Definitely the most difficult has to be rhythm IMO.
I agree with pianoplayj, as well as working with the metronome and putting colour to the piece.
Part of that is very psychological for me, in that when I see something which needs correcting, I think about the many steps I myself have consciously gone through to gain in the ability to be truly more efficient (and there's always more that can be accomplished, too).
You are not the only one who has experienced this. I think that teachers can be very eager to bestow their vast body of knowledge to a student - to pass on all what he/she has learned. The teacher has the luxury of stepping back and placing specific concepts in the big picture. However, a student most likely does not yet have a sense of that big picture: not all the bricks have been laid in order to see the house. A teacher can see the points for improvement a student can take, and all the inter-related concepts the student needs to learn in order to achieve progress. However, to the student each one of these small concepts is a leap in understanding and growth. Of course the teacher would like the student to amass all this knowledge in order to move forward. The important point IMO is that this does not all have to happen at once. The journey of learning is key in the formation of the big picture.
I disagree with the latter part of your statement. It is up to the student to create colour into the piece of music by using their imagination and at the same time making the music musical so that it is in line with the laws of music.
And how are they going to know how to do that- unless you teach them what makes music musical? Students don't magically know these things or stumble across them by random applications of imagination. They need to be taught principles of what makes for a musical line.
Exactly! thx for that point!
. IMO the metronome only makes matters worse for anyone who doesn't know how to use and follow the metronome. JL
I did have a chat a few weeks ago with a woman who teaches a lot of young children, primarily beginners in the 4-8 kind of age group, very well qualified lady (AmusA, LmusA, Bmus, Mmus) ..She talked about how a lot of children experience difficulties when first attempting to play together in regard to the different coordination challenges presented by similar motion vs contrary motion. And, the reading challenges presented by reading on 2 lines and coordinating reading 2 different lines with 2 different hands. She mentioned that she'd had some students who struggled for a long time with piano, only to go on and excel on a single note instrument with ease.
What specifically do you have them do in class or at home to practice sightreading?
I feel repertoire study is what most advanced students need rather than drilling exercises to be able to readily play scales, chords, arpeggios in various key signatures, however I find that there are some of my advanced students who indeed need help being able to deal with the basic building blocks! Of course many of my advanced students can sight read easier grade but the point I was trying to present is that the difference between their playing abilty and sight reading skill is often too imbalanced.
I do not ask for speed but ask the students to strive for even timing and good fingering even if that means slowing the tempo right down
But I cannot push them to be able to sight read works at their playing level immediately, it is impossible to do so effectively. Most of them just do not want to go through the stepwise process which takes many years to get their reading skill level closer to their playing skill level, most students I find are repertoire orientated not so much interested in the rate in which they learn on their own, they tend to use me in lessons to help them in that area!!
I was a terrible sight reader in my teens but played at a high level, what got me into sight reading however was being able to play music immediately without hours and hours of practice. It empowered me and excited me but I had to be modest and start at a lower grade which made me feel stupid of course (and very angry when I couldn't read something many levels below my technical capability IMMEDIATELY!). Now I can explore most works immediately without having to search for recordings, it certainly empowers you.
I think though it's pretty industry standard for students to sight read on a lower level than their repertoire level. I mean, I've met very few people, maybe one or two, who could sight read something like a four part fugue or maybe a Liszt sonata, at tempo, with dynamics, while talking about the composer's personal life at the same time. I think both these individuals were college professors, with a "Dr." in front of their name. Well, unless, are you one of these people?
Now, if you slow the tempo down to a crawling speed, or even a walking speed, is that still sight reading? Because, in that case I can sight read the Rach 3.
You said it, you can't push them to go home and read music like they're casually reading a book, and this is what is neccessary for developing the ability to read music fluently. They have to want to do it. They have to just want to sit down at the piano and read different things. They're not going to do it if they don't find it enjoyable. I for one, love to just sit at my piano, open up my books and read anything. I'll read orchestral scores too, whatever, it is relaxing and enjoyable to me.
I had the same experience. I could play at a much higher level than I could sight read. But, I felt insufficient and I new that I wanted to have the ability to comprehend and reproduce the written score rapidly. That was an intriguing skill to me and I wanted to have it. So I busted my $ss reading for hours on end until I had made some improvement. Your right, I had to start with really basic stuff, but surprisingly, I started to enjoy doing it, even the easy stuff, once I saw that I was developing.
So, to help you out, I think that students need to have a taste of what it feels like to be successful in sight-reading. I think that once you hook them, somehow, it will pick up momentum on its own.; They will then go home and start reading random music, and maybe kind of enjoy it.
I like to use Czerny Op. 599 for sight reading only. This is because there are repetitive rhythmic patterns and repetitive harmonic patterns.
Plus alberti bass and broken chord figures for the left hand, stuff that's easy to digest. So, by using this material, I eliminate many of the variables that would be present in a regular piece of music. It is also very easy to see groups of notes.
When my students begin learning a new piece, I force them to read from the score. I don't want them to memorize it. I want them to develop a relationship between what they see on the page and where their hands are moving. How do I force them? Well, I tell them as they play for me I'm going to stop them at any moment and have them point to which note on the score they just played. They may memorize it anyway, like finger memory, but that's fine. As long as they are making some kind of association between what the hands are doing and what they're looking at. This hopefully builds a sense of dependency on the score. That's good...for now.
I tell them that they won't get really good at it for a long time. This relaxes them and makes them feel better about their progress. That's the truth though, as you said above, people need to have a lot of experience with a lot of repertoire before they develop into good sight readers, and that just takes time. Other than that, I suppose I just hope the kid will like piano enough to do what I did and am still doing: Play a lot of stuff and read just for the fun of it. What else can you do? You know the saying, "you can bring a horse to water...."
It is difficult to get the students into enjoying reading music and I think you have hit on a good exercise to encourage it. Listening to music and following it with the score is an invaluable exercise, we do not necessarily need to practice sight reading at the keyboard but we can merely read a score and listen to a recording, that is a great way to get into it I feel.
Oddly enough with Bach I find his music doesn't lose cohesion if you slow the tempo right down (of course you cannot slow it so far that the notes lose context to the phrase). This is why i find Bach is so wonderful to develop reading skills with.
Having the students follow the score away from the piano. This is a good idea, I didn't think of that before. I'm assuming that it would beneficial for the young, beginning students. I think it would be a great way to promote, or increase, continuity in actually playing. This is probably because, when following the score with their eyes while listening to a performance, THEY CAN'T STOP. I think I will try this. How exactly do you do it? Do you have them point to the notes as they listen, or, point to phrases, measures?
Bach doesn't lose cohesion when you slow it down, because of its weaving contrapuntal melodies in particular.
One more question. Do you write in accidentals for your students when they miss a sharp or flat? I mean, before students really develop key-feel for all the various keys, do you provide "training wheels" for them by writing in the accidentals, or do you just verbally remind them that "that's b-flat", or "that's f-sharp"?
For beginners often I will highlight the shape that is produced from the black and white notes, then if they miss a black note I do not focus on that single black note and put an accidental there for them to remember it by, but instead I will highlight the shape that a group of notes created that contains that black note. For instance if they had to play a C minor C Eb G I would highlight an upright triangle shape created by these three notes, so they can not help but sense that a black note should be in between the two white notes. Observing shape helps us all read more efficiently.
What exactly are you highlighting? Are you actually drawing, say, a triangle, above the part of the measure with a c minor chord? It sounds really interesting what you suggested, could you just explain it one more time. I'm having a hard time visualizing what you are describing. I'm eager to try this.
Topic: Easiest and most difficult concepts to teach? 