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Views from the Choir Loft

A Homely Slant on Bertalot’s Sight-Singing

Veronica Brandt · March 7, 2015

student teacher piano HEN I FIRST READ LUCAS Tappan’s article from a few weeks ago, What If You Never Again Had To “Teach” Your Choir Notes? my first reaction was to wish that I had a “proper” choir.

Curiosity got the better of me and I looked around John Bertalot’s website and even ended up buying a copy of the book Five Wheels to Successful Sight-Singing. I am very glad I did.

The book is aimed at conducting a children’s choir, but many of the lessons are very useful for parents too. Having only a small number of students is actually an advantage for teaching sight-singing.

Sight-singing has been something of an unattainable ideal in my head for as long as I can remember. I’ve always needed some instrument to turn sheet music into something audible. It turns out that I had all the first steps in place to learn sight-singing all along. It was like seeing that I have been riding with training wheels all this time.

Bertalot’s book is pretty short. It is unlike any other book I have read on music. Instead of diagrams and explanations it is written as a lively dialogue between a student and a master choir director. This is really helpful as one of the main lessons is learning how to talk with students so that they listen and learn – a very handy skill in all areas.

It is also heartening to hear that learning to read music, just like learning to read words, does not require specially formulated textbooks. Bertalot uses a blackboard and a regular hymnbook.

I look forward to reading more from Lucas Tappan as he sheds more light on how to apply these lessons.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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About Veronica Brandt

Veronica Brandt holds a Bachelor Degree in Electrical Engineering. She lives near Sydney, Australia, with her husband and six children.—(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

Quick Thoughts

    Hymn by Cardinal Newman
    During the season of Septuagesima, we will be using this hymn by Cardinal Newman, which employs both Latin and English. (Readers probably know that Cardinal Newman was one of the world's experts when it comes to Lingua Latina.) The final verse contains a beautiful soprano descant. Father Louis Bouyer—famous theologian, close friend of Pope Paul VI, and architect of post-conciliar reforms—wrote thus vis-à-vis the elimination of Septuagesima: “I prefer to say nothing, or very little, about the new calendar, the handiwork of a trio of maniacs who suppressed (with no good reason) Septuagesima and the Octave of Pentecost and who scattered three quarters of the Saints higgledy-piddledy, all based on notions of their own devising!”
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Introit • Candlemas (2 February)
    “Candlemas” • Our choir sang on February 2nd, and here's a live recording of the beautiful INTROIT: Suscépimus Deus. We had very little time to rehearse, but I think it has some very nice moments. I promise that by the 8th Sunday after Pentecost it will be perfect! (That Introit is repeated on the 8th Sunday after Pentecost.) We still need to improve, but we're definitely on the right track!
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Simplified Antiphons • “Candlemas”
    Anyone who desires simplified antiphons (“psalm tone versions”) for 2 February, the Feast of the Purification—which is also known as “Candlemas” or the Feast of the Presentation—may freely download them. The texts of the antiphons are quite beautiful. From “Lumen Ad Revelatiónem Géntium” you can hear a live excerpt (Mp3). I'm not a fan of chant in octaves, but we had such limited time to rehearse, it seemed the best choice. After all, everyone should have an opportunity to learn “Lumen Ad Revelatiónem Géntium,” which summarizes Candlemas.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

Some are called not to much speaking, | nor to conversations about the Church, | but, rather, to a deep silence | and to a life hidden in the heart of the Church, | far from wrangling tongues, from speculations, and discord. […] This is the essence of a Eucharistic monastic life.

— Fr. Mark Daniel Kirby (Meditation on Colossians 3:3)

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