Sightreading

[MattL]

Is there any way (besides excessive practice) that would get my sightreading up to par in a year or less, such as books, certain techniques, or other stuff.

Thanks 

[dikai_yang]

i personally think my sightreading is quite good...
i got that from playing piano in the church...
in my church, saints will call a hymn, we flip to that page, and we start playing
there's no way we can prepare for it...
while you're under this much pressure...
you learn at lightening speed!!

[pet]

The only way to get better at sightreading, is to sightread.  No techniques...no magic, just throw yourself in there, and eventually you'll see yourself improve.

[bernhard]

The only way to get better at sightreading, is to sightread.  No techniques...no magic, just throw yourself in there, and eventually you'll see yourself improve.

Of course there are all sorts of techniques, tricks and shortcuts. Have a look here (for a start):

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,1871.msg14384.html#msg14384
(Reading notation – Richmann’s book – Cambridge word scramble example)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,1976.msg15962.html#msg15962
(Sight reading – Richmann’s book)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2406.msg20820.html#msg20820
(the grand staff)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2577.msg22247.html#msg22247
(Keyboard topography – how to find notes by touch)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2713.msg23282.html#msg23282
(Teaching bass clef – the full explanation for the grand staff)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2751.msg23710.html#msg23710
(detailed explanation of the sight-reading process)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2757.msg23890.html#msg23890
(Sight reading techniques – Good post by faulty on the folly of pedagogues)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2763.msg25148.html#msg25148
(music to develop sight reading from scratch)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,3205.msg28255.html#msg28255
(how not to look at the keys – Richmann’s reviews)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,3334.msg29381.html#msg29381
(Reading both staffs as a single grand staff - Reasons for working on scales - Detailed discussion of Richmann’s book)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,4461.msg41580.html#msg41580
(Looking at the keys: Good or bad? exercises to help finding notes by touch. Good contributions by Chang).

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,4506.msg42967.html#msg42967
(accompanying as a way to teach sightreading)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,5090.msg48850.html#msg48850
(the score is tabs for piano)

https://www.pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,6704.msg66349.html#msg66349
(graphic illustration of how the grand staff relates to the piano keys)

https://www.pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,7466.msg74462.html#msg74462
(Sightreading – Comparison with reading – St Augustine reading skills)

https://www.pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,9786.msg99290.html#msg99290
(collections of repertory for sight-reading practice)

 

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[hazypurple21]

To kind of sum up some of the things Bernhard was saying:

1.Learn to play without watching your hands or the keys.
2.Learn chord structures and major and minor scales and their fingerings. This will help you recognize both of these much faster.
3. Accompanying is a great idea.

More than anything, you just need to practice reading all the time.

[MattL]

I agree with the accompanying thing because my teacher is a virtuoso violinist so the would work out pretty good to a duet.

[musicsdarkangel]

Is there any way (besides excessive practice) that would get my sightreading up to par in a year or less, such as books, certain techniques, or other stuff.

Thanks 

I definitely recommend getting the Liszt technical excersizes.


They switch keys, so not only do you get brilliant excersizes that expand your technique (in pretty much all areas) as well as scalework, but you also get much better at sightreading.

If you aren't looking to multitask, but just want to sightread, I would recommend the Mozart and Beethoven sonatas coupled up with some later difficult romantic stuff to REALLY challenge you.

[ail]

One things that helped me greatly in sightreading was adapting scores to PC, either Midi or Mod. It quickly made me learn to identify notes on sight, I mean, know their name. And I found that was really heplful when I was at the keyboard later.

It also helps in identifying chords, which is a  must to sightread.

Ail

[BoliverAllmon]

I had a friend to learned how to sight-read real well on his guitar. His secret? he took his sheet music in with him every morning while on the can. While he dropped some friends of at the pool, he would be sight-reading in his mind. Hmmmm.....intersting indeed. I haven't tried it yet though.

boliver

[jeremyjchilds]

Don't give up...eat, breathe, sleep, and talk about sight reading all day...no matter how sick of it your wife is...

I was fed up with poor sight reading so I just decided that I was going to be the best sight reader ever. (Now I'm not bad anymore-just slightly below average) but taht is a lot better than i was a year ago!!

Now I'm so excited because  everytime I read something, it just starts to happen.
You can do this, just decide!!

[barbosa-piano]

 My sight-reading is very good, but I don't know why. I believe that reading through music slowly and striving not to miss any notes is good, playing all the notes fortissimo, I say that so you can gain confidence on your hand to adapt to the surface of the keyboard and easily recognize notes by touch and sound. I believe that if you push yourself to read harder music, you will acquire more confidence and accuracy on the keyboard. The concert organist Dr. Joyce Jones once told me and my friends in an pipe organ master class that reading organ sheet music (3 staves) makes piano sight-reading a lot easier. I guess that some of Debussy's preludes can help in that way, although a lot easier than organ, which is played both feet and both hands at the same time. A book of hymnals does help, it contains simple music, very good for sight-reading (the only problem is the number of words between the staves).
 
Mario Barbosa