Music Reading Resources
  • madorganist
    Posts: 906
    An older man in my parish has approached me about joining the choir after Easter. He has a beautiful tenor voice, good sense of pitch, and good Latin and English diction, but does not read music. I have welcomed him to give it a try and told him there's no pressure to continue if it's too difficult - after all, we need strong voices in the congregation too. I have a couple of good tenors he can follow, but I would like to have some suggestions for him to learn at least the basics of music notation. He does not have internet access at home, so I'm looking for recommendations of books, audio CDs, or a combination of both. I'm more concerned about modern notation than Gregorian. Since he's a tenor, obviously he will need some familiarity with both G and F clefs.
  • PaxTecum
    Posts: 314
    My recommendation is not to focus on that. He’ll learn the basics in rehearsal. Let him learn by ear and follow along while slowly teaching how to read/count. He’ll get there. Be patient
    Thanked by 2madorganist CHGiffen
  • eft94530eft94530
    Posts: 1,577
    He does not have internet access at home

    Sometimes we forget .. Cell phone app?
  • Schönbergian
    Posts: 1,063
    I agree. Let the others function as "training wheels" for him. He'll put two and two together in no time.
    Thanked by 1madorganist
  • noel jones, aagonoel jones, aago
    Posts: 6,611
    It is unfortunate that I must to turn to the LDS church (formerly known as "Mormons") to assist a Catholic singer who wants to read music, but I am not quickly able to search oout a Catholic guide for singers on reading music.

    I have co-written a guide for Suzuki violinists that supplements the beginning books by teaching parents and children to read music, and suppose I should create one for singer as well. I will put that in the todo list.

    The LDS are excellent at training musicians to serve.

    While this is labeled a conducting course, it gives even a beginning conductor - and singer - the basics.

    For a singer, they may skip conducting patters and such, so I suggest they study these pages:

    1-15
    30
    42
    50-53
    62
    65
    85 to end
    Thanked by 2Paul F. Ford madorganist
  • bhcordovabhcordova
    Posts: 1,165
    You might want to check out Hickey's Music Center (www.hickeys.com) (Can't get the links function to work for me.)
    Thanked by 1madorganist
  • noel jones, aagonoel jones, aago
    Posts: 6,611
    The LDS church is extremely organized with strict rules for music in the Wards.
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