Sight-singing is one of the most important skills for any singer to develop, and often one of the most intimidating. As a choir director, you’re constantly balancing limited rehearsal time, keeping energy high, and making sure individual students are actually understanding the music rather than just following along with the strongest singer in their section.
To make matters tougher, finding high-quality, sequential sight-singing exercises tailored to your choir’s exact skill level can take hours of prep work every week.
That is why we are thrilled to bring a major update to MakeMusic Cloud just in time for back-to-school: Sight Reading Studio templates powered by Andy Beck’s renowned Sing at First Sight series.
By pairing the generative flexibility of Sight Reading Studio with the trusted, step-by-step pedagogy of Alfred Music’s premier vocal method, you now have the ultimate sight-reading tool at your fingertips.
Here is how you can use this new feature to transform both your classroom rehearsals and your students’ practice at home.
1. In the Classroom: Seamless Daily Warm-Ups and Infinite Variety
Integrating sight-singing into daily rehearsals should build momentum, not stall it. With these templates, you no longer have to spend hours writing notation on the board or creating custom exercises from scratch.
Follow a Proven Sequence
Jump directly to pre-made templates aligned with the exact lessons in Andy Beck’s method. These templates cover everything from whole notes to sixteenth-note patterns, intervals, articulations, and more.
Eliminate Rote Memorization
A common challenge with printed method books is that students quickly memorize the short exercises. With Sight Reading Studio, you can click a button to generate a brand-new exercise that strictly adheres to the skill level of that specific Sing at First Sight lesson. Your students practice the actual skill, not just their memory of the page.
Projection-Ready Rehearsals
Project exercises directly onto your classroom display for unified, ensemble-wide sight-singing. Adjust tempos, play starting pitches, or toggle accompaniment tracks effortlessly to keep your rehearsal moving smoothly.
2. At Home: True Accountability and Targeted Skill Building
Choir is inherently a group effort, which makes individual assessment notoriously difficult. How do you ensure every tenor or alto is mastering interval reading when they practice outside the choral room?
By assigning these templates through MakeMusic Cloud, you bring clarity and structure to at-home practice:
Instant Pitch and Rhythm Feedback
When students record their assigned sight-singing exercises at home, MakeMusic Cloud’s real-time assessment gives them immediate visual feedback. They can instantly see where they went sharp, flat, or off-rhythm, turning home practice into an active learning experience.
Differentiated Practice
Not all singers progress at the exact same speed. You can easily assign tailored templates to specific sections or individual students, ensuring that struggling readers get extra reinforcement while advanced singers stay challenged.
Building Independent Readers
When students know they will be individually assessed on a fresh exercise (rather than a piece they listened to five times in class) they are motivated to learn the underlying music theory and pitch relationships.
Ready for Back-to-School
Great choral sight-singing isn’t built overnight, but having the right tools makes the journey infinitely smoother. By combining Andy Beck’s pedagogy with the dynamic power of Sight Reading Studio, MakeMusic Cloud gives you a complete ecosystem for vocal growth from day one of the school year.
Log into your MakeMusic Cloud account to explore the new Sing at First Sight templates and discover just how easy and effective sight-singing can be for your choir!