Following the launch of SightRead4Piano earlier this year, Wessar International Ltd. is
delighted to announce the launch of SightRead4BowedStrings this June. The iPad app will be
for Violin, Viola, Cello, Double Bass players.
As with the previous App, SightRead4BowedStrings is a unique method of training pupils to
sight read. The system was created by Dr Christopher Wiltshire who, after many years of
research, has developed this effective way of helping music students to dramatically improve
their sight-reading skills.
SightRead4BowedStrings trains the brain and eye to achieve continuity in sight reading by
doing what no book can possibly do: it does not just tell you to ‘keep going’, it makes sure
you do!
Dr Wiltshire has a lifetime’s experience in music education, including thirty years as an
examiner for Trinity Guildhall. The 720 pieces on the new app have been especially
composed and Wessar is delighted to announce that the internationally acclaimed violinist
Tasmin Little has edited the bowing and fingering on the upper grade violin compositions
(6 – 8).
Tasmin Little writes: ‘Sight-reading is one of the essential tools of any musician's make-up,
and anything which helps the student progress in this art is very welcome.
Sightread4BowedStrings is a beautifully thought out App which effectively helps the student
master a difficult but essential aspect of a career in music’.
Future versions of the app will deal with guitar, wind instruments and percussion and also for
solo voice.
Dr Wiltshire declares: ‘Both SightRead4Piano and Sightread4BowedStrings have been the
result of vast experience in dealing with teachers and their pupils’ sight-reading problems
and I have a passionate belief in its simple principles. To see these efforts finally coming to
fruition is both gratifying and tremendously exciting. Sight reading is one of the most
demanding aspects of any music student’s development and to facilitate a marked
improvement in this vital part of a player’s growth is very rewarding indeed.’
In the few months that the piano map has been available, the reaction across the world has
been extremely positive...
The app will be available in a range of packaged ‘bundles’ giving consumers welcome
purchasing flexibility. These bundles have been devised to allow the consumer to purchase
blocks of grades, for example, Grades 1 – 5 priced at £21.99 and Grades 6 – 8 priced at
£22.49.
Each download will come with streamed music of a Tasmin Little CD.
Dyslexic users of the SightRead4BowedStrings app will appreciate the facility whereby the
colour of the screen can be changed to green. Likewise, those with hearing problems will
benefit from the subtle flash incorporated into the metronome as an option – coloured pink
during the ‘countdown’ and white during performance.
The App can be downloaded from June 2012 via Apple’s ‘App Store’ for £1.49, which will
include a sample piece of music from each grade.