Sight-Reading - WHEN ?

[Liween]

   Well I have to start another topic on this so as the subject can be more thorough.

I only had 6 lessons with my current teacher and he just stressed the importance of sight-reading and that I must start NOW ... or else I will have lots of problems at later stage. He also told me that many pianist (even high grades) are only able to play those pieces that they've learnt for weeks/months but totally unable to play a much simplier piece.

Well, I've got numberous doubts which I need to clairfy :-

1) When do you start your sight-reading (very very beginning when you learn piano)or after you've more or less master the basic techniques like note recognition, counting, finding the various notes correctly ...

2) If you start at the beginning, how do you sight-read and play the keys on the piano at the same time (even though if you can tell what note it is in another octave) but your hand simply unable to find the right note. If a songsheet is on middle C, more or less I am ok but if it's other position, I faced problems.

3)Most of the songsheets are numbered with finger number.Take for example if the first note is a E and it state 1 (to be play by thum), so no. 3 is G will be the middle finger. As such, I have the tendency to rely on the finger numbers instead of reading the notes. I have been learning several pieces this way. How do you solve this problem. Or am I going to erase all the finger numbers before I start to sight-read. But again, how do I know if I've start on a correct fingering then.

4) I was told that you sight-read a new material every day for 10-15 mins. But how are you going to have so many songsheet to sight-read ?

Pardon me for all these simple stuffs but I hope to understand more so that I am on the right track.

Also if you are an adult learner, do you really focus on sight-reading when you learn piano or you just pick a piece you like and learn bar-by-bar until you memorise the whole piece. If that is the case, does it mean that you are able to play a limited number of pieces that you've learnt and not something new/fresh

[galonia]

You are learning sight-reading skills the minute you start learning to read music.  This includes recognising the pitch and rhythm of notes.

If you are a total beginner, then almost everything you play will be sight-reading (since you will probably be turning over lots of new repertoire).

As for fingering - if your hands don't change position much during a piece, then it's a matter of looking through the piece and planning how you will play it, where you will put your hands, before you even start playing.

In fact, I know one teacher who encourages beginner students to practise a piece silently (ie not pressing down the keys but moving their fingers over the keys) before performing the piece, if she wants them to play it totally at sight.  It's all about preparation.  As you become more advanced, the only difference is that you prepare in your head without needing to place your hands on the keyboard (and you use extra knowledge such as keys, phrasing, chord positions, etc to help read more efficiently).

[Daniel_piano]

Sightreading is something you have to practice daily if you want to learn it
Sightreading also doesn't respect the law of good dynamics, good tone, perfect tempo and so on
So, you basicallym, as a beginner, learn reading notes by studying your piece, but after you've done with your repertoire you should devote some time to sightread new material that is: reading something new, the way you're able till the end and then you never read that again
It doesn't matter if you tempo is wrong, if you hit the wrong notes and so on, you just have to follow the score and hit the keys of the note you see on the score: mistakes by mistakes, piece by piece, day by day your sightread improves automatically

You should't sightread something complicated
The Specimen Sight Reading Tests for Piano from ABRSM are graded 1 to 8
So at grade 1 you're basically sightreading a simple melodic line, let's say a 4/4 with 2 minim per bar both on RH and LH, with not rythm variation or complex figures

The gradually more richness to the melodic and harmonic texture is presented

You may have a 4/4 with quavers and crotchet in the bars, you may have al alberti pattern, the addiction of a voice, syncopatet rhythm, tuplets, thirds, chords and so on

As a beginner there are many things you can do to approach sight reading (as you may start from somewhere)
You could buy a book where there are hundreds of notes and you have to fill in the name of the note with a pencil (I can provide you some like that if you want)

You then may say the name of a note in the score and then see your hand while you play it, doing this several time to train your keyboard orientation

This are just basis to begin, then when you begin you keep improving by reading a lot of new material

Another important thing involving sightreading is to get used to the style of each famous period or composer

After you have played something by Bach all other works by Bach will be easier to sightread, after you've read something of the Norwegian period everything from that period will be easier to sightread

There's a quote in the book Guided Sightreading by Leonard Deutsch that I find really useful and interesting and I want to report it here:


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
        Most of the conventional rules on how to perfect a piece rest upon
experience with students who were not adequetely prepared for this kind of
work.  A student is ready to perfect a piece only if he can play it at first
sight correctly, evenly, fluently, and expressively.  Then he has only a
comparatively short step to take to reach perfection.  Working on an individ-
ual piece is not the best way for a student to transform a faulty, dragging,
and expressionless rendering into a perfect one.

