Need Help - improve Sight reading

[molto-marcato]

Hi,

what is the best way to improve my sight reading? Playing easy pieces like Clementi Sonatinas or Burgmueller Etudes from the scratch? Is there another efficient method? Which pieces would you recommend?

I'm currently working on Chopin Ballade No.1, Nocturnes 9.1 and No. 20 posthumous , Beethoven op. 13, Rachmaninoff 32/12 and 3/1, Brahms 79/2 so you can think of pieces that are suitable for my level.

Thanks in advance

[overscore]

I started to learn to sightread three months ago. I could read music then, but at a pathetic rate of about a note every 1 or 2 seconds.

I tried using simple pieces at first but I didn't really find this very helpful. The problem was they were TOO simple - not enough notes. I experimented with different levels but found it very difficult to find anything satisfactory.

In the end, I found the best material for me was baroque pieces, especially Bach. There are long trains of scales and arpeggios in these pieces which really help with sightreading. At first I ignored the rhythmic content and simply read the notes, playing with any rhythm that suited me. Even then, I still didn't have too much success until I realised that the trick to sightreading is not to read notes but intervals. As soon as I started looking at the score from that point of view, everything became about ten times easier. That really is the way to do it. Forget about the names of the notes!

Currently I practise a short piece (two pages) in each key every day. Every day it gets a little easier and now I am able to incorporate some of the rhythm as well as the notes. I've also noticed that I am now starting to recognise chords and arpeggios by sight, as if they were musical 'words'. This gives me more time to think about what lays directly ahead.

The main nightmare for me has been working out instant fingering. Fortunately I know all the scales extremely well but quite often I'll run out of fingers during a long, fast passage. I guess it just takes time.

I'd be interested to hear the experiences of anyone else learning to sightread at the moment.

[a1]

  Sorry, i dunno how to help because i also needs help .

[eelco]

Hi there, that reply seems very interesting. I'm 31 years old, started playing the piano when I was 26, so you can imagine my sight-reading sucks!
I am willing to put in a lot of practise, but I don't really know HOW to practise. I have thousands of pieces of sheet music here at home, but they don't get me anywhere.

I have several questions...
- How exactly do you approach a piece of sheet music? What do you already have in mind when you see/scan it for the first time?
- Do you always count the rhythm while playing? Or use a metronome? My reading rhythm sucks, so when a rhythm seems too complicated I get easily discouraged...
- Do you recognize chords? Blocked or arpeggiated? All of them? Or just the easy ones, like major/minor?
- Do you need to know how to play without hesitating every chord and their possible inversions? So without sight-reading it..?
- Do you need to be able to play every scale with your eyes closed? In what way do scales REALLY help your sight reading?
- How much did you improve in those 3 months? At what level are you know? And what level did you have when you go started?

Hmm .. that's it at the moment, I hope you or someone else can answer these questions for me...
Maybe I'll have more questions later. ;-)

Thanks, Eelco

[overscore]

>>
I am willing to put in a lot of practise, but I don't really know HOW to practise. I have thousands of pieces of sheet music here at home, but they don't get me anywhere>>

I've had similar problems. I've been through so many different types of pieces looking for ones that are suitable but as I said the only ones that seem to be of any use are baroque pieces. If I try to train my sight reading with Beethoven or Chopin... forget it! It goes nowhere. Mozart was not too bad (I'm talking simpler pieces here) but Bach seems to really be very good for sight training.

>>
- How exactly do you approach a piece of sheet music? What do you already have in mind when you see/scan it for the first time?>>

At the moment I'm looking for pieces with lots of scales and arpeggios, and not too many chords or intervals (a few are okay but large clusters of thirds, sixths etc tend to exhaust me very quickly).

>>Do you always count the rhythm while playing?>>

I can read the rhythm easily because I learned at school. But I can't sight read the rhythm and melody together yet - too much information. My main concern is hitting the right notes in the right fingering straight off the bat. I'll sort the rest out as I go along!

>>- Do you recognize chords? Blocked or arpeggiated?>>

I recognise them in block form but it takes a moment. I'm getting better at it though. In arpeggiated form they are harder to spot and this is one thing I'm trying consciously to master. Fortunately, notated chords and arpeggios tend to *look* like their fingering. But it's still tricky.


