In MakeMusic Cloud's Sight Reading Studio, you can easily build and customize sight reading templates, from which you can assign and generate exercises for your students. A template is a file containing a group of settings that are used to generate an exercise. An exercise is a file that contains one specific result generated by a template. If a template is assigned, when students load or retry the assignment, they will receive a new exercise based on the template. Teachers can also assign a specific exercise generated by a template. Follow the steps in this article to set up your score for your sight reading template.
This tool is available in MakeMusic Cloud for Full Access Teachers and Subscribers, and for users with a Sight Reading Studio subscription. In order to assign exercises from Sight Reading Studio you will need to have classes with Standard Access. To purchase Full Access subscriptions, Standard student subscriptions, and Sight Reading Studio subscriptions, please contact our Sales Team at sales@makemusic.com.
Jump to:
- Step 1: Access Sight Reading Studio
- Step 2: Select a Sight Reading Studio template
- Step 3: Instrument selection
- Step 4: Select a preset
- Step 5: Confirm the tempo and duration
- Advanced Features
Step 1: Access Sight Reading Studio
Access MakeMusic Cloud's Sight Reading Studio by hovering over the Navigation Menu on the left side of the screen and choosing Sight Reading Studio.
Step 2: Select a Sight Reading Studio template
When you first enter Sight Reading Studio, you can Start a new template, Upload a template, and Open a recent template.
Previously created Sight Reading Studio templates that are saved in MakeMusic Cloud are available under Open Recent Template. If a template does not appear in this menu, you can visit your My Content page to open it from there.
To open Sight Reading Studio template files that are locally saved on your device, select Upload Template. For more information, view our article Saving, opening, and assigning a Sight Reading template.
The following steps will address setting up a new template.
Step 3: Instrument selection
To begin setting up the instrumentation for your template, there are three different options to select:
From a list of all instruments
You can add instruments one at a time by selecting the option From a list of all instruments.
Then, select the dropdown menu arrow next to the instrument category to show the list of instruments within that category. Choose the instrument(s) you'd like to include and select Next to continue.
From a predefined ensemble
You can create templates that contain common instrumentation sets by selecting From a predefined ensemble. This option creates a template with predefined instrumentation, like a String Quartet or Jazz Big Band.
After choosing your ensemble and selecting Next, you can add or remove instruments.
From one of my classes
You can create a template that automatically prodcues the instrumentation according to your students' primary instruments from a specific class by selecting From one of my classes.
After utilizing this option, on the next page, choose the class for which you'd like to create this template from the dropdown menu. After selecting the class, the instrumentation will automatically populate in the preview window.
After choosing your class and selecting Next, you can add or remove instruments.
Step 4: Select a preset
Following instrument selection, you'll be prompted to designate a preset with which to create your template. These presets are ordered in difficulty from 1 to 10. Each preset contains predetermined settings pertaining to rhythm and pitch. These presets are merely a helpful starting point for creating sight reading exercises, and do not adhere to any particular standard. After selecting a preset, you can customize all of the various aspects that are included.
Choose your preset from the dropdown menu and then select Next to continue.
After selecting your preset, an example exercise is generated in the preview window. Note that from this point onward, you can listen to the example and generate a new example by selecting the corresponding icons at the top of the preview window. You aren't able to open it in the Practice application until you've finished the initial setup of the template.
First, you'll be asked to confirm your rhythm settings. By default, all of the time signatures and rhythmic patterns included in the presets leading up to the one you've chosen will be displayed.
You can add or remove time signatures by selecting the dropdown menu arrow next to Time signatures.
Similarly, you can view the patterns included in the other presets by selecting the dropdown menu arrow next to each preset name. Customize the rhythmic patterns in your template by selecting or deselecting any of the available options.
After confirming your rhythmic settings, selecting Next brings you to the following window where you can confirm your pitch settings. Here, you can add or remove time signatures, and determine whether any of the minor modes are available.
Note that the instrument ranges are not editable in this particular window. You can edit them later after the template has been created from the Pitch menu.
Step 5: Confirm the tempo and duration
Following the confirmation of your rhythm and pitch settings, you can select your tempo and duration parameters. Determine an exact tempo, or set a range from which Sight Reading Studio will generate the exercise. Additionally, choose whether you'd like to include metronome markings or tempo text indications.
Furthermore, you can set the duration of your exercise, either in terms of measures or in seconds.
Select Done to finish the initial setup of your Sight Reading Studio template.
Advanced Features
After you've completed the initial setup of your template, you can adjust the same rhythm and pitch parameters covered above, as well as add further customizations, all via the following dropdown menu items:
Instruments
The Instruments menu allows for you to change instruments, customize certain instrument options, adjust the instrument ranges, and allow for repeated notes and accidentals.
Rhythm
The Rhythm dropdown menu offers you further customization for time signatures, rhythmic patterns, tempo, duration, as well as other rhythmic options.
Pitch
The Pitch dropdown menu features standard and advanced settings regarding key signatures, intervals, and scale degrees.
Expression
The Expression dropdown menu features settings in regard to articulations, ornaments, dynamics, and slurs.
Musicality
Musicality is another feature that will be introduced in the future. It will allow for adjustments regarding harmony, melody, and rhythm to produce exercises that better reproduce exercises that sound like real-world repertoire.
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