        A student should develop all the qualities of a good performance
before he undertakes to perfect a piece.  Otherwise he will face toil and
trouble, and with no other achievement than the partial concealment of
his weaknesses.

        This especially hold for pupils who still have elementary reading
difficulties.  For years and years, legions of beginners have been tortured
with working pieces up to the point of perfection.  Often, a teacher has to
labor with a pupil on every detail of a piece.  The pupil, working on his
pieces at home without supervision, usually produces a distorted rendition of
the piece, and then the teacher has to make corrections.  The pupil has to
repeat a piece endlessly in order to achieve fluency, and has to go over his
pieces continuously to retain them....


        The reading difficulty of a piece is measured not by the "blackness"
of the page crowded with sixteenth and thirty-second notes, but by its
musical complexity - rhythm, harmonies, polyphony.  Problems which emerge
only at high speed are not serious difficulties in sight-reading exercies.  A
fugue may prove harder than fireworks in octaves.

        Test your reading facility by trying a number of the pieces listed in
the following reading program, starting with easy pieces and proceeding to
harder ones.  Should you have no sight-reading experience at all, confine
yourself for a short while to elementary material, not harder than the
conventional piano books for beginners.

        Then you may proceed to classical pieces in their original versions.
In the beginning, select pieces that will offer a pleasing sound even if
played slowly and without shades of dynamics and phrasing.  Postpone working
on pieces which stress harmony rather than melody and which require fluent
tempo for any meaning at all, as the Preludes No. 1 and 2 of Bach's _Well-
Tempered Clavichord_ vol. 1, and the Finale of Beethoven's Sonata op. 27
No. 2.


        The easiest classical piano style is represented by Hadyn and Mozart.
In the beginning a well-graded progressive order of sight-reading pieces is
important; the following is suggested:

Hadyn
 Sonatas (note: Hobeken catalog?  I am unsure of numbering system. MB)

  No.  2 (E Minor) Finale
  No.  6 (C Sharp Minor) Scherzando
  No. 11 (G Major) all movements
  No. 15 (C Major) Finale
  No. 17 (E Major) Menuetto and Finale
  No. 19 (D Major) Finale

Mozart
 Sonatas (K.V.)
  No. 280 (F Major) Finale
  No. 281 (B flat Major) Finale
  No. 283 (G Major) all movements
  No. 310 (A Minor) Finale
  No. 331 (A Major) Finale Alla Turca
  No. 445 (C Major) all movements
 Fantasia in D Minor, No. 397

Beethoven
 Variations in G Major
 Albumblatt ("Fur Elise")
 Bagatelles op. 33
  No. 3, Allegretto (F Major)
  No. 6, Allegretto quasi Andante (D Major)
 Sonatas op. 49 No. 1 and 2
 Rondo op. 51 No. 1 (C Major)
 Rondo A Major


Suggestions for the next grade of difficulty:

Bach
 12 little Preludes No. 10 (Menuet Trio)
 6 little Preludes No. 1,2,3 and 4
 French Suites
  No. 1 (D Minor) Menuet II
  No. 2 (C Minor) Courante, Air, Menuet, Gigue
  No. 3 (B Minor) Menuet I
  No. 5 (G Major) Gavotte, Bourree
  No. 6 (E Major) Poloniase, Menuet

Hadyn
 Sonatas (Again, I am unsure of the numbering system.  MB)
  No.  2 (E Minor) 1st movement (Presto)
  No.  4 (G Minor) both movements
  No.  7 (D Major) 1st movement (Allegro con brio)
  No.  9 (D Major) all movements
  No. 10 (G Major) all movements
  No. 15 (C Major) 1st movement (Allegro moderato)
  No. 16 (G Major) 1st movement and Finale
  No. 19 (D Major) 1st movement (Allegro)
  No. 20 (F Major) 1st movement and Finale
 Andante varie F Minor

