Reading

[radroan]

I'm looking for any etudes that are just enjoyable to play and can help me improve my reading. I'm also looking for some good sight-reading books. Thank you!

[lh]

here are some places to start

Amsden Duets
Small Etudes
Really Big Songbooks (Bolvin)
Rhythms Complete (Bower)
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[jiarby]

Any etude, exercpt, or duet book will be good reading. Anything you have never played before. Google up a bunch of all-state audition excerpts (jazz and classical). There are at least 50 new ones every year... all usually challenging! Great reading material. They are usually intentionally tricky!

So, how do you practice reading? Don't stop and restart. Do it at the tempo that someone would count it off (even if you can't do it at that speed... it will be a real world test!). Use a metronome. Time marches on no matter how bad you crash and burn. It is good to practice recovering from a collapse in time and finishing.

After that, then I personally would slow down the metronome to something I think I could handle better, and run it again focusing on improving accuracy. Again, straight through with no stops.

Do it one last time at a tempo that you think will give you 100% accuracy. (even really mega slow is OK...).

Then assess where you had trouble, and WHY you had trouble. Was it a fundamental performace issue like a flubbed interval, or accidental/key signature error... or was it a technical error like a wrong rhythm or counting problem.

Once you identify a problem area then develop a practice strategy to address the issue.

Finally, then just move on. You don't need to end up practicing the piece. You are practicing reading. Just go on to the next thing and do it again.

Practice reading different stuff too... time signatures, keys, key changes, different styles (bebop, swing, latin, baroque, etc...). Really mix it up.
A 15-20 min session of this every day will really help you.

When you start to never miss notes, entrances, and rhythms then start focusing on the MUSIC nuances, like articulations, dynamics, & style. I guess you should be doing that all along, but if you are messing up fundamentals then you have bigger fish to fry than missing a dynamic marking.

There are a few "tricky rhythm" sight reading books out there (Colin has one, Rich Willey too). Consider those!

Often, people that think they are bad readers are actually just bad players. They can read the part (they can clap out the rhythm, but can't play the intervals or scales.) Maybe they can play it SLOW, but not at tempo. That is a lack of fundamental skill. Clarke, Arban, & Scales... go practice fundamentals. The better technical player you are then the better reader you will be.

[derekthor]

I use Getchell 1 & 2 to practice sight-transposing. The etudes themselves are pretty easy compared to everything else suggested so far, until you start playing them down a third or up a tritone. You get to kill two birds with one stone! (and as an added bonus, the books themselves are usually quite cheap and easy to find)

[fuzzyjon79]

I really love Odd Meter Etudes for All Instruments in Treble Clef by Everett Gates. Great book!
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J. Fowler
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[Trombacan]

I'll +1 the Getchell and Gates books and check out Clodomir 70 Little Studies

[spitvalve]

A fun one if you're into transposition is Borgdoni's 24 Vocalises. Each etude changes transposition (i.e., C trumpet, F trumpet, E trumpet, etc) every few bars and you have to relate it to the horn you have in your hands. I went through it on Bb trumpet and then again on C trumpet and got to where I could sight-transpose with no difficulty.
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[RandyTX]

[tmaudlin]

http://imslp.org/wiki/40_Trumpet_Studies_(Vurm,_Vasily)
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