My Sight Singing Adventure

In the last few weeks, I’ve noticed that I might be one of the “followers” that Mr. Young talks about when we practice sight singing. However, once I accepted this I began making a more concentrated effort in asserting my own voice in sight singing exercises. I realized that I was not so much following the rest of the chorus because I didn’t know how to sight sing, but that it was simply the easier and more natural thing to do to let my voice just follow those of the people around me. I’ve realized that it takes more effort than I thought to really do my own thing when singing in a group of people.

Along with Aiden, I also have a tendency to follow others voices during sight singing exercises. But recently I have been trying to make more of an effort to be independent in my own music. Even if I struggle with figuring out each note and the rhythm, when we finish and I know I relied on my own skills rather than others I am so proud of myself. This may be mediocre to some people, but I enjoy accomplishing something as small as that knowing I did it by myself. It has definitely helped me to learn music faster and more accurately than in the past. I hope to continue to work on this in order to improve my musical skills. I love to sing and never want to give up any of the knowledge I have acquired over the past few years.

Sight singing has always been a huge challenge for me. No matter how easy the example I’m trying to sing may be, I can’t seem to do it right. The fear of sight singing has become something even more challenging for me to face than for me to actually sight sing. I have slowly come to realize my resistance toward sight singing recently. I think that I have developed the skills needed to sight read but, my confidence in these skills has not grown yet. Recognizing my fear and struggle with sight singing is the first step to moving past it. If I really want to overcome the challenges I find with sight singing, the answer is simple, practice. Practice takes time and patience, but it will be the only way to improve. I’m glad that I have come to this realization. Change lies in my hands and I can choose to change for the better.