February 4 Member Event: Simon Powis
Sight Reading on the Classical Guitar

Thursday, February 4, 2010, at 7:00 PM
Manhattan Theatre Club Creative Center (on the 8th Floor)
311 West 43rd St. between Eighth and Ninth Avenues (map)
New York City

Bring your guitar and a music stand – this will be an interactive presentation!

“Reading facility is not simply a useful additional skill for a musician to have. It is, in a sense, necessary for full membership to the musical community.” – John Sloboda, The Musical Mind

Sight reading has a new found significance for guitarists in the twenty-first century with more guitarists getting involved in a variety of chamber music situations. The behavioral tendency of guitarists to be solitary figures has permitted poor sight reading skills to go largely unnoticed. Memorization of works plays a large role in the life of a guitarist and the use of memorization supplants the need to have adequate reading skills on any level, let alone at sight. The necessity of a well formed sight reading skill becomes more apparent as technique and performance standards rise to comparable levels with other musicians.

Despite the dramatic improvement in most areas of guitar pedagogy there are still several areas that remain undeveloped and desperately in need of attention. One of these areas is the skill of sight reading. Currently the level of sight reading among tertiary level guitar students is poor and inadequate for that required by most professional musicians. It is a deficiency that affects a musician’s life and the instrument’s reputation and there is no reason for the level of sight reading to remain as low as it currently is.

The presentation for the Society will look at why sight reading is at its current level and strategies for improving and teaching sight reading to guitarists. Bring your guitar and a music stand – this will be an interactive presentation!