Friday, July 8, 2011

sight singing "Jubilate Deo" in two keys

Today's lesson gives sight singing practice with the round "Jubilate Deo".  It is notated in A major and B major on a grand staff with unison in the treble and bass clefs.  Since the song is only one line long you can compare the lines and see how the patterns in the different keys and clefs are the same even though they start at different places on the staff.  This is the beauty of the moveable "do" system of sight singing:  Once you know the tonic and the starting pitch, you can sing in any key (provided you can hit the pitches).  "Jubilate Deo" has a large range (drmfsltdrm) and works well in A, Bb or B.  If you pitch in higher or lower than these keys, then some people may not be able to hit the higher or lower notes.  You can listen to the round sung in six parts by Community Singers at practice this week.  We are singing it in Bb.