>>All of them? Or just the easy ones, like major/minor?>>

I'm not much good at diminished/augmented yet.

>>Do you need to know how to play without hesitating every chord and their possible inversions?>>

Well I think so yes. But in my mind, the order of complexity is: scales, then intervals (fifths, sixths etc),  then block chords, then arpeggios, then the rhythm that ties them all together. I see learning to sight read as mastering each of those in turn, because if I try to do all of them at once I go absolutely nowhere (that is how I started). 'One thing at a time' as they say.

>>Do you need to be able to play every scale with your eyes closed? In what way do scales REALLY help your sight reading?>>

I don't see how you could sight read without scales. I do them every day, so when I look at the keyboard I see them as lines (or contours) tying together certain notes. Without those physical patterns burned into my mind I simply wouldn't know where to put my fingers. Also, to read by intervals I assume you need to know the scale otherwise thirds, fifths etc don't mean anything.

>>How much did you improve in those 3 months? At what level are you know? And what level did you have when you go started?>>

When I started I knew how to read and write music but could not sight read at all. I spent a month fluffing about not getting anywhere, until I read what several people here said about reading intervals instead of notes. The Bach stuff probably works because there are loads of scales and long phrases which make it easy to see intervals. At the moment I can go quite fast without thinking, only naming the note in my head when there is a large gap between notes (horizontally or vertically).

There's still so far to go though. I figure that if I practise sight reading for an hour a day then within a year I may be above average at it.

>>Hmm .. that's it at the moment, I hope you or someone else can answer these questions for me...
Maybe I'll have more questions later>>

Hope this helps, anyway. I see why there is so little concrete advice about sight reading, because it is awfully difficult to explain.

[danny elfboy]

Hi,

what is the best way to improve my sight reading? Playing easy pieces like Clementi Sonatinas or Burgmueller Etudes from the scratch? Is there another efficient method?

Sight-Reading Step-by-Step Program

Which pieces would you recommend?

371 Chorales for Piano

[emmaj]

Have you tried playing duets with a friend? There are some lovely Mozart pieces for four hands and the Ravel mother goose suite is fun.

My sight reading only really improved when I was strict with myself and counted all the time, I hated counting every note at first but it really helped.  I also used to go to the library and pick out any of the anthologies - the agay ones are good.  But the pieces you are sight reading sound quite hard?  I only ever expect to sight read something a couple of years behind my present standard - perhaps you are being too tough on yourself - it is more important to keep going than worry about the odd note.

I hope this helps

[eelco]

Sight-Reading Step-by-Step Program

371 Chorales for Piano

I have both books that you mention, but personally I don't like them. The super sight reading secrets sure helped me a bit, but the Bach Chorales are impossible for me to read. Why would you want to read four 'voices' at the same time, it makes it too complicated for me. I prefer easier harmony.

[danny elfboy]

I have both books that you mention, but personally I don't like them. The super sight reading secrets sure helped me a bit, but the Bach Chorales are impossible for me to read. Why would you want to read four 'voices' at the same time, it makes it too complicated for me. I prefer easier harmony.

It's called overlearning
If you learn something which is very hard when you try something easier it will be so easy to be a piece of cake
An example of "overlearning" (muscular in this instance) is when volleyball player train jumping with heavy weight-belts. If they learn to make big jumps with the weight on when they remove the weights it will be so easier and will felt so light to jump very high

If you get accostumed to get the most information from four parts it will be super easy to sight right less parts. Remember to always read from bottom to top almost diagonally from left to right. The "secret" of sight-reading is never playing what you're reading but playing what you've read and read ahead of your playing

Also try to apply Super-Sight Reading Exercises to Bach Chorales rather than trying to sight read Bach Chorales right away

[eelco]

It's called overlearning
If you learn something which is very hard when you try something easier it will be so easy to be a piece of cake
An example of "overlearning" (muscular in this instance) is when volleyball player train jumping with heavy weight-belts. If they learn to make big jumps with the weight on when they remove the weights it will be so easier and will felt so light to jump very high

If you get accostumed to get the most information from four parts it will be super easy to sight right less parts. Remember to always read from bottom to top almost diagonally from left to right. The "secret" of sight-reading is never playing what you're reading but playing what you've read and read ahead of your playing

Also try to apply Super-Sight Reading Exercises to Bach Chorales rather than trying to sight read Bach Chorales right away

Thanks Danny, I agree with you about overlearning, but those 4 voices in the Bach Chorales are sometimes so far apart, that it is impossible to reach with only 2 hands... How would you solve that problem?

