how to sightread runs?

[swagmaster420x]

it seems really hard to sight read lines of notes played fast because the fingering is an important factor. how do u figure that out in a split second. lol it takes me a long time to find finngerings im comfortable with for pieces that are difficult for me so what

[Bob]

Recognize the scale?

[enochy]

it seems really hard to sight read lines of notes played fast because the fingering is an important factor. [size=20]how do u figure that out in a split second?[/size] lol it takes me a long time to find finngerings im comfortable with for pieces that are difficult for me so what

We don't figure that out in a split second if there is fingering that's unmarked. If you're extremely good at sightreading and know your ins and outs of the keyboard, you might get it just right with patterns from all the other songs.

Etudes are especially useful for this reason.

[etogmajor]

Yeah, memorizing fingerings for scales and then being able to recognize each scale quickly is very important in sight reading... as well as chord fingering and arpeggio fingering and all that stuff.

In general, learning about and getting comfortable with Western harmony and regularly occurring chord progressions, memorizing key signatures, memorizing intervals, learning to count rhythms properly and quickly...

Flashcards work well, but why use flashcards when you can just use actual music?

You gotta memorize what a chord or scale looks like on paper, and you gotta memorize what it looks and feels like on the keyboard.

[j_menz]

Partly it's pattern recognition, and ability to spot variances from your known patterns.

There is also, I think, some inbuilt fingering knowledge that you apply to sightreading. It's not actually about optimal fingering, more about "safe" fingering. Spot the top and bottom of runs, so you have a vague idea where you're going. I tend to cross fingers over more than is optimal as a precaution against running out of fingers (not saying this is a good thing, btw, just something I do), and an ability to do some strange finger crossings or swaps is also an advantage.

Knowledge of scale fingerings may be useful, but it's surprising how often a scale is embellished with extra notes or curiously missing a few (or both)  in practice, and you need to be able to spot and deal with these.

And it is completely unrealistic to expect to read these runs at the same speed you can do them after weeks of practice.  Your basic technique is a limiting factor here.  It seems trite to say, but no amount of sightreading tips and tricks is ever going to allow you to sightread things you can't actually play.