Mozart
 Sonatas (K.V.)
  No. 280 (F Major) Adagio
  No. 281 (B flat Major) 1st movement (Allegro)
  No. 282 (E flat Major) all movements
  No. 311 (D Major) all movements
  No. 330 (C Major) all movements
  No. 331 (A Major) Andante con variazione, Menuetto
  No. 475 Fantasia and Sonata C Minor
  No. 570 (B Flat Major) all movements
  No. 576 (D Major) all movements

Schubert
 Dances
  Waltzes op. 9 No. 1,2,3,4,6,10,12,14,19
  Landlers op. 18 No. 1,2,3,4, Ecossaises No. 1,2,3,4
  German Dances op. 33, Ecossaises
  Galop op. 49
  Valses sentimentales op. 50 No. 13
  Hommage aux belles Viennoises op. 67 No. 1,2,5,8,10,12,13
  Valses nobles op. 77 No. 9,10,11,12
  Gratzer Galop
  Landlers op. 171 No. 1,2,3,4,5,6
 Scherzo B Flat Major


Still harder pieces:

Bach
 French Suites
  No. 1 (D Minor) Sarabande, Menuet I
  No. 2 (C Minor) Allemande
  No. 3 (B Minor) Allemande, Anglaise, Gigue
  No. 4 (E Flat Major) Gavotte, Menuet, Air, Gigue
  No. 6 (E Major) Allemande, Gavotte, Bouree, Gigue
 English Suites
  No. 1 (A Major) Bourees, Gigue
  No. 2 (A Minor) Prelude, Sarabande, Gavotte, Gigue
  No. 3 (G Minor) Prelude, Sarabande, Gavottes, Gigue
  No. 4 (F Major) Meneuts, Gigue
  No. 5 (E Minor) Prelude, Sarabande, Passepieds, Gigue
  No. 6 (D Minor) Gavottes

Beethoven
 Bagatelles op.33
  No. 1 (E Flat Major)
  No. 4 (A Major)
 Bagatalles op. 119
  No.  1 (G Minor)
  No.  3 (D Major)
  No.  4 (A Major)
  No. 11 (B Flat Major)
 Rondo op. 51 No. 2 (G Major)
 Sonatas
  op.  2 No. 1 (F Minor)
  op. 10 No. 1 (C Minor)
  op. 10 No. 2 (F Major)
  op. 14 No. 1 (E Major)

Chopin
 Waltzes
  op. 34 No. 2 (A Minor)
  op. 64 No. 1 (D Flat Major)
  op. 64 No. 2 (C Sharp Minor)
  op. 69 No. 1 (A Flat Major)
  op. 69 No. 2 (B Minor)
  op. 70 No. 2 (A Flat Major)
 Mazurkas
  op.  7 No. 1 (B Flat Major), No. 2 (A Minor)
  op. 17 No. 1 (B Flat Major), No. 2 (E Minor)
  op. 24 No. 1 (G Minor)
  op. 67 No. 1 (G Major), No. 2 (G Major)
  op. 67 No. 3 (C Major), No. 4 (A Minor)
  op. 68 No. 1 (C Major), No. 2 (A Minor)
  op. 68 No. 3 (F Major)

Mendelssohn
 Songs Without Words
  op. 19 No. 2 (A Minor), No. 2 (A Major)
  op. 19 No. 6 (G Minor)
  op. 30 No. 3 (E Major), No. 6 (F Sharp Minor)
  op. 38 No. 2 (C Minor), No. 5 (A Minor)


        After you have worked on these pieces you will have no trouble
sight-reading other works by Bach (Partitas, Inventions, Well-tempered
Clavichord, etc.) as well as other masters of the harpsichord (Handel,
Scarlatti, etc.), other pieces by Haydn and Mozart, and more sonatas and
pieces by Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, and Chopin.  The sequence of
your selection will not matter much.

        Finally you will have access to any piece - the harder works of the
aforementioned masters as well as others (Weber, Schumann, Brahms, etc.) up
to the contemporary piano composition.

        In addition to piano music, the recommended sight-reading program also
includes piano arrangements of other kinds of music - orchestral and chamber
music, vocal, operatic and sacred music.  After you have developed consider-
able sight-reading facility, use any opportunity for any kind of ensemble
playing - duets on one or two pianos, accompaniment, and chamber music.

