Rhythmic and melodic reading for the music admission test

What the reading test asks you to do

Each university designs its reading test differently. In the most recent admissions round we reviewed:

• Universidad Nacional had an oral sight-reading component before an examining panel in Bogotá, which was not performed on your instrument.
• Distrital ASAB required singing intervals, triads and seventh chords, as well as melodic and rhythm reading.
• Pedagógica Nacional included reading in its musical aptitude and knowledge test, and sight-reading in the principal-instrument test.
• Universidad Central had an expression and perception test involving sung imitation of intervals, rhythmic motifs and phrases.

Prepare for three things, then: reading rhythms, singing melodies in tune, and reading music on your instrument. Check your program’s instructions to see what its test involves; for example, the Universidad Nacional specialty tests.

Rhythm reading: the beat comes first

The most common mistake in rhythm reading isn't misreading a note value; it's speeding up in easy passages and slowing down in difficult ones. Everything starts with the beat.

• Keep the beat with your body, using your foot or hand as the examiners request, and never let it stop.
• Read in groups, rather than note by note. Learn to recognize patterns at a glance, such as a dotted eighth note followed by a sixteenth note, syncopation or a triplet.
• Count the subdivisions silently (eighth or sixteenth notes) in the trickiest passages.
• Give rests their full value. Rests count too, and they're where the beat is most likely to rush.
• In compound meters such as 6/8, feel two beats subdivided into threes, rather than six separate beats.
• Look one measure ahead. While you're performing one measure, your eyes should already be on the next.

A coordination exercise

Tap quarter notes with your foot and read the rhythm by clapping or using a syllable. Once you can do that, switch: keep the beat with one hand and perform the rhythm with the other. Then use the metronome at a slow tempo and increase it gradually, moving to the next tempo only after two clean runs in a row.

Melodic sight-singing: think in scale degrees

Sight-singing isn't about guessing each note: it's about always knowing where you are within the key.

1. Identify the key from the key signature and final note. Is it major or minor?
2. Establish your reference. If the examiners give you a note or the tonic chord, quietly sing the scale or arpeggio before you begin.
3. Think in scale degrees. If you know a note is the fifth degree, it's easy to reach it from the tonic.
4. Use chords as bridges. For a difficult leap, think of the triad: often the note is the root, third or fifth of a chord in the key.
5. Pay attention to the leading tone and accidentals, which are the notes most often sung out of tune.
6. If you lose your place, return to the tonic mentally and pick up again in the next measure.

Sing the note names in a comfortable register without straining your voice. You don't have to be a singer: the goal is accurate pitch and reading, rather than a beautiful tone. If you need to strengthen the basics, see what solfège is and how to practice it.

Clefs

Master both treble and bass clefs, even if your instrument uses only one: they're the most common in solfège exercises, and an unfamiliar clef shouldn't hold you back in front of the examiners. If you play viola, you already know alto clef; practice other clefs only if your program requires them.

What examiners look for when you read

Each university sets its own exact criteria, but examiners generally look for the following:

Choose a tempo you can maintain from start to finish. Reading a little more slowly, but steadily and accurately, is usually rated more highly than starting fast and falling apart in the third measure.

The seconds before you start

Many tests give you a moment to look over the sheet music. Always use it in the same order so the routine helps you stay calm:

1. Clef, key signature and key.
2. Time signature and tempo marking.
3. Difficult rhythms: syncopations, triplets, dotted notes and offbeat rests.
4. Large leaps and accidentals.
5. Repeats, alternate endings and ending signs.
6. Sing the opening in your head and choose your tempo.

If you have very little time, prioritize the first three steps: misreading a key signature or time signature affects the whole reading, while missing a leap is just one isolated error.

Reading practice plan

Throughout the week

• Change the key and time signature every day.
• Use new material: solfège books, chorales, folk melodies or orchestral parts for your instrument.
• Once a week, record a reading and listen back with the sheet music: mark where the beat shifted or a note was out of tune.
• Every two weeks, read in front of someone acting as an examiner: your teacher, a fellow student or a family member.

Reading for another person changes everything: that's when nerves set in and you start stopping. At Gissi, you can take music theory lessons with solfège and reading, online or in your home in Bogotá, where your teacher acts as an examiner and gives you immediate feedback; see our admissions-test preparation program. Pair this with how to prepare for musical dictation, which trains the same ear in the opposite direction.

Frequently asked questions