sight reading

[clef]

I am from Australia and i am currently studying AMEB grade 5 for piano.  i was wondering if anyone knew lots of resources for sightreading at my level. 

[jeremyjchilds]

Cool, another sight reading thread 

Here's my advice (taken from a recent post I made)

I sight read at about a gr. two level (Not Gr. 2 rep, but gr.2 sight reading requirements... )  Over the last 8 months, I have been practicing (a lot) on sight as a skill. I recently did very well on a Gr. 10 sight supplemental exam.

So how did I get my sight level from gr 2 to gr 10?

I did not sit down and read through everything that I could

I did take a step back and think about what was making me so bad, and try to develop solutions for them.

1) I needed to have a relative tactile keyboard facility. For someone as bad as I was, I had to literally close my eyes, press a "C" and then call out another note...A#...and then play it. I progressed to playing two, three, and four note chords with my eyes closed.

2) My next step was to read through all kinds of scores away from the piano sing them to myself, while tapping as much of the rythm as an accompaniement as possible. Visualize the notes being pushed on an imaginary keyboard. For me, a little black dot on the page was trnasformed into a Key on the piano that I could actually see.

3) My next step was to be sure that my formula patterns were memorized, this is the best way to be comfortable in any key.

4)My next step was to listen to all kinds of music with a score in hand, or on screen

5) my next step was to actually play the material, slowly, with a sheet over my hands, (this really strengthens your ear as well) I did not even let myself look at the keys at the beginning, (just run your hands over the black notes)

I believe that once you are at step 4, then you are ready to get all of the pointers you normally get when asking for reading advice...Tell someone at step one to "make sure to read ahead when playing" YEAH RIGHT

All of my teachers just fed me little pointers..."look at the outlines of the chords" "go slow" "use pedal so you can move your hands quickly" without adressing my root problem...a deficiency in basic prepatory reading skills.

I liked everything taht Bernard said too.

Bernard will post some links if you are lucky...

[princessdecadence]

Get a partner to play some duets and you sight read the duet piece.  That's the most effective way since we slow down on the hard parts when we sight read and it won't improve the speed you sight read.  Start with easy pieces of course.

[jeremyjchilds]

Make sure that you have all of the supporting skills needed for sight reading......then do as much ensemble and duet playing as possible.

I agree

[bernhard]

Have a look here:

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.

[clef]

thanks alot

[alzado]

Here are just some opinions, and all will not agree.  And my point here does involve sight reading, and what may be detrimental to learning sight-reading skills.

Some on the forum talk about learning their piano piece by playing the CD of the piece many many times.  Similar to this, and in addition to listening to the CD, some teachers will also play the new piece several times for the student before that student has to learn it -- or master it.

I believe this approach is inimical to learning good sight reading skills.

My sight reading has been getting a lot better.  I find sheet music I want to learn and work on it -- never heard.   When I go to my lesson, my teacher sets me straight where I have mis-read or misunderstood the score.  Then I correct.

As this goes on over time, I do believe my sight reading is getting better.

The latest enterprise of mine is to learn a number of pieces from Erik Satie, Piano Works, Vol. II.   Most of this I have never heard.  But with my teacher's help I will play it.

But if people want to listen to the CD beaucoup times, and have their teacher play the piece several times --  if it works, keep doing it. 

I am certain there are advantages and disadvantages to either approach.