        The main objective of sight-reading is to become familiar with the
master works of music through your own playing, to appreciate them and to
enjoy them.  The development of your facility is but the means to reach that
goal rather than an end in itself.  Therefore your practicing should be a
pleasure, not a duty.  Select the pieces which appeal to your understanding
and taste, and discard others that fail to do so.....

        In the beginning, sight-reading is rather a strenuous job, but with
growing experience you will gain security and ease, your playing will become
more and more colorful and fluent, and eventually your practicing hour will
be a source of sheer enjoyment....
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

last but not least don't forget wonderful Howard Richman book:
https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0961596309/ref=pd_sxp_elt_l1/002-3860384-5874446

Daniel

[mound]

I agree with Galonia and I liked Daniel_Piano's post as well.

I also agree with the responses posted to your question on pianoworld
(hi Luckychwee)
https://www.pianoworld.com/ubb/ubb/ultimatebb.php?/topic/32/334.html

It's one of those things that will develop over time. Immediately trying to sight-read when you are absolute beginner (which is the case for you I am assuming from your post) isn't necessary, you're still dealing with figuring out where the notes are on the piano, how to put your fingers on them etc..  Just always kinda keep in your mind though whenever you do look at a sheet of music and translate the dot to the piano, that you are "sight reading" - just doing it very slowly and tediously.. the more you do it, the better you'll get. But you must start at the beginning and be patient and dedicated.

Don't feel bad if a considerable amount of time passes, your playing is getting pretty good, but you still find yourself saying to yourself "fat cats go down and.." or whatever you use to count up to/determine a note It all boils to to practice and time.

-Paul

[James_Robert]

I practiced sight reading by playing Bach's Two part inventions but never enough to allow any memorization.  (I also never got any good at them.)  But if you really want to get better at sight reading, grow old.  After I had to start wearing bifocals I could no longer read the music and see the piano keys at the same time.  My sight reading improved dramatically. 

[wynnbear]

I've actually become a pretty proficient sight reader.  I think one of the keys to this happening is a change I made last year when I came back to the piano after an absence of 30 years.

I remember playing from memory when I was younger and watching my hands as I played.  When I started playing again, I've tried to avoid watching my hands.  I'll do a quick glance with a major jump or position change, but on the whole, I now  watch the music and let the hands sort themselves out.  It really helps.

Now I find that memorization no longer happens spontaneously like it used to.  I think this is a combination of sight-reading much better, and also that I'm now 48 years old.   

[anda]

Well, I've got numberous doubts which I need to clairfy :-

1) When do you start your sight-reading (very very beginning when you learn piano)or after you've more or less master the basic techniques like note recognition, counting, finding the various notes correctly ...

First you learn your fingers, learn the keys on the piano, and practice to know them really well. i do a little exercise with my students: i ask them to place their hand on 5 consecutive keys, and then they have to answer my questions without looking at the hand: "what key do you have on you finger #2", or "what finger have you on key..." and so on. this way they learn to use their hands/fingers as guides.

2) If you start at the beginning, how do you sight-read and play the keys on the piano at the same time (even though if you can tell what note it is in another octave) but your hand simply unable to find the right note. If a songsheet is on middle C, more or less I am ok but if it's other position, I faced problems.

you start with works that require a single position of the hand on the piano. you didn't learn all notes in one lesson, did you? first, you usually learn 3 notes (middle c, d and h) and you play something using only these notes. then, you gradually add notes and play works using all notes learned. the difficulty of the works progresses gradually, allowing you to consolidate simpler things learned before. i make my students sight-read works they could easily play (very simple works for their current level) without watching their hands (i hold a book or something over their hands), forcing them to follow just the score. after they have some practice with this, i even cover with my hand the bar they're playing, this way making them watch ahead.

3)Most of the songsheets are numbered with finger number.Take for example if the first note is a E and it state 1 (to be play by thum), so no. 3 is G will be the middle finger. As such, I have the tendency to rely on the finger numbers instead of reading the notes. I have been learning several pieces this way. How do you solve this problem. Or am I going to erase all the finger numbers before I start to sight-read. But again, how do I know if I've start on a correct fingering then.

for completely beginners, it's ok. but after a few weeks, your works shouldn't have fingering for all notes - just occasionally: first  note, and then only if the passage requires a fingering different from the one you would use based on common sense (i.e. 4-2 on consecutive keys or stuff like that)

4) I was told that you sight-read a new material every day for 10-15 mins. But how are you going to have so many songsheet to sight-read ?

i don't know about others, i can only tell you what i teach: for beginners in their first years, i prefer to have them reading in class (that already means two or three times a week, and not every day). and i never ask them to read more then a page (meaning one or max two works) in a class - sight-reading gets you tired after a while, and after you get tired you might as well stop. so, i don't need so many.
also, i ask them to practice home the works they are reading in class (that does not mean memorize them, just practice).

hope this helps. all the above - imho, and based on what i actually do.

