Sight reading!!

[thynecromancer]

Hello,

I'm new to the forum here, and it looks great already. Finally found a forum SPECIFICALLY for my instrument!

Here's my situation: I can not afford formal piano lessons, however I have taught myself the piano for the past 6 years.. and am a composer for piano and orchestra. I need to learn to sight read better for college auditions... and here is my question:

What are some methods I can use to increase my sight reading ability? Any ideas will be welcome.

Thanks to all in advance.

-ThyNecromancer

[xvimbi]

Welcome to the forum!

I am not giving you a direct answer, but instead, I'd like to direct you to the search function:
https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?action=search
(also located in that tiny menu strip above). You'll find dozens of threads on sightreading and all the answers you are interested in.

Cheers!

[thynecromancer]

Thank you I appreciate your help. I read through numerous topics and have discovered that, while it may be obvious the way I must tackle the art of sight reading, it's frusterating finding the pieces suitable for the level I must sight read. I have a few piano books (of a band).. and are of his songs. Not graded level, and probably quite difficult.

While I have looked around the internet for many days searching for graded works, I can not find any.. and I have no money to afford a book of such works. Do you or anyone else know of a place on the website with free graded level works? I have searched through the works on this site, and found that the ones that are free are the popular classical ones. This site would be wonderful if you did not have to pay to retrieve the graded level works.

Thanks again!
ThyNecromancer

[greyrune]

What do you mean graded level works?  Do you mean the ABRSM syllabus books?  If so you can look up the syllabus for each grade at https://www.abrsm.org/?page=exams/gradedMusicExams then find the sheet music at one of many sites.  Try any of these:

https://www.abrahamespinosa.com/partituras2.htm

https://www.sheetmusicarchive.net/

https://www.gamingforce.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48704

If you want easy music for sight reading i would think Bach's two part inventions would be good, you can find them quite easily at the those sites.  Or if you want to spend some money you could buy Super Sight-reading Secrets by Howard Richman (i just got this) which is recommended by Berhard (if you stick around on this site you'll learn to do whatever Bernhard recommends.)  if you do this you'll need the Bach chorales too which you'll also have to buy.

[pianonut]

this is slightly off topic, but for those that are looking for everything (complete resource for each level) following grerune's advice you can look up the exam requirements at:

www.abrsm.org/resources/pianoGr1_0506.pdf     (just input the Gr number that you want)

this is sort of along the lines of the MTNA guidelines.  they give you ideas for music repertoire choices too, which really helps teachers start seeing what is grade appropriate.  usually sightreading should be A LEVEL BELOW what the student is currently at, imo.  you are striving to read through the piece without stopping if you can - or at least attempting it.

ps.  i like the addition of aural testing too - at the first level.  you can make up your own aural tests and probably start a student listening closer to pitch.  even when students are somewhat 'tone-deaf' they can learn to hear intervals by singing songs to each interval

ie happy birthday  = seconds
michael row = thirds
here comes the bride = fourths
twinkle twinkle = fifths
my bonnie = sixths
forgot sevenths - but sounds very clashing

[whynot]

Howdy.  Play everything you can get your hands on.  I mean, EVERYTHING.  Start with hymns; hymnals are easy to find/borrow.  If those are too difficult, borrow someone's beginner books (preferably with no fingerings!) and work through those first.  If the hymns are too easy for you, move to Haydn sonatas (should be free downloads) and Bach inventions etc.  And any contemporary stuff that interests you, so you can practice reading modern rhythms. 

Graded sightreading is useful in that it's a plan, so it may make you feel more comfortable-- which is great.  And you may find it encouraging to be able to measure your growth by how you get through the book.   But any music you can get your hands on is (potentially) sightreading material.  It should be hard enough to be interesting to you, but not so hard that you fall off the bench in terror just looking at it.  Everything in between is your working range, and you just start playing.  I mean, do read all the wonderful posts here as suggested-- great advice abounds, and if reading has been difficult for you, you might want to buy the recommended sightreading book.  But as far as material to play, just play SOMETHING. 

Since you're a composer (I just remembered), you should borrow from the library a few full scores of anything, and CDs of those pieces.   Any college library has these things, and usually the general public can borrow, you don't have to be a student yet.  Listen to the recordings and try to follow along in the score.  If you start out totally lost, the first goal is  just to turn the pages at the right time.  If you're pretty into it already, you could try singing along with one of the parts, and you'd hear how you're doing as you listen.  Then take the score to the piano and try to play one part, or a random few together, then a different few etc.  If you work this way for a while, then switch back to piano music, the piano pieces will seem pretty straightforward reading.  Good luck.   

[thynecromancer]

Yes.. I have quite a few scores I have and run through, followed through, and did on piano. I tried sight reading 4 part SATB on Mozarts Requiem. It actually helps a lot by recognizing where each note is and where it's going. Hymns are easier than a lot of other music, so those are definitley my way to go right now, however, a lot of them are quite difficult. I will probably benefit more from the beginner reading books.

Thanks for all of your advice!