Sing at First Sight, Bk 1: Foundations in Choral Sight-Singing

Great way to learn these essential basics.

I was looking for a sight reading/singing course I could do with my piano group class, and this book has been a great fit. All of the students are loving it.

This book is a simplified sight reading method. "Sing at First Sight" is very easy to follow. I recommend this method for anyone who wants to learn sight singing.

First, the positive points: This book provides a great selection of sight-reading exerpts, guiding you through 24 sequenced lessons that gradually increase in difficulty. Each lesson contains three parts: a brief explanation of a new musical idea or two, rhythm practice samples, and pitch practice samples (which are also set to rhythms). The lessons are arranged into 6 units, with each unit containing review questions and a song for that level. Be sure to also consider purchasing the Reproducible Companion/CD for this book! This reproducible companion contains many more practice samples, another song for each unit, and (very useful for classroom application)review pages and an assessment page for each unit. The CD contains tracks used for assessment, as well as piano accompaniments for songs in both books. Lastly, one weakness: All sight-singing examples are in the treble clef. Mature male voices are given no practice reading from the clef they will likely use in normal choral singing. This is my only reason for giving the product 4 stars rather than 5.

This book does a good job of teaching solfeggio ear training and rhythm with exercises that slowly build up in difficulty with a song at the end of each section.

I am a voice teacher and also help my daughter teach theory to her violin students. I am using this book for that and have been very pleased. I also bought the teacher edition which contains additional copiable materials, reviews and tests; it also has a CD which I have not yet used. This book can be used to teach basic rhythm and also sight-reading. It's very versatile. I am using it with a 9-year-old and also a 28-year-old. It moves pretty rapidly for beginners, but with the teacher book, you can draw things out. I opted not to teach the sight-singing part at first, but just to focus on rhythms. I have taken a young man who hadn't looked at notes on a page before, and he is now able to clap out rhythms in the book and from other music. He and I are both very pleased.

I use this book for private voice lessons, rather than the book's intended use (choir). I agree with another reviewer that there should be more use of the bass clef. Other than that, I love teaching with this book. I have gone through nearly every sight-singing book intended for individuals and I dislike all of them for many reasons. I love the approach in the beginning, adding only 2 notes at a time and sticking with step-wise motion early on. I also love the moveable do approach and introducing new keys every now and then. Starting out with two keys (C and F) rather than sticking to only C is a wonderful way to instill a clear sense of do being the home note and not synonymous with "C." If the authors came out with a version for individual singing, I would switch to that, but for now, this is the absolute best method out there!

This book is an ok overall sight singing book. Most students need far more practice than this book includes. It moves quickly in adding new notes to sight read in addition. It does use solfege syllables vs numbers and a moveable doe (or do) (also helpful).

I like the way it distributes music concepts, it has a great structure, and the lessons and songs are very accurate to the program this book follows.

I am sure that, for a choral singer, these would be a great help. I had hoped that they would help with sight singing for the aural part of the piano exams. For that purpose they are not really helpful. My fault, not theirs.

Excellent first book for those new to choral singing. Comprehensive and logical progression towards understanding music notation and how to ‘Sight-Sing’.

Lo utilizo para enseñar lenguaje musical a un coro de personas mayores y la verdad que va estupendamente dado que solo intento enseñar lo básico.

Just the book series to teach. Well laid out. Awesome \m/