Tortoise sight reader vs hare hands

[stevieresh]

Hi

I currently sight read at a s-l-o-w pace. When initially learning a piece this isn’t a problem as my reading can keep up with my playing. If I try to speed up my sight reading cannot keep up and I car-crash the piece. The only way I can speed is by relying on my hands / memory. It’s as though they’ve begun to learn the peace and have leapt ahead of my reading ability.

As I become increasingly familiar with the piece and start to speed it up anyway, I’ll eventually start to look at the upcoming bar, not visually naming any of the notes , but recognising the shape of the bar as a whole and therefore knowing what I must play next. The sheet music becomes a prompter of sorts. This is the only that I can speed up the piece.

I suppose I want to know if this is a bad practice or not. As it stands I’d be playing pieces very slowly to accommodate my reading skill.

Another question- when learning a piece should my aim always be to inadvertently memorise it? Even if I could read it as fast as I could play, should I be trying to read along still?

Thanks for any advice. I’m finding it hard to articulate the above so hopefully it makes sense :p

[Note that i am continuing to practice my sight reading skills).

[adodd81802]

Hi Steve

I am awful sight reader. Mainly because I rarely practice this. I actually don't have many situations where I need this skill, and so concentrate more on accurate reading rather than sight-reading.

Sight reading and then normally Reading music is 2 different skills. Like anything it comes with practice.

My best suggestion regarding sight reading, is to do just that, you can either buy sight-reading examples or simply aim to sight read music 1-2 levels below your current ability (maybe a teacher can confirm that rule)

I think once you've read the piece 4-5 times it's no longer sight reading (I don't go by the once rule) because you haven't memorised hardly any, if at all and so still relying on your eyes.

The second aspect is simply reading music, that is reading music that we already know roughly what notes to expect, that we have spent some time actually learning and some-what memorising the notes.  With that in mind, I don't think you should specifically be aiming to read it like it was sight reading but more like "queue cards" or "prompts" to keep your brain in check

The worst thing I find with quickly relying on memory is I have memory slips where I cannot pick up where I left off, or I try and slow practice a section and realise I don't even remember the individual notes any more. So actively referring to the the score, even if not just for the notes, but for articulation and dynamics should keep you focused on the sound and accuracy of your playing, rather than focusing on recalling from memory.

Your memory only gets worse over time, but your ability to read music can only get better. In today's age where we can carry 1000's of music on a portable tablet for quick reference i'd advise anyone to improve their music reading over trying to memorise everything.

[stevieresh]

Thanks for your comments and thoughts adodd81802.

The second aspect is simply reading music, that is reading music that we already know roughly what notes to expect, that we have spent some time actually learning and some-what memorising the notes.  With that in mind, I don't think you should specifically be aiming to read it like it was sight reading but more like "queue cards" or "prompts" to keep your brain in check

That makes good sense to me with regards to seeing the music as queue cards.

For whatever reason i have blended sight reading and "normal" reading into the same thing in my mind. Your clarification helps nicely with that. Cheers

[dogperson]

When reading or sight reading, you need to have the skills of recognizing intervals, chords, scales and arpeggios.  In addition, you need to train your eyes to ‘look ahead’ to the next measure while you are playing the current one

Sightreading and reading certainly have the common element of 'reading music', but they have different goals:  sightreading means playing a piece for the first time, REASONABLY accurately, in tempo and with the generally correct notes.  It needs to be credible, but not completely accurate.  For this reason, you generally cannot sight read at the same level that you play; this is usually about two levels below your actual reading level as you are not allowed to stop.

Think of a church musician who is handed a hymn he has not played, and the congregation is waiting.  The performance does not need to be completely accurate, but believable:  in tempo with no stops, generally correct dynamics and notes.

Reading also focuses on accuracy while allowing for start, stops and ‘re-dos’   

[dogperson]

Duplicate

[bernadette60614]

The longer I study the more time I spend away from the piano with the score.

When I first started, I started with measure one, hands alone, then together then continued measure after measure.

Now when I begin working on a new section, I sit down with the score and look for patterns, potential tough spots, little surprises, e.g., accidentals.  And, when I'm working on a fresh section I'll star every practice session like this.

Speaking for myself, I tense up when I feel uncertain but by previewing sections of the piece I am familiar and looser when I actually begin working at the piano.

Take care, enjoy the process!

[thirtytwo2020]

I’ll eventually start to look at the upcoming bar, not visually naming any of the notes , but recognising the shape of the bar as a whole and therefore knowing what I must play next. The sheet music becomes a prompter of sorts. This is the only that I can speed up the piece.

I suppose I want to know if this is a bad practice or not.

I just wanted to answer your specific question and say that to me, this doesn't seem at all like a bad practice.

I actually think this is a very good description of how I experience sight reading, and if I may say so, I'm actually fairly good at it. It's all about recognizing patterns and shapes rather than naming individual notes. I think when you continue to practice actual sight reading (=playing music straight from the page, as opposed to practicing to make perfect) this is what you should focus on.

Otherwise, I wholly agree with adodd81802 and dogperson.

[lostinidlewonder]

Sometimes people feel that sight reading and memorisation should work separate from one another where in fact they certainly work with one another. The more you read particular patterns in music the more it becomes automatically observed and reacted upon just like how you can read words quickly after practice. When sight reading a particular piece over and over again you will naturally memorise parts of it in the process and there is nothing wrong with this. The problem is when people start totally isolate memorisation and reading, this should be generally avoided. Bring them both together and observe and develop their synergy.

As a teacher I don't like to get totally in the way of how students learn their music if it is productive. I have one student who watches synesthesia tutorials piano which I think is totally ridiculous but he has learned quite complicated pieces eg recently Liszt 2nd Hungarian Rhapsody in 2 weeks. I do encourage traditional methods of learning with this unusual approach but it must be nudged in slowly and the same must be done for less extreme situations. However if an approach works for you who is to say that it is wrong and terrible? If you are getting results that is good and then you can always shape your practice method, tinker with it and improve upon it.