[molto-marcato]

Thanks for your help so far. I have ordered Richmans book and am going to keep you up to date of my progress with it (hopefully during the holidays).

@Emmaj

The pieces i mentioned are not supposed to be my sight-reading candidates, that would be insane from my level. These are pieces i am working on right now, trying to master them. I just included them so you get an idea of my level as a student.

Pieces that i can sight-read are easier Waltzes (Johann Strauss) and things like that. Not very much to mention, i usually fail on sight reading Bach inventions  .

Regards

[ichiru]

I'm now working on my sight reading too and my friend gave me a suggestion to play as many as pieces as you can. Anytime you have new scores, or anytime you have time to review your old scores, just play them. Don't bother about the mistakes at first because the purpose of this is to make you get used with reading & playing the score...

[emmaj]

Well you are still a pretty good pianist if you are working on those pieces! and a Bach invention is one of the hardest things to sight read - doesn't it make more sense to practise something like that hands seperately at first anyhow?  Sorry I am not really clear what you want from your sight reading?  The most useful time to sight read well as a pianist is when you are accompanying someone - and for that I think you need to play as many differant styles of music as possible on your own.  I hate to disagree but I think a waltz is much better for sight reading and keeping a good rhythm going than a chorale where you could be too tempted to pause at each note.  A couple of years ago I struggled with my sight reading and because I had a grade coming up just went through as much of the obvious children's music as possible ie Anna Magdalena, Schumann's album for the young and Tchaikovsky's.  I had bypassed most of this music as a child and it was actually really enjoyable - I also whizzed through lots of simple jazz arrangements.  My piano teacher said she had sight read as much as possible as a child - I think you need to focus on quantity not quality - but she would have been able to sight read a Beethoven sonata! - a lot of sight reading is just about building up your confidence.

[molto-marcato]

My first and foremost goal is to significantly reduce time and effort to get into a piece i start newly. Secondly i want to be able to play some easier music, maybe even popular music, easy from the scratch to entertain me and my friends/family.
Thank for your opinion on the 2-part inventions. It may be that polyphone music is not the best suitable choice for practicing it. I think i'll try with Schumann album for the young, like you suggest and see how far i can go.

[p.hindemith]

Excellent suggestions have been given by the posters that already replied to this topic. However, I would like to add two little tips that - at least for me, but I'm just a beginner and a disaster when it comes to sightreading -are quite helpful when it comes to sightreading:


1) Composing.

Start composing your own music with a notation program like, for example, Sibelius. That way you force yourself to become very familiar with the bass- and treble-clef, and how they 'work' together. You begin recognizing common patterns of what sounds good and what sounds just wrong. In combination with music theory this is very helpful, I think, because you can actually hear AND see for yourself how it sounds AND looks when you make particular chord-progressions in combination with a melody.

2)Listening to your favourite music, or music that is related to the music you are about to sightread, with the sheetmusic in front of you.

Go listen to your personal favourites and read along with the music. See how particular patterns pop up, again and again. Notice how the theme reappears somewhere else on the staff when, for example, a 'modulation' has taken place - how it changes the outlook of that section in comparison with the outlook of the original theme.

See what happens in the treble-clef when the left hand begins playing 2nd inversions - what are the 'common' possibilities for the melodic line when it comes to that particular composer? What does it look like on the score when you hear that diminished chord set in, how does the change in sound correlates to the change in notation?


That is all I can think of for now, I hope this is - in some way - helpful.

Thanks guys, these suggestions are immensely helpful for me as well!

[overscore]

The hardest thing for me still is looking ahead of what I'm playing. I can only manage about two notes ahead so far, which frequently leads me down a dead end fingering-wise when there is an abrupt change in the melody.

How far ahead can accomplished sight readers actually read? A bar? Two bars?

Of all the balls I am trying to juggle while learning to sight read, this seems to me to be the most important one.