Poor sight reading of chords

[thomas82]

I have difficulty in sight reading chords everytime on a new piece.
Are there any tips on how to improve on chords sight reading?
Are you aware of any good books for late beginner standard with ample of chords that i can practice on?

[iansinclair]

This is where learning standard chords and chord progressions becomes essential.  Not for contrapuntal music, and not for atonal -- but for almost everything in between.  If you are trying to read every note in a chord you will have trouble -- but if you know that you are looking at an E flat major chord, for instance, of four notes and starting on G, you know without thinking that the remaining three notes are B flat, E flat, and the octave G.  Just for example.  Further, since you have practiced the chords, your fingers just know where to go and how far.  And if the next one in line is B flat major, inverted beginning on F, you know immediately what has to happen to the other three notes...

[mbpress01]

See this. It will be out soon and maybe exactly what you need.

https://www.bachscholar.com/sight-reading-harmony-pre-sale/

[perfect_pitch]

See this. It will be out soon and maybe exactly what you need.

https://www.bachscholar.com/sight-reading-harmony-pre-sale/

See the above post? It will be out soon and should be ignored. Bach Scholar has had more than a disreputable past in terms of his teaching, his so called 'prints of sheet music', and his ego is larger than the talent he owns.

Disregard that. You want to really try some sight-reading? If you're after chords, look at some simple Jazz charts and sheet music.

You really want to improve sight-reading? Start trying to get simple Theme books and try and play them at sight. Then move onto slightly harder ones. Try Bartok's Mikrokosmos as a tool to see where your sight-reading stands.

I would not recommend ANYTHING with the name 'Bach Scholar' in them. I'm sure the rest of this piano board will also agree with me. His reputation is dubious at best.

[Bob]

Practice chords as individual chords (ie on all starting notes).  vs. Also practice them over each step of the scale.

All inversions.

Spread them out.  Start with close voicing.  It's easier to understand but less realistic.  So start closed and move to open and more realistic.

Play them at the keyboard.  Also write them out.  Also read them.  Read your own stuff or read someone else's.


You can do similar stuff with diad/intervals.  Same idea -- Understand them, play them, write them, read them.  You could add sing them too I suppose.

Make it a routine, for good or bad. 

Add whatever you absorb to looking/playing/understanding a new piece of music.  Don't leave it as a separate thing that never makes it into useful music practice.


So much music is diatonic though.  If you take the chords and stick them over scales (and make them functional) or if you take that chord in general (Major/minor being the 'chord') and run it over scales, I think that adds more understanding of scales.  Try playing scales in Major/minor triads or Major/minor seventh chords.  Then open up the voicing.  After I did that I saw the same chords (I IV V) voiced similarly in a lot of music.

[indianajo]

I play for services of a little church out in the country.  The song leader picks four songs out of three hymnals. I get a 10 minute practice  before the service including picking two more songs for introit & recessional.  Its a great sight reading opportunity.
If I'm not quite sure, I drop some inner chord notes on the first pass through or so.  Usually I've got all the notes by the third or fourth repetition.  There will be accidentals on your test. 
Some of the more modern songs have arpeggios in the L.H. instead of chords.  2226 was that way yesterday; a lovely accompanyment to a simple melody.  
The more you do, the more you can do. Practice makes perfect.  
They don't pay me BTW; just hearing all 8 of them singing happily is quite a motivator.  When I'm not there in the winter they sing to  computer generated tracks.  
Next challenge, lowering the "too high" pieces a fourth or fifth to make them in vocal range.  On the fly.  

[thomas82]

Actually i played chords without knowing any of the scales.
What i did is i recognize either the bottom or upper most notes and then recognize the distance from these note for the remaining notes for the chord,it seems to work for me.

[louispodesta]

I have difficulty in sight reading chords everytime on a new piece.
Are there any tips on how to improve on chords sight reading?
Are you aware of any good books for late beginner standard with ample of chords that i can practice on?

"Are you aware of any good books for late beginner standard with ample of chords that I can practice on?"

Even though I have commented extensively on this subject many times, which is available through Pianostreets upper right hand corner search engine, I have been "warned/ordered" not to tell you to do that because?  Well, you figure it out.

So, in that you specifically asked for "books" relating to this subject, I will answer your specific inquiry.

1)  Lorina Havill, (former sight reading Professor at Juilliard) wrote two widely music school utilized books entitled "You Can Sight Read."  The first book, which is available "for free" from any library (Interlibrary Loan, ILL), has an extensive beginning section on how to sight read the following:  one note, two notes, three notes, three note chords, and then finally seventh chords.  That is;  moving laterally up and down the keyboard without looking down at your hands.  And yes, you and anyone else can do this!

2)  Accordingly, this epistemology is directly related to the reading of piano music much like Billions of people who have learned how to type on a typewriter or a computer keyboard.  That is: your minds eye connects the "Abstract" note/chord symbols to a "Concrete" tactile function which is the ability to move around the keyboard without looking down at your hands.

3)  Finally, there is the "Royal Academy of Music recommended" ten book series "Four Star Sight Reading And Ear Tests."  These "very short" paperback books, authored by Boris Berlin and Andrew Markow, are broken down into "very short" sections which encompass the combined skills of sight reading and ear training.

4)  I could not sight read until my late 50's, and I have had the very best teachers in the world, literally.  But, one day it dawned on me that "getting around" the piano keyboard was no different than learning to type.

5)  That means:  1) you get these sets of books (first part for free) and then Berlin books, which are around ten U.S. dollars a piece.

6)  Then, MOST IMPORTANTLY, you set the metronome at the very lowest speed you can accurately read through the exercises/reading material "WITHOUT LOOKING DOWN AT YOUR HANDS!"  Please do not do this for no more than 20 minutes daily at the beginning of every practice session, otherwise it will become drudgery.  And, most of all: You cheat, you lose.

7)  Then (after working through the whole set), you very gradually increase the metronome speed to when it clicks.  When it clicks means:  that when you can pull up any Haydn or Mozart Sonata and then read straight through at slow and steady tempo, then "You Can Sight Read.".

  After that, then you can go onto to other levels of sight reading/accompanying per your own choosing.

[nastassja]

Actually i played chords without knowing any of the scales.
What i did is i recognize either the bottom or upper most notes and then recognize the distance from these note for the remaining notes for the chord,it seems to work for me.

It may seem to work but it is going to take so much time, because chords are not just about lower, upper and middle notes. I know some people who learn like that but it is quite time-consuming and it also doesn't help in understanding the music. You need to learn about basic harmony. Once you know the most common chord progressions, you can guess what comes next and it makes it easier to read and memorize. As for books, I like the RCM's harmony book (if too complex, I think you can also find the basics of harmony in their "rudiments" series). However, the best thing is to take a harmony class. Jazz lessons could help too.

You will find chord progressions in most scale books. As Indianajo said, practicing them would be a good idea. You should learn the scales and arpeggios too, it makes life so much easier to know beforehand your basic chords and your scales. It will help your sight reading and you won't have to worry about fingerings.

As for sight reading in itself, start with very easy pieces (something you could play  hands together, on tempo, without looking at the keyboard and without making mistakes, even if it is a grade 1 piece or a book for beginners), then every day try to read more pieces accurately. If you try to sight read the piece you are having trouble with, you might stop often, need to read note by note and then eventually memorize a section, which won't help you improve your sight reading skills.