Using an abundance of meticulously organized melodies drawn from the literature of composed music and a wide range of the world’s folk music, Ottman and Rogers provide the most engaging and comprehensive Sight Singing text on the market. Arranging its 21 chapters to study both pitch and rhythm, this book presents melodies and over 1200 exercises that enable readers to develop the skills of reading pitch, reading rhythm, and combining these two essential elements. The Seventh Edition contains 30% more rhythmic exercises and new structured improvisation exercises.  For professionals with a career in music, music education, and composition.

Robert W. Ottman, deceased, an internationally renowned music theorist, was an important contributor to Music Theory education. He wrote eight textbooks and co-authored four others, all which are used to educate English-speaking students worldwide. Dr. Ottman also was a professor and chair of the Music Theory Department at the University of North Texas and a conductor of the Madrigal Singers. He earned both his BA and MM from Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester, NY, and his Ph.D. from what is now the University of North Texas in 1956. He was honored with the University of North Texas President's Citation for outstanding service to the university in April 2004. 

Nancy Rogers is an Assistant Professor of Music Theory at Florida State University and the current Secretary of the Society for Music Theory; she is also a Faculty Reader and Consultant for the Advanced Placement Test in Music Theory. She received her Ph.D. from the Eastman School of Music, where she won both school-wide and university-wide teaching awards. Dr. Rogers' primary research interest is music cognition and its pedagogical implications, and she has presented papers at national, international, and regional conferences. Her recent publications may be found in Music Theory Online, the Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy, and Indiana Theory Review.'

(R)  indicates Rhythmic Reading exercises

PREFACE 

In Memorium 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

PART I

MELODY:      DIATONIC INTERVALS

RHYTHM:      DIVISION OF THE BEAT

1         RHYTHM:     Simple meter; the Beat and Its Division into Two Parts  

RHYTHMIC READING

Section 1 (R).  The quarter note as the beat unit. Beat-note values and larger only

Section 2 (R).  The quarter note as the beat unit and its division. Dotted notes and tied notes

Section 3 (R).  Two-part drills

Section 4 (R).  Note values other than the quarter note as beat values

Section 5 (R).  Two-part drills

2         MELODY:      Stepwise Melodies, Major Keys

            RHYTHM:     Simple Time (Meter); the Beat and its Division into Two Parts

Section 1.  Major keys, treble clef, the quarter note as the beat unit. Key signatures with no more than three sharps or three flats

Section 2.  Bass clef

Section 3.  Other meter signatures

Section 4.  Duets

Section 5.  Structured Improvisation

3         MELODY:      Intervals from the Tonic Triad, Major Keys

            RHYTHM:     Simple Meters

Section 1.  Major keys, treble clef, intervals of the third, fourth, fifth, and octave from the tonic triad. The quarter note as the beat unit

Section 2.  Bass clef

Section 3.  Interval of the sixth; minor sixth, up to , and major sixth, up to , or descending

Section 4.  The half note and the eighth note as beat units

Section 5.  Duets

Section 6.  Key signatures with five, six, and seven sharps or flats

Section 7.  Structured Improvisation

4         MELODY:      Intervals from the Tonic Triad, Major Keys

            RHYTHM:     Compound Meters; the Beat and Its Division into Three Parts

Section 1 (R).  Rhythmic reading: The dotted quarter note as the beat unit. Single lines and two-part drills

Section 2.  Sight singing: Major keys, treble clef; the dotted quarter note as the beat unit

Section 3.  Sight singing: Bass clef

Section 4 (R).  Rhythmic reading: The dotted half note and the dotted eighth note as beat units, including two-part drills

Section 5.  Sight singing: The dotted half note and dotted eighth note as beat units

Section 6.  Duets

Section 7.  Structured Improvisation

5         MELODY:      Minor Keys; Intervals from the Tonic Triad

            RHYTHM:     Simple and Compound Meters 

Section 1.  Simple meters

Section 2.  Compound meters

Section 3.  Duets

Section 4.  Structured Improvisation

6         MELODY:      Intervals from the Dominant (V) Triad; Major and Minor Keys

            RHYTHM:     Simple and Compound Meters 

Section 1.  Intervals of the third from the V triad; major keys; simple meters

Section 2.  Intervals of the third from the V triad; minor keys; simple meters

Section 3.  Intervals of the fourth and fifth from the V triad; major and minor keys; simple meters