[anda]

Daniel_piano:

i agree with everything you said, and with everything said in the quote from leonard deutsch, except i don't understand something (maybe it's my poor english, sorry about that): the list of all these scores, organized on difficulty levels, begins with haydn and mozart sonatas? if i understand this correctly, this would mean starting sight-reading only after a few years of studying the piano (i'm not talking about adult students here, i have never had any and i don't know their normal progress tempo, so i'm only talking about students who begin piano study at 5-7). please correct me if i'm wrong.

[Liween]

I certainly don not teach by the Russian method (actually I do not even believe in the existence of a Russian method!), but I do start teaching by rote because students want to play, and if we are going to wait until they can read music, they will give up!

However, I believe that reading music is the single most important skill a student can acquire so we are at it from the very first lesson. Even if it is a small child who cannot read and write, I will teach music reading (Why should reading language precede music reading? Music reading is far simpler). I think Anda mentioned in one of her posts that she teaches note recognition on the score before note recognition on the keyboard. I completely agree and I follow the same approach (I think): First they are taught to recognise the names of the notes on the score. At the same time they are taught to recognise the names of the keys on the piano. Only when can they do both well do I start to show the correspondence between score and keyboard. Once they can do that we start interval recognition and reading by following the “curves” on the score rather than by reading individual notes. Other things are going on at the same time, most importantly recognition of scales and chords. It all follows a very systematic and organised procedure and by the end of anything between three months and two years the student should be able to sight-read music more or less fluently, but certainly without difficulty. All the while we continue working on pieces, and if need be I will teach by rote, while I wait for the reading to catch up with the playing.

Now for your question. It seems to me that the Russian teacher may have had a similar approach, and was working on reading as well as playing, but by the time the student got to you the reading had not caught up with the playing (don’t pay too much attention to what the parents say – their description is not informed enough). After all she was with him for only six months.

Memorising is good. It is not a question of reading X memory, but rather now that he can memorise well he should bring his reading skill to the same level.

Best wishes,
Bernhard.


Thanks for the replies above and I happened to see a post by Bernard as above and he mentioned about "start interval recognition and reading by following the “curves” on the score rather than by reading individual notes".  What does he mean actually and how does it apply ??

Am I able to pick up this skills by myself ?

[anda]

I think Anda mentioned in one of her posts that she teaches note recognition on the score before note recognition on the keyboard.

i believe my english is again playing tricks on me i may have said the above - meaning just the opposite! i always teach note recognition on the keyboard first (establish the link between the pitch of the sound and the name of the note), and only after the child knows perfectly well the keys (both white and black) and can recognize the name of the note both by looking at the piano (visual recognition of the keyboard key) and without looking (auditive recognition - inside a limited ambitus, of course), then we start learning the notes written on the score.

once again, sorry about the misunderstanding, i hope i explained my method a little more clear now.

[galonia]

Thanks for the replies above and I happened to see a post by Bernard as above and he mentioned about "start interval recognition and reading by following the “curves” on the score rather than by reading individual notes". What does he mean actually and how does it apply ??

Am I able to pick up this skills by myself ?

Playing by intervals means you don't work out the lettername of each and every note - instead, you play by recognising whether the music moves up or down and how far (i.e. is it stepping up like a scale, or leaping big distances, etc).

This is far more effective way to read than by working out letternames (I don't know anything about letternames - it means I don't have problems with being better at reading treble than bass clef, and I can transpose parts in my head very quickly if I'm reading music written for a transposing instrument or in alto or tenor clefs).

I have no idea how to learn these skills - I just have them - I must have learnt them or been taught them at some stage, so I'm sorry I can't help you there.

