Sight Reading Issue

[thomas82]

I have just started out piano lessons for about a few months after a break of one year whereby i self learnt piano.
Currently,my sight reading skills are quite good in 5 fingers pieces whereby i can almost play instantly on first read.
Examples are Accelerated Piano Adventures For The Older Beginners Book 1(i have finished all the pieces in the book for both lesson book and performance book),Adult Piano Adventures Christmas Book 1(can play many of the pieces),Hal Leonard Piano Library Student (popular piano solos level)supplements Series Book 1 and 2,Supplementary Books of Faber and Faber playtime,showtime series.All these books i can sight read very fast and play almost instantly at one go where most pieces are all on 5 fingers positions.
However,now i am working on hal leonard level 3 piano popular piano solos and found that it is very difficult to sight read and play on both hands at first go as the hand positions keep changing and with different rythm on the treble and bass notes together.
I am working on the song skyfall on this book,may i know if anyone here have tried the piece and how long does one able to play this piece at a satisfactory level?
And how do you approach tackling this piece as most of the time for the other easier level series books that i have mentioned i can almost just play on both hands right away on first read.

[adodd81802]

I'm trying to understand why you just want to sight read it?

Why not actually learn it. If you're not already aware, sight reading should be applied to pieces below your level not at your level or above it.

Unfortunately I think people assume that sight reading is a very gradual slope up to the top where you can sight read anything.

For some sight reading is very difficult, others find it easier, but there are certainly always going to be things you come across that you're not used to or that take you out of your comfort zone, repetitive practice is what it comes down to.

General rule for sight reading new pieces, is read through it first, try and identify patterns or difficult areas where you may need to look down - so you can look down ahead of time, and always play slow enough so that you can prepare yourself, maintain rhythm and have a considerate level of note accuracy.

[timothy42b]

You can only sightread at levels below what you can learn to play.

Your level of learn to play is not very high yet. 

That's an inherent limitation to sightreading that isn't possible to get past.  Boost your level of play, and drag your sightreading along with it. 

[dogperson]

The OP is confusing, because 'sight reading' is mentioned and yet the question is asked 'how long to be able to play this piece at an acceptable level'   

Thomas, 'sight-reading' is the learned skill of being able to play through music the first time at the correct speed and relatively accurately, without stopping.   It is a skill used by church musicians, accompanists, etc.  As above, your sightreading skills will lag behind your skills in learning music.

If you are asking for how to learn this piece:
- Learn in small sections.  For any section/measure that you cannot play accurately hands together, play hands separate, very slowly and then put it together when accurate.
Since this music is above the level you are learning, be sure that you have the skills and background to learn this music.  If there are any new principles introduced, you need to learn those separately.  It sounds like you are making a big leap-- from being able to play five finger positions to a level three piece:  you will need to recognize the learning curve and fill in the skills that you need.

[quantum]

It sounds like you have primarily been playing music that primarily involve 5-finger position with minimal shifting of the hand along the keyboard.  In order for you to effectively sight read pieces that involve a non-static 5-finger position, you need to become confident in playing such music first.  As others have said above, sight reading occurs at a level below your playing level.  So if shifting your hand is new to your playing vocabulary, attempting to sight read that same music just compounds the difficulties you are trying to tackle.  Having the ability to sight read music at a certain level does not automatically give one the skills to sight read at a more difficult level - you need to build up your skills in order to work on more difficult music.

Have patience and enjoy learning music.

[thomas82]

Thanks i understand now that the level of muusic i am playing is too high for me to sight read at one go.
1)Just out of curiosity,for such level 3 pieces which involve a lot of shifting of hand positions is it really possible to sight read like what i do for my minimal 5 finger pieces on first go.
2)With consistent practice,will i be able to achieve what i had achieved for 5 finger pieces just to be aware of my own expectations.
3)Or for such pieces involving shifting of hand pieces,even average players with a lot of years of playing experience will still need to do hands separately first before combining the hands to play the pieces?
If the answer is yes for question 1 and 2,At what grade level players will then be able to achieve that?

[timothy42b]

I will make a wild guess here.

When you can play level 5 music, you can sightread level 3 music hands together close to tempo and mostly correctly the first time.

There is a caveat.  There is some specific skill involved in sightreading and you do actually need to practice it. 

There is a second caveat.  Sightreading is somewhat dependent on familiarity with the type of music.  If for example you can confidently sightread a level 3 Sousa march at breakneck speed you will crash and burn on a level 3 Big Band piece.  SATB hymn familiarity will not help you at all playing jazz.  So your sightreading practice does need to take that in account.

But sightreading at the level you're talking about is not a virtuoso skill unobtainable to the masses - it is well within your reach.

[thomas82]

Normally for an average pianists,how long will it take to attain level 5 piano skills?
I have bought quite a number of songbooks which i think as you said i will only be able to play and learn it quickly once i reach level 5.
Also from my understanding,there are basically 3 types of pianist.
Sight reading pianist
pianist who play be ears
Pianist who play by memory

For me,i am just playing piano as a hobby and would like to acquire a skill level whereby i can play majority of the chinese/english easy level pop songs easily but i wonder how long will i be able to achieve that.
The reason why i am so focused on playing piano by sight reading instead by memory is firstly my memory is not that good and also i supposed if you have memorized a few pieces earlier but once you learn new pieces,you will forget all the old pieces.
But with a songsheet which you can relatively sight read well ,you can play many pieces in a day without forgetting old pieces even if you learn new pieces.With that i think it will maximize my joy on the piano.
Is my understanding of this wrong and also i know that pianist who learn by play by ears can play any songs which they heard before,therefore i think it will be a nice skill to learn too.
How do i practice to learn piano by ear?