How do you know what piece to practice to get better at sightreading?

[mathandmusic]

Do piano teachers have a standard repertoire from which to refer? Or is the process like learning to read: skim the content, if you read a paragraph and it's too difficult to ascertain then it's too difficult.

[awesom_o]

The question is wrong.

It doesn't really matter WHAT you practice to improve your sight reading.

What is important is HOW you practice.

[mussels_with_nutella]

And how must one practice, in your opinion?
I learn so slow... hahaha i have good memory, but i reading is...

[quantum]

One must practice with intent and focus on the specific element that is causing one difficulty. 

[yale_music]

My advice would be to start with simple pieces that are just a little too difficult for you to sightread with fluidity. Since you have a good musical memory, always try to read a few measures (1 or 2 if you can) ahead of where your fingers are. Good luck!

Also, quantity makes a difference with tasks like this. The more you sight read, the better you'll become.

[gregh]

My advice would be to start with simple pieces that are just a little too difficult for you to sightread with fluidity. Since you have a good musical memory, always try to read a few measures (1 or 2 if you can) ahead of where your fingers are. Good luck!

Also, quantity makes a difference with tasks like this. The more you sight read, the better you'll become.

That means, I suppose, that he's going to need a library full of beginner to intermediate level material.

[musicman99]

Aim at sightreading at 2 or 3 grades below your standard. Play LOTS of music. Sight reading only gets better with practice, I think.

Hope this helps,

Carlos R.

[awesom_o]

And how must one practice, in your opinion?
I learn so slow... hahaha i have good memory, but i reading is...

There isn't really a one-size-fits-all method of practicing. It depends upon your strengths, weaknesses, likes, and dislikes.

I quite like what yale_music has suggested, but I would start with pieces that are NOT a little too difficult to sightread with fluidity. Keep your eye on the page (not on your hands!) and the rhythm correct, even if you have to go slightly under tempo!

Play in a slow tempo, but think quickly and move quickly.  

[mussels_with_nutella]

Thank you very much for your answers!

[mathandmusic]

One must practice with intent and focus on the specific element that is causing one difficulty. 

Rhythm of certain isolated notes give me trouble. For example, imagine two bars. The first with a lot of notes in succession. The second full of rests and 2-16th notes.

I also can't read chords.

---
I think my difficulty with rhythm will be addressed the more experience I gain counting and relating them to the meter. Is this true?

I'm not even sure if it's possible for people to read a chord while sight-playing. Do people have to stop at each chord (4+ notes) in a piece to work out fingering or can one learn to look at a chord and one's fingers immediately land on the right notes? How is this difficulty overcome?

[nufan]

Sightreading is a lot about pattern recognition. The more patterns you can play without struggling and the more often you sightread these patterns, the easier things become. Once you're kinda fluent at sight reading, it's not really about "reading a chord". The chord itself is a simple pattern that you identify at the first glance - since you know it well - and then it's just about where to place your fingers.

Take something simple as an example: Just normal major chords (1-3-5). They're easy to read, aren't they? The same pattern of notes with the only difference being the base. If you practice these chords for a short amount of time, you'll have no trouble identifying what to play as you see the notes.

It's really important to start out simple. When you learn how to read in school, you don't start with Shakespeare. A prerequisite for sight reading is that you aren't struggling with the technical bits of what you want to play. If you do, the piece is too difficult. The key problem should be the eye-hands coordination.

[timothy42b]

Sightreading is a lot about pattern recognition.

And pattern retrieval.  It is far more efficient to retrieve a thoroughly learned pattern from memory than do prima facie sight reading. 

[timothy42b]

It doesn't really matter WHAT you practice to improve your sight reading.

I disagree with that.  A huge amount of good sight reading is retrieval of well learned memorized patterns.  These are fairly specific to various styles.  You can be a very good sightreader within a particular style and quickly crash and burn on something new. 

Sight reading new stuff can teach the raw sight reading skill, but that's only a small part of reading, so it can be counterproductive. 

[dima_76557]

I also can't read chords.
[...]
I'm not even sure if it's possible for people to read a chord while sight-playing. Do people have to stop at each chord (4+ notes) in a piece to work out fingering or can one learn to look at a chord and one's fingers immediately land on the right notes? How is this difficulty overcome?

Intervals, chords, scales, etc. have their own SHAPES (how the note heads are positioned). When you recognize those shapes, you don't have to read all those notes separately. The only true problem in sight reading (as I see it) is the feel of your fingers for the topography of the keyboard ("Where are my fingers in relation to the black-and-white structure of the keyboard?"). You shouldn't look down, because in that way, your eyes get overworked. That's why you need a good technique, an arsenal of musical formulas which you should be able to do with eyes closed.

[nufan]

And pattern retrieval.  It is far more efficient to retrieve a thoroughly learned pattern from memory than do prima facie sight reading. 

Agreed.

[outin]

The only true problem in sight reading (as I see it) is the feel of your fingers for the topography of the keyboard ("Where are my fingers in relation to the black-and-white structure of the keyboard?").

No...at least not for me...it's the reading part that gives me trouble. As soon as I know WHAT to play, I have little trouble making my fingers play it without looking.

[awesom_o]

I disagree with that.  A huge amount of good sight reading is retrieval of well learned memorized patterns.  These are fairly specific to various styles.  You can be a very good sightreader within a particular style and quickly crash and burn on something new. 

I agree with you on this to an extent. I am particularly adept at sight reading French Baroque, Mozart, Beethoven, and Chopin, because I know these styles well. Put me into slightly unfamiliar harmonic and rhythmic territory, such as Oscar Peterson transcriptions, and I become noticeably less adept.

The more time you spend with a particular composer, the easier the rest of that composer's work becomes for you to play at sight.

[dima_76557]

No...at least not for me...it's the reading part that gives me trouble. As soon as I know WHAT to play, I have little trouble making my fingers play it without looking.

In that case, you had better practise reading on the sofa with a good drink. Reading is nothing more than translating certain familiar SHAPES of note heads on the paper immediately into a familiar picture of black and white; it's certainly not naming all the notes separately. Ideal is if your technique is so developed, that a certain picture of black and white in your mind also triggers the right fingering.

[yale_music]

That means, I suppose, that he's going to need a library full of beginner to intermediate level material.

Sure. It's called the internet.

[outin]

In that case, you had better practise reading on the sofa with a good drink. Reading is nothing more than translating certain familiar SHAPES of note heads on the paper immediately into a familiar picture of black and white; it's certainly not naming all the notes separately. Ideal is if your technique is so developed, that a certain picture of black and white in your mind also triggers the right fingering.

I can't drink

I find it has been very helpful to just practice reading daily at the piano. And reading more things that were especially hard for me (things without clear patterns and more "random" notes). After 3 months I don't even dislike it as much as before and I learn my pieces differently, focusing less on the fast memorization. I had a hard time accepting that I have to read so slowly (it takes my eyes and brain such a long time to figure out what I am seeing) while I'm used to reading text so fast. Reading slowly is taxing for my eyes, because I cannot keep a solid focus well. And I just keep forgetting the key signatures...Combination of bad eyes/bad brain to conquer 

[themusicworkshop]

I agree with everyone here. It's not what you sight read, but the fact that you sight read in the first place. It's like reading, the more you do it, the better you get at it.

I always highly recommend my students  to sight read as much as they can. It will open up so many more possibilities to play more complex pieces the better you get.

Best of luck!