Sight Reading!

It was a treat to work with Sarah Geiger from Loudoun County Public Schools on sight reading for their all-county orchestras. Sight reading presents several challenges: 1) It must serve the needs of the honorary ensemble auditions; 2) It is often dreaded by students; 3) It is often dreaded by auditions just as much because of the repetitive nature and numerous errors; 4) There is a delicate balance between providing enough of a challenge and losing a sense of musicality with “gotcha” style writing; 5) It is hard for everyone to agree on what is the “just right” balance between honoring the aforementioned challenges!

The more I thought about these challenges, the more I loved them. The solutions resulted in a collection of miniature pieces, caricatures, and aphorisms. Each little piece was fun and satisfying musically to work through. My wife and violinist/violist, Holly, was the first to humor me in performing the sight reading and giving feedback before the pieces were “tested” with my own students. A dedicated musician and teacher who cared deeply about the pedagogical needs of the students and integrity of the orchestras, I then had the opportunity to work with Sarah. She took the time to review the work, consulted with colleagues, and collaborate with me to make sure the end products were technically and musically appropriate for the needs of the auditioning young musicians.

While I cannot release the sight reading music to honor the integrity of the event, I hope they have made the sight reading process for LCPS a little less dreaded and a little more musical. I encourage the auditioners to play through the excerpts themselves to enjoy their nuances and connect with the auditionees. Thank you for the unique compositional challenge!