Reading piano music (grand stave)

[hbarrett]

Hello,

I am a jazz pianist and do not have to read piano music (grand stave) very often; I mostly deal with chord charts, single line melodies, improvising, playing by ear etc.  I want to get better at reading piano music.  I know how to read piano music, I'm fine with single line melodies, and I have fairly good piano technique, but the time it takes for me to look at the two staves, take in the musical information for both hands, and translate it to the piano just isn't anywhere near fast enough, even at slow tempos and for easy pieces.  I have resolved to practice reading piano music for 30mins each day.  Can anyone recommend a book or course I could work through that would help me to be able to speed up the process that goes on in between seeing the printed music and producing it on the piano?

Thanks alot

[mad_max2024]

https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php/topic,9159.msg92755.html#msg92755

m1469's index
Check out the sight-reading section and you'll probably find something useful
good luck

[elspeth]

The only way is practice. It's like learning to read another language, to start with you need a dictionary all the time but if you do it enough you soon start to pick it up and the dictionary becomes an occasional reference, not a crutch. Possibly it'll help to start with music you already know - the tune at least, so you'll already have an idea of what it ought to sound like, so you'll pick out mistakes easier.

You also don't necessarily have to read music at a piano... print off some of the plethora of freee music around, and next time you're sitting on a bus on the way to work or something, start annotating the music.

[pianowelsh]

Flash cards work well (leave them lying around the house - magnets on the fridge etc) and name them everytime you see them.  Easy way of coping with ledger lines is to play tennis - serve and ACE(lines above treble and bellow bass) everything is covered by that or comes next to one  of those notes. It really only gets better with practice. try taking single line melodies at first and short and name the note then play it (really split second reaction time - so almost as you go) You can add chords to that to make it a bit more sophisticated.

[danny_sequel]

There are lot of pianists who can't sightread even after 9-10 years of lessons
They all make a mistake that will always prevent you from sightreading
That's it: they either focus on seeing both the staves at the same time or focus on the right hand melody part

To put this myth to rest once and for all: it's impossible for the eye to see both the staves at the same time and get musical information out of them. It's a matter of ocular field
So even if advanced sightreaders can't consciously realize it they do read one stave at a time. Since the sheet goes from left to right it would absolutely impossible to read first the treble stave and then the bass steve because the movement would go towards the left and not towards the right

So the eye movements of a sightreaders are towards North-East and always start from the bass. Down and up, down and up, down and up ... moving forwards always reading ahead of what you're playing

Some advices:

1) practice playing certain pieces eyes closed ... so you must sharp your orientation at the keyboard

2) never stop to correct mistakes ... go on, move forward ... always read ahead of you're playing

3) play duets with a friend; so you feel an healthy pressure on never stop, ignoring the mistakes and read ahead to sock up more information possible

4) practice sight-reading of a piece in two different stages.
First sight-reading the beat, choosing a random note and kind of "beating" the rythm playing that that key
Then ignore the rhyth, and just sight-read the correct notes

5) Read choral sheets everydays. Bach chorales for bass, tenore, alto and soprano always starting from the bass and moving up. When you can feel comfortable reading music for 4 staves it will be a piece of cake to read music for two staves

6) Try this:
Progressive Sight-Reading Exercises For The Piano
The best sightreading exercise book ever