Quick question: Did you go through that book? What id you think of it?
Yes, I did.
I could already sight-read well when I came accross it. I wanted a new approach to use with my students, since in my experience sight-reading is perhaps the single biggest stumbling block - and one that should be met early on. I was dissatisfied with the several methods around.
My own mastery of sight reading was pretty much unsystematic. The single thing that helped me the most was accompanying other people. It was like not knowing to swim and being thrown at the deep end of the pool. Either I learned fast or I drowned. I learned how to swim.
When I came accross this book a couple of years ago I already had figured out much of what he has to say, but boy, I wish I had it when I was younger!
So, yes, the book is very good, in that it presents a highly systematic approach to sight reading. Do not be fooled by its size (it is only 50 pages or so), working to through the material will take 3 months - 2 years.
It also presents very good strategies to deal with all sorts of stumbling blocks. For instance, he suggests that you do not approach the staff in an alphabetical way, that is, first line E, first space F, second line G, second space, A and so on, but rather that you meorise the lines EGBDF and the spaces FACE. This may seem pretty obvious to a lot of people, but you would be surprised how many pianists approach the staff alphabetically simply because they have been taught this way.
Another nice thing about this book is that it starts from scratch, assuming you do not even know how to read music. He then proceeds to give some excellent strategies (like the one above). Many times poor sight readers have inefficient strategies built up very early on, and they have become unconscious. So I would suggest that even veterans go through the book from beginning to end so as to uncover bad strategies and replace them with more appropriate ones.
He also puts a lot of emphasis on interval reading, ear training and understanding the structure of the music you are trying to sight-read (so scales and chords feature prominetly in the book).
I would highly recommend this book even to good sight-readers - and especially to teachers.
My only criticism is that the diagrammation of the book is somewhat poor - you have constantly to go back to the explanation pages in order to follow the drills. I guess economic considerations may have stopped the author from making a more user friendly book. But this is really a minor point. I have not yet seen a better book on the subject. Or should I say a book that I personally liked better.
Best wishes,
Bernhard.
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