I need tips for doing more in less time!

[mmro]

I'm ridiculously terrible at sight reading... I need help on how to improve that! It's so frustrating all the time it takes to learn a piece, for example, I started reading a Chopin etude three days ago and I still can't play it right.

What can I do??

[kirae]

It helps for me to break it down into really small sections. Even just a couple measures at a time.

[nachoba]

Practice Sight Reading.
Download this book: https://www.archive.org/download/pianoguidedsight002011mbp/pianoguidedsight002011mbp.pdf

I found it really helpfull.
Take care

[teresa_b]

I don't know that 3 days is all that bad for a Chopin etude!    Here are a few thoughts:

Do lots of sightreading, and it will get easier and easier.  You want to develop the habit of playing while constantly looking ahead at the score, and not looking down too much at your hands.  Pick relatively easy pieces just to sightread. 

(Some pieces are naturally easier to read than others, of course.  I can breeze through reading a Mozart sonata but choke when I even look at Poissons d'Or. )

I've found that it's good to get used to playing in specific keys.  Once you get a really good feel for D-flat, for example, your hands fall on the right notes more easily. 

Try playing with a metronome (maybe not at top tempo), and conscously do NOT allow yourself to stop when you make a mistake, but keep going. 

Have fun!
Teresa

[dmc]

I don't know that 3 days is all that bad for a Chopin etude!

Amen !  I don't know anyone who can sight read a Chopin Etude right off the bat.  That would be kind of like trying to sneak up on an adult lion, wrestling it to the ground & killing it with your bare hands in 5 minutes !

I've been struggling with sight reading too.  Best to start with pieces that are below your level and work up from there.  Even if it means setting your metronome to a slow tempo like 40-45.  No matter how easy they are, try to spend 10-15 minutes a day doing that.  Make it an ongoing part of your routine. Don't worry about playing it perfect.  Just keep playing and don't stop.  Patience & persistence.  You will get better at it.

[ramseytheii]

This reminds me of what Vladimir de Pachmann said,

"Look, I will play the wonderful Nocturne of Chopin in G, opus 37 no.2.  The legato thirds seem simple?  Ah, if I could only tell you of the years that are behind those thirds....

The artist will spend months on a Chopin valse.  The student feels injured if he cannot play it in a day."

Walter Ramsey

[pianistimo]

ramseytheii, despite our differences on other topics - i must apologize for being so harsh before with de pachmann in previous discussions.  for one thing, i had only read from arnold schoenberg's book 'the great pianists' and not really read that much elsewhere.  it seems that although de pachmann was quite eccentric - he wasn't as bad as schoenberg made him out to be.  especially with chopin and he apparently had a light and lyrical touch when he wanted. 

i found this article to be interesting: https://www.arbiterrecords.com/musicresourcecenter/pachmann.html

of course, de pachmann always did something a bit unique in each concert too.  once 'he held up to the audience an old sock and explained that george sand had knitted it for chopin.  he performed the concert with the sock dangling from the side of the open concert grand.'

**regarding doing more in less time - i agree with ramseytheii here, too.  consistent practice helps one do more in less time later on.  and, organizing your practice routine helps, too.  there is much on piano forum about that.  some people like to warm up for hours.  others like to just start in on repertoire.  i like to warm up on mozart.  beethoven is a bit harder to just 'warm-up' on.  mozart typically has a lot of scalular type runs and directs one to relax from it's simplicity.  i don't warm up to get into a muscular mode.  i warm up to hear better and better tone/sound from the piano.  and to practice controlling dynamics.

[ramseytheii]

Oh heaven help us.  Arnold Schoenberg doesn't care about pianists, and never wrote a book about them, but Harold Schonberg did!

Walter Ramsey

[pianistimo]

at least you said 'heaven help US.'  i forget names/spellings  - you quote pachmann and charles rosen.  in any case - may the best man/woman win.  or not win.  perhaps this is not a competition.  and, perhaps - just perhaps  - i may ease off of the attacks on charles rosen and pachmann.  i was interested to note that pachmann actually took piano lessons from a student assistant of chopin's.  he must have been good enough to get this attention.  and, to play the nocturne's so nicely, as mentioned. *pushes reset button.

[leahcim]

i forget names/spellings  - you quote pachmann and....

....you think of this guy?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pac-Man

[simon73]

Keep on reading musical notes and playing them while you read, and don't rush it, take time and practice everyday, that way i'm sure you'll improve in a very quick time. That is what i do.