[Daniel_piano]

Daniel_piano:

i agree with everything you said, and with everything said in the quote from leonard deutsch, except i don't understand something (maybe it's my poor english, sorry about that): the list of all these scores, organized on difficulty levels, begins with haydn and mozart sonatas? if i understand this correctly, this would mean starting sight-reading only after a few years of studying the piano (i'm not talking about adult students here, i have never had any and i don't know their normal progress tempo, so i'm only talking about students who begin piano study at 5-7). please correct me if i'm wrong.

What Deutch suggests is not something for beginners but more for someone who has already mastered the basis on music notation and rhythm and now want to read more complex material
Also he mentioned that if you're not familiar at all with sightreading you should start with elementar material with a simple melodic line
So, the suggestion of starting from Mozart sonatas is a not for the total beginner but for someone who already know note, intervals and rhythm reading
Those who are beginner should first study the basis before starting with the "program" of Deutch

Also, notice that the difficoulty order is a reading difficoulty order, so you're not supposed to play or master these pieces but just to read them even if the speed and accuracy is not there

Bach little preludes are far more easy than any Mozart sonata, yet in this list they're considered more difficoult
The point is that if you don't care about speed, dynamics, tempo, expression and accuracy Mozart is easy to read than Bach because Bach use more voices and syncopated rhythm whereas Mozart is more linear

So, do not confuse the actual grade of these piece with their grade of reading difficoulty

Daniel

[jlh]

I encourage a lot of fingering marks in the music, no matter what your level of proficiency is.  Even if you're a touring virtuoso playing collaborative concerts from the score.  If you only play a few concerts/recitals a year, and memorize all the music, then maybe it's not as important, but if you're playing a lot of repertoire every few weeks or so, a lot of it will be sight-reading, and I know a lot of these types of pianists write fingering on nearly every note.

[piano_learner]

I encourage a lot of fingering marks in the music, no matter what your level of proficiency is.  Even if you're a touring virtuoso playing collaborative concerts from the score.  If you only play a few concerts/recitals a year, and memorize all the music, then maybe it's not as important, but if you're playing a lot of repertoire every few weeks or so, a lot of it will be sight-reading, and I know a lot of these types of pianists write fingering on nearly every note.

This is interesting. I work out the fingering and pencil it in when I'm learning a piece. I thought this was bad practice.

[Daniel_piano]

This is interesting. I work out the fingering and pencil it in when I'm learning a piece. I thought this was bad practice.

It's not a bad practice
Teachers on accademies or colleges want their students to do it
Anyway, I think that when there are consucutive notes, octaves or patterns fingering is not needed as the fingering to be used in such cases is simply subconscious and always the same

Daniel

[anda]

one more thing. why (as in purpose) do you sight-read?

the conservatory where i was a student required us a lot of reading, the purpose being becoming good accompanists. therefore, we were required to read in tempo, and we were allowed to (occasionally) leave out inner voices, or to simplify chords. actually this was the most difficult part: deciding at first-sight which notes must be played and which ones we could leave out, or reducing long leaps by changing the octave where they are played, and so on.

then i went to a different conservatory, in western europe, and i almost failed the admission test because i was supposed to sight-read very slowly and playing everything written.

so, how do you sight-read, and why?

[bravuraoctaves]

That means I'm sight-reading wrong, because I sometimes miss out notes purposely in chords.

[galonia]

one more thing. why (as in purpose) do you sight-read?

the conservatory where i was a student required us a lot of reading, the purpose being becoming good accompanists. therefore, we were required to read in tempo, and we were allowed to (occasionally) leave out inner voices, or to simplify chords. actually this was the most difficult part: deciding at first-sight which notes must be played and which ones we could leave out, or reducing long leaps by changing the octave where they are played, and so on.

then i went to a different conservatory, in western europe, and i almost failed the admission test because i was supposed to sight-read very slowly and playing everything written.

so, how do you sight-read, and why?

This is very interesting.

There are lots of reasons to develop good sight-reading skills, and the way you use them depends on the situation, as you have already pointed out.

Firstly, it is important to develop good sight-reading skills so that you can learn pieces easily from sheet music.  e.g. I can read Chinese, but rather poorly, because I don't practise, so it's a real pain for me to read passages written in Chinese (which I occasionally have to do).  The same with music - if you want to learn a new piece, you don't want to spend months figuring out each and every note by working out single notes within chords, and the letternames of each note, and then putting them together one by one.  You want to be able to play the notes fairly fluently so you can concentrate more on phrasing, expression and the musical purpose.

