im not sure thats the solution tho, cuz im bad at sightreading
Sight-reading isn't a skill that you can really improve. The level at which you can sightread will be determined by your overall playing level and ability.
I beg to differ, because of my own experience.
You have experience? How much experience??
Your overall playing level and ability certainly sets the upper limit of your sightreading ability, but there are plenty of people out there whose sightreading is very much below that.
Anyway, my best advice for the OP is to try not to look down at the hands and just keep the eye on the page. If your technique is sound, it should help you to do this, rather than hinder the process.
I would say I've gone from not being able to sight read anything to being able to sight read most easy pieces. My playing skills have not improved that much during this 3 months.
I would argue that if your 'playing ability' is THAT much higher than your sight-reading ability is, than your OVERALL playing ability is still in fact very low... much lower than you think it is.
This is a bit like a person saying 'I've spent the last 3 months working out and eating properly. I went from not being able to do a single push-up to being able to do 10. My physique has not changed that much during those three months'It just doesn't make logical sense.
Do not assume that everyone has had the same development path that you have had.
You seem to ignore the fact that one can play rather well by memorizing everything, even if one needs to spend 5 minutes deciphering every single measure first.
I don't. I hated sight-reading for the first 15 years I played piano. I never worked on it, and just thought I could memorize everything I wanted to learn. It took me months and months to learn the big pieces I was playing.
Think about it this way:When you memorize something..... are you REALLY memorize the music itself? Or are you just memorize how YOU happen to play it?
Is extremely useful to read pieces through from beginning to end at a very slow tempo. Often ludicrously slow. As slow as you need to go to be able to get from the beginning of the piece to the end without interruption in your concentration.
You ALWAYS need to count when reading. You need to know where the beats in the bar lie. Learning to count properly when sight-reading is one of the biggest challenges.
What on earth for? You should be able to read the rhythm off the page most of the time.
I meant in your head.
because other instument with single line note music sheet are pretty good sight reader.
So why not we learn HS first then HT just like learning dificult pieces
Oh goody. The blind leading the blind. @vincentbiasaIn order to offer useful advice, we need to know a bit more. How long have you been playing? What sort of stuff do you play (grade level, or list a few sample pieces)? Do you have a teacher? What sort of stuff are you trying to sightread?
It took me 50 years to figure out a method to teach myself how to read, and it is a great method.
Yeah i need tips how to improve my sight reading skill. I have read some tips that said we need to focus on the rhythm first. After that, you can practice the pitch reading (sorry if i mistaken the term :p). After i learned some of the rhythm (with apps and video on www.youtube.com) and the pitch reading, i began to have confidence that i, at least can read an easy music. But no... Everytime i read the music, i cannot concentrate well because i need to divided my focus between the rhythm and also pitch reading. It frustrated me a lot Any tips for me guys?
I am no great site reader but have improved some when I practiced site reading in a couple of ways. The ryhthm is critical but should not be seen as something different than the notes, or pitch as you say. If notes overwhelm then practice site reading just the rhythm you can do it away from the piano, just tap on something while reading the rhythm. Another way of practicing is to practice only short lines, maybe just one bar for now. Then stop. Move to another bar, sight read it, then stop. Then when you are ready . sightread two bars, then stop. Breath, read two more bars. the rhythm has to be accurate. The notes can be wrong and the piece can still be played. If you blow the rhythm, you crash - even if the notes were correct. Just dont think site-reading is about reading two different things. It is all the same piece of music.
sometimes, the answer is to suck it up and keep practicing even though it's hard. im not sure thats the solution tho, cuz im bad at sightreadingjust make an ACTIVE effort to read ahead, like if ur playing one measure try to read ahead onto the next.
My God.... the method took you 50 years and yet you think it's a good method? Sound like a horribly slow and indirect method to me...
It didn't take me 50 years to learn how to read, but it took me 50 years to realize that most of what was taught to me was BS. And, that included being taught by the top collaboratiave pianist/professor in the world, Dr. Jean Barr of Eastman.If someone, who is an adult and has been unable to learn how to read wants to share in my method, which takes no more than two years, then I will be glad to help. It is easy, it is cheap, and it gets the job done.
congratulations on having been taught by the finest accompanist and professor in the world. Funny that I've never heard of her. I'm sure she's at least highly accomplished but I feel sorry for the poor woman for getting made to look foolish by having you describe her in such ludicrously inflated terms. I don't even understand what your goal is. You can't both brag about having been taught by the top professor in the world and say they taught you bullshit. Are you trying to claim credit for yourself by association to the elite or to rubbish her? You can't have both. If you have a method then don't allude to it. Divulge it.
Here is the link to her faculty webpage.https://www.esm.rochester.edu/faculty/barr_jean/She taught sight reading at the University of Texas when I was there, and I learned nothing. What I later discovered on my own is that basic sight reading is no different than learning how to type.Like I said, when an adult, who has had the same difficulties I had learning how to read, makes the request, then I will share the method. You, do not even remotely fall into that category.
the opening post of the thread already made the request. Either give the method or don't, but posts alluding to it are quite pointless. What would happen to the forum if everyone started posting answers that say "I know an answer but I won't post it unless you first repeat the question that you already asked"? What's the point in that?
Chill down guys. Okay so i have read all of the tips you guys gave me and the most frequent tips to sight read that posted is "Played the rhythm correctly". Now here another question. How can we learn to play the rhythm correctly? Any tips how doing that? Do i need to buy a book full of the rhythm exercises?
You need to learn to count the beats out loud and play the notes at the same time!
What I later discovered on my own is that basic sight reading is no different than learning how to type.
It's that "simple", yes. Maybe it's time for a sticky post about this subject?Ultimately, it's multi-tasking with the following components: 1) Good decoding skills (you can develop those on the sofa, including the counting part). Pattern recognition is crucial, so you don't have to process all elements deliberately.2) Perfect independence of the hands and an ability to move without the brain interfering, a.k.a. "technique";3) An excellent feel for the topography of your instrument (also part of "technique"), so you can use your eyes for reading only.