Strategies for sight-reading and improvising music
Aaron Williamon · Oxford University Press eBooks · 2004
This chapter focuses on strategies for sight-reading and improvising music. The abilities to read fluently at sight and improvise convincingly hold a curious and somewhat paradoxical status. On one hand, they are highly prized and seen as indicators of great musical ability. On the other, they are often regarded as natural gifts that one either possesses or does not. The chapter considers how these two skills share a common etiology, both in their use of similar mental processes (e.g., pattern recognition) and their generative, ‘online’ nature. In addition, it explores how these two tasks can be systematically enhanced through structured training and how the augmentation of generative musical abilities as such could actually provide new insight for improving other musical skills.