super sight reading secrets

[b0mbtrack]

well i finally got this book and it looks like it will help out a lot.  I just have a couple of questions for anyone who is already familiar with it.  The first drills that they have in the book for sightreading, should i play with both hands or do them seperatly? It seems like for those drills he is not worried about getting you to sight read just getting you used to the notes.  Also should i not look at the piano for these drills and feel for each note, or should i not worry about that in these intro drills at look at the notes?
Also, not that i'm going to need them for a while, for the bach pieces he says to get can i download them anywhere.  He mentioned they should be without vocals.

[ant2006]

hi,
i also purchased this book just as i started to learn piano (2 months ago), if you are referring to the sight reading drills in the centre of the book then i tend to read them away from the piano and just go through them till i get bored (not long), i think it covers most of the notes if not all so jus do this for 5-10 mins a day everyday and u will soon get better at recognising notes more quickly.

[b0mbtrack]

oh ok cool, thanks.  so those don't even need to be done at the piano? and once you are good at recognizing them you move on?

[ant2006]

yeah i think thats the general idea of those particular drills 

[knew bee]

Also, not that i'm going to need them for a while, for the bach pieces he says to get can i download them anywhere. He mentioned they should be without vocals.

Can anyone confirm if these are available online? I went to my local music store but I couldn't find them.

(Unless of course it WAS that big book of Harmonized Choruses that looked depressingly daunting!)

[danny elfboy]

well i finally got this book and it looks like it will help out a lot.  I just have a couple of questions for anyone who is already familiar with it.  The first drills that they have in the book for sightreading, should i play with both hands or do them seperatly? It seems like for those drills he is not worried about getting you to sight read just getting you used to the notes.  Also should i not look at the piano for these drills and feel for each note, or should i not worry about that in these intro drills at look at the notes?
Also, not that i'm going to need them for a while, for the bach pieces he says to get can i download them anywhere.  He mentioned they should be without vocals.

The drills at the center of the book are there to be found easily
There's not a single way to use them, they're used as the basis for many different exercises

Go at page 30
All the KO (Keyboard Orientation) and VP (Visual Perception) drill are listed
They must be done at the same time so if you do KO1 you must also do VP1, if you do KO7 you must also do VP7

The KO exercises teach you to move your hands among the keyboard with control, orientation sense and coordination.
They mostly ask you to play chords, thirds, octave displacements, only black keys and scales without looking
You need a book of scales for these one

The VP exercises teach you how to sightread from the sheet through intervals recognition

The 1° VP exercise wants you to be able to sightread without mistakes the exercises at the center of the book (SD1 from SD4) at the speed on 1 note per second (put your metronome at 60 and say one note per beat)

This alone will keep your busy for quite some time (a week or less) and you shouldn't attempt other exercises and go on with VP2, VP3, VP4 and so on until you master the one you're practicing

Till VP5 you will always need the exercises at the center of the book (you will just do different things with the same exercises)

From VP5 to VP9a you will need a book of Bach Chorales for piano (hence four parts in two lines [treble and cleff] rather than four lines [Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass])

You can find the Bach Chorals for Piano here
Kalmus Bach 371 Four-Part Chorales for Organ or Piano - Volume 1

Kalmus Bach 371 Four-Part Chorales for Organ or Piano - Volume 2

Schirmer 371 Harmonized Chorales with Figured Bass Piano Solo

Choose the one you prefer

The first ones are two volumes (so 198 chorales per volume) and have bigger notes
The second one is 371 chorales in one single volume, and thus notes are smaller

[b0mbtrack]

wow, thanks for all the info.  I'm actually on the two pages right before the middle of the book where you are supposed to see the notes say them then play them. also doing the rhythm one right before that page on the notes.  I'm going to be doing this book for a long time but it looks like something that if you stay with it it will help

[danny elfboy]

wow, thanks for all the info.  I'm actually on the two pages right before the middle of the book where you are supposed to see the notes say them then play them. also doing the rhythm one right before that page on the notes.  I'm going to be doing this book for a long time but it looks like something that if you stay with it it will help

You mean "Howard's Additive Rhythm Drill" ?
As the name suggest they're not exercises for orientation on the keyboard without looking or intervals recognization by reading the sheet, they are meant for tapping; for counting and rhythm recognition

I would just work with them a little everyday together with the KO and VP exercises
Together they form a daily "workout" for "gathering" quick information from the sheet about the three basical component of what we're playing: the position on the keyboard, the pitch changing through intervals and the rhythm flowing