Choir Members not Reading Music

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What I think is a good plan is for the churches to take a long view and establish children’s choirs, at the diocesan level if parishes don’t have the resources.
 
:)We have a large (I think) choir of over 50+ members. I think about 2/3 of the members don’t read music. I don’t read music and I can follow along pretty well. I have the pieces we learn going through my head for days after practice and Mass too. The best singer in our choir was a professional singer as a young woman and she doesn’t read music either. I think it is more important to listen and learn each piece and remember you are praising God with song.
 
I am a member of a very good Catholic parish chior of about 40 members with a really great director. Often someone will say,“I don’t read music” but when it comes down to it, we all make do. Choral music, even the difficult stuff, is not really that hard to learn. After a year or two in our chior, even the “worst” music reader can tell if a note goes up or down, what the time signature means, and how to count it. The only real requirement is the realization that a chior member is a minister of the Church and we bring whatever is our best to the music. Remember: When we sing, we pray twice.
 
I think reading music is probably like regular reading–there are different ways that people do it.

Some kids learn to read through look-see, and some learn to read through phonics, and some read through a totally different mechanism. All methods results in reading.

I personally cannot see how any child learns through look-see compared to phonics, but they do! God made all brains different.

I personally have never been able to comprehend solfege and the hand symbols, but I know a lot of people who read music with this method. I find it mystifying, but others find that it works to teach them music.

I personally read music (sing) using a “feeling” method–because I play piano, I “feel” the intervals in my brain and that helps me to sing them. I’m a very good sight-reader and have little trouble singing complex classical pieces. I’ve heard that keyboardists are the best sight-readers.
 
Cat said:
I think reading music is probably like regular reading–there are different ways that people do it.

Some kids learn to read through look-see, and some learn to read through phonics, and some read through a totally different mechanism. All methods results in reading.

I personally cannot see how any child learns through look-see compared to phonics, but they do! God made all brains different.

I personally have never been able to comprehend solfege and the hand symbols, but I know a lot of people who read music with this method. I find it mystifying, but others find that it works to teach them music.

I personally read music (sing) using a “feeling” method–because I play piano, I “feel” the intervals in my brain and that helps me to sing them. I’m a very good sight-reader and have little trouble singing complex classical pieces. I’ve heard that keyboardists are the best sight-readers.
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That is a good point. When I sight-sing I base my reading on auditory memory and muscle memory, knowing how everything in my body feels when I sing a specific note. So, all at once, for instance, I see a G, I hear the note in my head and then also remember how my body feels when I sing that particular note. My body will also automatically adjust itself to accommodate the size of the “space” needed to sing the particular note or phrase in music, which is also a “memory”.

When I sight-read while playing the piano, though, my reading of the notes is more like reading words on a page.
 
Sarabande said:
That is a good point. When I sight-sing I base my reading on auditory memory and muscle memory, knowing how everything in my body feels when I sing a specific note. So, all at once, for instance, I see a G, I hear the note in my head and then also remember how my body feels when I sing that particular note. My body will also automatically adjust itself to accommodate the size of the “space” needed to sing the particular note or phrase in music, which is also a “memory”.

When I sight-read while playing the piano, though, my reading of the notes is more like reading words on a page.
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My daughter, who is six, just started taking piano/music lessons this year with the Music For Young Children program. It’s very interesting to see how her brain takes it all in. It’s been improving my reading a lot too, which is nice.
 
Bluegoat said:
My daughter, who is six, just started taking piano/music lessons this year with the Music For Young Children program. It’s very interesting to see how her brain takes it all in. It’s been improving my reading a lot too, which is nice.
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It really is incredible how quickly children will soak all of that information in and the younger they are, the easier it is for them. I think you wrote in a previous post that parishes should invest in children’s choirs. I agree. If you don’t start them young, they won’t learn as easily and quickly and they also won’t garner a certain appreciation for music, especially sacred music if you are teaching it in parishes and parish schools.

There is an Episcopal church near me with an excellent music program. It has a wonderful boy choir and girl choir and the children learn music from the start. Their parish school also includes music classes. (I believe many of the children are involved in the choirs.) So, that parish is doing what is needed to ensure not only a choir who can read music, but also a congregation who can read not just for today, but for the future.
 
Sarabande said:
It really is incredible how quickly children will soak all of that information in and the younger they are, the easier it is for them. I think you wrote in a previous post that parishes should invest in children’s choirs. I agree. If you don’t start them young, they won’t learn as easily and quickly and they also won’t garner a certain appreciation for music, especially sacred music if you are teaching it in parishes and parish schools.

There is an Episcopal church near me with an excellent music program. It has a wonderful boy choir and girl choir and the children learn music from the start. Their parish school also includes music classes. (I believe many of the children are involved in the choirs.) So, that parish is doing what is needed to ensure not only a choir who can read music, but also a congregation who can read not just for today, but for the future.
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We have an Anglican boys choir in our town which is at one of the universities, which is a very nice thing to have available. I rather wish there was something for little girls as well though.
 
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