 easy steps he has found will bring students to look at, think about, and thoroughly enjoy the sheet music they have in front of them. Oh, how many hours have I wasted getting my choir to learn songs by getting them to repeat unthinkingly what I play or sing to them? The author of "5 Wheels to Successful Sight-Singing" makes every rehearsal a lesson in improving the student's ability to read music. For choir directors this saves enormous time - you just hand the music to the choir and they sing it, even if they've never seen the music before. If you want to teach choirs or small groups of students to sight-sing quickly and thoroughly, I don't think you will find a better way to do it than by following the simple method in this book.

Very Helpful, a Decidedly Superior Way to Teach Sight Singing

This short book was highly recommended to me, and as a choir director, I enjoyed reading it. I have also read John Bertalot's Immediately Practical Tips for Choral Directors, and found that to espouse some of the same helpful ideas. Bertalot's short book is a quick and easy read as it takes the shape of a fictional dialogue between a music student and a master teacher. Bertalot does not support the idea that sight-singing should be taught for a few minutes at the beginning of each rehearsal and put away. His main thesis is that children should instead to learn to read music while they are learning the very same music. Bertalot then provides instruction as to how to best go about doing that. Some of his ideas may at first seem counterproductive. For instance, Bertalot thinks the accompaniment should be played as lightly and/or as seldom as possible. In addition, students should practice more often in small groups than in larger sections. While they may not pick up their part in rehearsal as quickly, singers will develop their inner hearing and ability to read the notes. Bertalot provides twelve very basic steps to sight singing, starting with the singing of one note and moving on from there. This book is clear and concise, and Bertalot's ideas are well explained. Some may not like the dialogue-style of writing, as Bertalot's ideal "choirmaster" seems to have everything go perfectly for him. This book is geared for those who teach children. There is a short section at the end which covers different approaches for adults, but overall the book is less helpful for them. I strongly recommend this book to any music teacher who works with children and singing. They will appreciate it.

12 Step Approach Very Helpful

I bought this book on sale a couple of years ago and just got around to reading it this summer. I'm an elementary school music teacher. This book has helped me organize my approach to teaching note reading not just sight singing. Mr. Bertalot explains that his approach works best with 2 to 4 students at a time. Nonetheless, in the past 12 weeks of school, I've been using his approach with my regular classes (25 kids in each class with 2nd through 5th grades targeted). Much success already. There is a video that also goes along with this. I'm looking for a resource so that I can order it. If you teach kids or adults, this is a VERY helpful book. The appoach is fresh (yet, traditional) and well laid out. If you would like to e-mail me regarding the book feel free