In this situation, you want accuracy, and it doesn't matter that you read slowly to start with because you actually do want to make sure you're playing the correct notes.

Secondly, you may need to perform something very soon, especially as an accompanist.  This could either be because the soloist didn't give you the music soon enough (e.g. a few hours before the actual performance and you have to learn your part and rehearse it), or you could be in rehearsal and someone wants you to play their part with them, or play some new music then and there.

In this case, you want to read at speed, and if you need to, leave out less important parts so that the structure of the music is maintained and the other musicians can carry on.

But the original post was from a total beginner, and at that stage, I believe it makes little difference because as I said before, almost everything is sight reading practise at that stage.

[Liween]

  Thanks guys & ladies for the replies above and especially to Daniel for giving me lots and lots of guidance over the past 2 weeks.  As I've mentioned in another forum, my progress so far comes mainly from outside sources rather than from my personal piano teacher.  If I follow just what he has taught me, I will be at least more than half-way behind ..... So far he has only taught me a C major scale and been asking me to play the same scale for the past 1 month.   He mentioned about aural and told me it's important, told me about sight-reading and told me I must start now ... but ---- HOW ?? 

Well, maybe I lack of patience and probably he would teach me gradually but I have a feeling that he is not "that" experience to teach though he has attained a good grade for his diploma plus he plays very well.   I would prefer someone who can teach me systematically and not hopping here and there ... telling me something today and another next week and that it's important for me to acquire in piano but didnt have the WAYS to teach me.

Just a note,  I am with him for 2 months and maybe it's too early to judge his teaching methods - what opinion/comments or suggestions do you all have ?

If you are a piano teacher, could you be kind enough to give me your feedbacks and how and what do you teach an adult for the first 3-6 mths.

[piano_learner]

Hi Liween,

IMHO: Your piano teacher is there as a guide to teach you good habits, stop you from learning bad ones and basically to encourage you. My Piano teacher didn’t actually teach me any scales, instead she showed me how I should play them. I bought a Grade 1 Piano/Scales/Arpeggios/Broken Chords booklet and learnt them all myself by following the fingering. She checked how I played them each month and assigned a new scale to learn between lessons. I do shift work so sometimes it would be 2 or 3 weeks between lessons.

Everyone is different but I would say that within 6 months you should be able to play all of your Grade 1 Scales/Arpeggios/Broken Chords from memory. This isn’t difficult because the fingering is mostly the same. I personally think it’s something you should practice daily. 1 week is all you need to learn a new scale and commit it to memory.

[Liween]

  Thanks piano-learner

I am not sure about others, but I think for myself it's much more motivated to learn something extra other than what a teacher teaches in every lesson.  Minute & second passes so fast that sometimes there are not much a teacher can tell/guide you in that hour.

My teacher was kind of surprised when I told him that I've learned A,B,D,E,F,G,Db scales at home and he only pinpointed a slight mistake on my F scale.  I dun know if scales are important to me at this moment but I think these are some of the things which I can pick up more easily by myself. 

[zemos]

Hey, good topic.

Well, I learnt about 4.5 years by now (I'm 15). I learnt with the same teacher for 4 years. She never worked with me on sight reading and I did what I wanted basiclly... Because of that I have such a miserable sight reading right now, and my current teacher (which considers to be one of the best in my country) tries to make me learn this. This is very hard for me and my teacer gets frustrated because of me...
What can I do? Is it really that important to have a good sight reading? help me please....  

[randolph]

This is a fantastic post. 

I'm an amateur self-taught pianist (after learning to play trumpet in high school, all i needed to know was where exactly middle C was on the piano).  But what I don't know is how to classfy my skill.  I can play several Beethoven and Mozart sonatas.  I can play Bach's two-part inventions and am even beginning the Goldberg Variations. 

All throughtout my own piano pedogogy has been the all-important cornerstone of correct fingerings.  Fingerings...after all, no matter how great a pianist one might be I don't think it's possible to escape them, to puzzle over them piece after piece.  Every situation is different. 

Why IS sight-reading so important?  Isn't it far more important to find a way for your fingers to fluidly transition from one phrase to another?  I don't want to sight-read a Chopin etude...I want to find the best way to get through it so that I might play it someday for my friends.