How much does sight reading matter for a college audition?

[rachmaninoff_forever]

So I have this audition next Saturday, and apparently I have to do some sight reading. 

I freaking SUCK at sight reading!!!

I'm not worried about the actual pieces I'm playing, but I feel that sight reading and harmonizing is going to freaking stomp my ass into the ground. 

So...  How important is this for auditions? 

[mr_drm]

It was pretty important when I auditioned at IU. I didn't get in.

[andreslr6]

Well, if it's a requirement then it is important. At least so you get accepted. It may vary though from school to school, ask a teacher from that particular one, or a student, I don't know.

I don't think they'll give you hard pieces though, you can practice with short little pieces. Just take it easy and get a good quick glimpse of the whole piece before playing it.

By next Saturday do you mean tomorrow or the 19th?

[rachmaninoff_forever]

Well, if it's a requirement then it is important. At least so you get accepted. It may vary though from school to school, ask a teacher from that particular one, or a student, I don't know.

I don't think they'll give you hard pieces though, you can practice with short little pieces. Just take it easy and get a good quick glimpse of the whole piece before playing it.

By next Saturday do you mean tomorrow or the 19th?

The 19th.

[andreslr6]

The 19th.

Oh ok, for a second I thought it was tomorrow . Dedicate part of your practice time just to sight reading, not much, 15 min is more than enough I think, do it sporadically during the day, sight read for 5 min as a warm up, before you start practicing your repertoire. Pick random pieces in IMSLP. Try sight reading hard pieces too so that when the time comes, the ones from the audition look easier.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

Oh ok, for a second I thought it was tomorrow . Dedicate part of your practice time just to sight reading, not much, 15 min is more than enough I think, do it sporadically during the day, sight read for 5 min as a warm up, before you start practicing your repertoire. Pick random pieces in IMSLP. Try sight reading hard pieces too so that when the time comes, the ones from the audition look easier.

Will do.  I still don't know if I know how to harmonize though...

[pianoman53]

Some schools have a grade system, on which you have to pass everything. To pass sight reading is obviously then very important, but it's usually not very difficult.  I say this as a fellow crappy sigh reader - when it comes more than 2 voices, I'm going down. Also when it's too fast.

Other schools have classes in sight reading, and needs to see where to put you. If you are good, you should obviously not be put with the worst ones.

Most of the schools, in my experience, just check it. At my current school, the teachers had a tremendous difficulty not to laugh when I was finish with my sight reading on the audition. They didn't mention it in the talk afterwards, and my teacher haven't mentioned it in 2 years.


Do some practicing, like has been said, just to get a bit used to it. It's amazing how fast sight reading goes from "Have trouble reading right hand alone" to "Ability to read easy stuff".


Edit: It can also be like, if your pieces aren't the best, but your sight reading is freaking amazing, it might save you. Also the other way around: If your pieces are really well played, they wont care if your sight reading isn't.

[andreslr6]

Edit: It can also be like, if your pieces aren't the best, but your sight reading is freaking amazing, it might save you. Also the other way around: If your pieces are really well played, they wont care if your sight reading isn't.

I second this too

But beware, don't get too overconfident as well, you DO need to practice sight reading. The point is, don't let your difficulty in sight reading worry you too much that you'll block yourself. Just relax... ok, not relax as in take a vacation and sleep all day, but, you know, stay in that spot where it's "just another day in the office" kind-of mentality.

[faulty_damper]

Also, sightreading classes vary greatly on their effectiveness depending on the teacher's ability to teach this skill.  My sightreading classes were taught very poorly and I never improved much by taking them. 

[jogoeshome]

So I have this audition next Saturday, and apparently I have to do some sight reading. 

I freaking SUCK at sight reading!!!

haven't you asked this question before?

[Bob]

Didn't matter at all for me.  I wasn't, and am still not, great at it, but I did improve during college. 

I don't think traditional lessons are geared up for sight-reading.  If you're working on three or four pieces each semester... You're not seeing anything new.  Anti-sight-reading there.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

haven't you asked this question before?

Nope!

[slobone]

I know nothing about college auditions. So therefore I'm unafraid to express my opinion! Which is that I doubt very much that sight reading is a deal breaker. I'm pretty sure they're mainly interested in how well you play. As long as you don't Totally suck at sight reading. They may just be trying to make sure you can actually read music, and didn't learn everything by ear.

But let's put it this way -- a blind guy won the last Cliburn. If you can play like him, you're in.

[richard black]

At most colleges, they merely use it to weed out people who look as if they are going to take 2 years to learn a new 5-minute piece. People who basically can't work out any kind of semblance at all from the printed page.

[chopin2015]

I'm pretty sure if you can read some simple mozart or clementi, you will be ok. Basic rhythm and harmonies. Try stuff like turkish march, 8th and 16th notes. I still do like quarter and 8th notes lol Just make sure you practice reading through the whole thing and mostly at a solid tempo, start slow and be able to identify key sigs and form.