Learning to sight read with some walking!

I've been away for a weekend with HF Holidays in an attempt to learn sight reading. It's always bugged me that I cannot read music. I sing in a community choir where we don't need sheet music. We have only the lyrics and are taught line by line in parts and gradually we come together in harmony. However, there have been occasions when I've sung in a scratch choir where there has been sheet music, and frankly I'm lost. I can tell the notes go up and down but I can't even tell what the notes are. I've tried to learn myself but always get unstuck somewhere around rhythm when quavers and semi quavers turn up. So I headed off to Church Stretton in Shropshire for some intensive learning and the chance to relax in the hills in our afternoon free time.

The hotel is right in the heart of things with the Long Mynd on our doorstep. Arriving on the Friday afternoon there was a chance to unpack and join others for afternoon tea then an optional walk into town. Although I've done this before (I came here last year) I needed to stretch my legs before dinner. Just before dinner there as a brief outline of how our weekend would go, and after dinner we spent half an hour with a quick sing to some action songs (not easy after a three course meal), but fun.

The real work began the next morning at 9.30am when we learned some basic of where notes were, where middle C is and how the treble and bass clef join with the middle C between them. We worked until 1pm with a half hour coffee break and a toilet break between and then after lunch I met up with three others on the course and we walked down into town. One went off her own way once there and the rest of us went round charity shops, an art gallery and the antiques shop. This is where we parted company....well we lost each other over the many floors of the shop! I kept meeting others from the course in there, but not the ones I'd walked down with. No matter, I knew my way around town.

Eventually I headed back up and decided to find out where one path through the wood led. Oh, this was breathtaking. The path led through the hills with a stream tumbling down to the side. I had the strangest feeling of being an insignificant being dwarfed by the hills. With the sun on them and shimmering on the stream all I could hear was gurgling and bird sounds. I did meet others walking in the other direction, but for a good part I was alone and loving it. I walked for about half an hour and then decided I should turn back as I didn't have a map and needed to allow time for the return. Stupidly I had gone out without water (not intending to really walk like this) and I was getting thirsty and hot. So I drank straight from the stream. Wow! that was good!

My notes, notes, get it!

The following day I realised I'd forgotten everything already so I pulled my book out (one I'd bought some years ago) and refreshed myself with some of what we learnt. This was a much harder session and when we split into groups this time I felt totally lost. Two in my group knew a little music notation and faired better. I ended up in my default setting of memorising the tune and followed them!

It was nice later on when we learnt a song I already knew - that famous Wet, Wet, Wet number that stayed in the charts for weeks! I did follow the notes but it helped that I knew it.

Chris was an excellent tutor and I've come away with more idea and something to work with. There's a book I will buy to help with sight reading. Strangely, though we did name some notes this wasn't the aim of the weekend. We mainly learned about the spaces between notes, looking for ones we had already used. It's hard to explain unless you understand music. Frankly when you are learning a new piece it all comes very quickly there is no time to work these things out, but Chris said it would come eventually. I do hope so. Nevertheless, it was a lovely weekend with lovely food (too much really), brilliant walks and great teaching. I met some lovely people on the course - only two men in thirteen of us. The hotel was full....around 82 people (a walking group doing their own thing and others being led by HF Holiday walking leaders). There was other evening entertainment on offer if you wanted to opt out of the singing, and likewise the evening sessions were opened up to others holidaying there. The other entertainment was a quiz night, talk and skittles.

On the Monday morning after breakfast I had my taxi transfer (which turned out to be a mini bus that I had to myself - driver said, 'take a seat, I have plenty of them!') and then I headed by train to Shrewsbury where I was later meeting my husband for a four night stay. But that's another post or two!

Here are a few photos of my weekend in Church Stretton.