Section 4.  Interval of the sixth from the V triad; simple meters

Section 5.  Compound meters; various intervals from the V triad

Section 6.  Numerators of three, compound meters

Section 7.  Duets

Section 8.  Structured Improvisation

7         THE C CLEFS:  Alto and Tenor Clefs

Section 1.  The alto clef

Section 2.  The tenor clef

Section 3.  Additional practice in the C clefs

8         MELODY:      Further Use of Diatonic Intervals

            RHYTHM:     Simple and Compound Meters 

Section 1.  Single-line melodies

Section 2.  Duets

Section 3.  Structured Improvisation

9         MELODY:      Intervals from the Dominant Seventh Chord (V7); Other Diatonic Intervals of the Seventh

            RHYTHM:     Simple and Compound Meters 

Section 1.  The complete dominant seventh chord

Section 2.  The interval of the minor seventh; up to or reverse

Section 3.  The interval of the tritone

Section 4.  Other uses of diatonic intervals of the seventh

Section 5.  Structured Improvisation

PART II

MELODY:      DIATONIC INTERVALS

RHYTHM:     SUBDIVISION OF THE BEAT

10      RHYTHM:     The Subdivision of the Beat; the Simple Beat into Four Parts; the Compound Beat into Six Parts

RHYTHMIC READING, SIMPLE meters

Section 1 (R).  Preliminary exercises, simple meters

Section 2 (R).  Rhythmic reading exercises in simple meters

Section 3 (R).  Two-part drills, simple meters

RHYTHMIC READING, COMPOUND meters

Section 4 (R).  Preliminary exercises, compound meters

Section 5 (R).  Rhythmic reading exercises in compound meters

Section 6 (R).  Two-part drills, compound meters

11      MELODY:      Intervals from the Tonic and Dominant Triads

            RHYTHM:     Subdivision in Simple and Compound Meters

Section 1.  Major keys

Section 2.  Minor keys

Section 3.  Structured Improvisation

12      MELODY:      Further Use of Diatonic Intervals

            RHYTHM:     Subdivision in Simple and Compound Meters 

Section 1.  Diatonic intervals except the seventh and the tritone

Section 2.  The dominant seventh (V7) chord; intervals of the seventh and the tritone

Section 3.  Other uses of the interval of the seventh

Section 4.  Structured Improvisation

PART III

MELODY:      CHROMATICISM

RHYTHM:     FURTHER RHYTHMIC PRACTICES

13      MELODY:      Chromaticism (I): Chromatic Nonharmonic Tones; the Dominant of the Dominant (V/V) Harmony; Modulation to the Key of the Dominant 

Section 1.  Chromatic nonharmonic tones. Augmented and diminished intervals created by their use

Section 2.  The secondary dominant chord, V/V or V7/V. Modulation from a major key to its dominant key

Section 3.  Duets

Section 4.  Structured Improvisation

14      MELODY:      Chromaticism (II): Modulation to Closely Related Keys; Additional Secondary Dominant Harmonies 

Section 1.  Single-line melodies

Section 2.  Duets

Section 3.  Structured Improvisation

15      RHYTHM:     Syncopation 

RHYTHMIC READING

Section 1 (R).  Divided beat patterns in simple meters

Section 2 (R).  Divided beat patterns in compound meters

Section 3 (R).  Two-part drills

Section 4 (R).  Subdivided beat patterns in simple meters

Section 5 (R).  Subdivided beat patterns in compound meters

Section 6 (R).  Two-part drills

SIGHT SINGING

Section 7.  Divided beat patterns in simple meters

Section 8.  Divided beat patterns in compound meters

Section 9.  Duets

Section 10.  Subdivided beat patterns in simple and compound meters

Section 11.  Structured Improvisation

16      RHYTHM and MELODY:    Triplet Division of Undotted Note Values; Duplet Division of Dotted Note Values

RHYTHMIC READING

Section 1 (R).  Triplet division of undotted note values

Section 2 (R).  Duplet division of dotted note values

Section 3 (R).  Two-part drills

SIGHT SINGING 

Section 4.  Triplet division of undotted note values

Section 5.  Duplet division of dotted note values

Section 6.  Duets

Section 7.  Structured Improvisation

17      RHYTHM and MELODY:    Changing Meter Signatures; the Hemiola; Less Common Meter Signatures 

RHYTHMIC READING

Section 1 (R).  Definitions and rhythmic reading exercises

SIGHT SINGING

Section 2.  Changing meter signatures

Section 3.  The hemiola

Section 4.  Meters of 5 and 7, and other meters

Section 5.  Structured Improvisation

18      RHYTHM and MELODY:    Further Subdivision of the Beat; Notation in Slow Tempi 

Section 1 (R).  Rhythmic reading

Section 2.  Sight singing

19      MELODY:      Chromaticism (III): Additional Uses of Chromatic Tones; Remote Modulation 

Section 1.  Chromatic tones

Section 2.  The Neapolitan Sixth

Section 3.  Remote modulation

Section 4.  Structured Improvisation

PART IV

THE MEDIEVAL MODES AND TWENTIETH-CENTURY MUSIC

20      MELODY:      The Medieval Modes 

Section 1.  Folk music

Section 2.  Composed music

Section 3.  Structured Improvisation

21      MELODY:      Twentieth-Century Melody

            RHYTHM:     Twentieth-Century Rhythm 

Section 1 (R).  Meter and rhythm. Rhythmic reading

Section 2.  Extensions of the traditional tonal system

Section 3.  Symmetrical collections; the octatonic and whole-tone scales

Section 4.  Freely post-tonal melodies

Section 5.  Twelve-tone melodies

Section 6.  Duets

Section 7.  Structured Improvisation

            APPENDIX: MUSICAL TERMS