Sightreading

[mypianoworld]

Hi piano colleagues,

I was just wondering if you know any methods to develop/improve sightreading for advanced students who have never practiced this. Any ideas?

Thanks in advance

[lostinidlewonder]

Reroll your character, go back to level 1 and read lots of easy pieces. As your experience increases you will level up and be able to tackle more challenging works. Search pianostreet there is a lot of info to sift through. It is important to reveal what weakness you have in reading then you can talk about those and advice will be more important.

[ivorycherry]

Hello,
What used to do because my sight reading totally sucked was that after I finished my technique like scales and arpeggios and stuff and before I would start practicing my repertoire I would just spend like 10 to 15 mins sight-reading easier pieces but without looking at my fingers at all unless they make huge jumps. Josh Wright has good video on it. I would watch it if I would be you.

Hope this helps,
Alex

[brogers70]

Hello,
What used to do because my sight reading totally sucked was that after I finished my technique like scales and arpeggios and stuff and before I would start practicing my repertoire I would just spend like 10 to 15 mins sight-reading easier pieces but without looking at my fingers at all unless they make huge jumps. Josh Wright has good video on it. I would watch it if I would be you.

Hope this helps,
Alex

I second this. I've been doing 20 minutes of sight reading a day without looking at my hands for a couple of months, and it has already helped a lot.

[getsiegs]

I would just spend like 10 to 15 mins sight-reading easier pieces but without looking at my fingers at all unless they make huge jumps.

I agree as well that this would be great practice. I'd also add that you could try practicing with your eyes closed. As I've practiced more and improved, I've noticed that sightreading and playing in general has gotten easier because I can rely on more of peripheral vision to play than looking for each individual key. So I'd suggest practicing eyes closed and easy sightreading without looking at the keyboard in tandem:

-sightreading improves your reading speed and level of comfort visually with sheet music
-practicing eyes closed improves your spatial awareness of the keyboard and your level of comfort physically

Ideally putting these two together means you get better at the actual reading while also physically getting more accustomed to the keyboard and not always looking at your hands.

[anacrusis]

My girlfriend (who has a master's degree in piano performance) who wasn't very experienced with a vista used the following books https://imslp.org/wiki/Sight_Reading_Exercises%2C_Op.45_(Sartorio%2C_Arnoldo). She did a few exercises each day consistently over time, and by the end of the three books her a vista had significantly improved and she moved on to reading more advanced repertoire. It didn't take that long, either. She speaks particularly highly of the first book.

[dogperson]

I agree as well that this would be great practice. I'd also add that you could try practicing with your eyes closed. As I've practiced more and improved, I've noticed that sightreading and playing in general has gotten easier because I can rely on more of peripheral vision to play than looking for each individual key. So I'd suggest practicing eyes closed and easy sightreading without looking at the keyboard in tandem:

-sightreading improves your reading speed and level of comfort visually with sheet music
-practicing eyes closed improves your spatial awareness of the keyboard and your level of comfort physically

Ideally putting these two together means you get better at the actual reading while also physically getting more accustomed to the keyboard and not always looking at your hands.

Ok I’m confused : how do you combine sight-reading, which is loosely defined as playing music you have not played, with your eyes closed ?

[getsiegs]

Ok I’m confused : how do you combine sight-reading, which is loosely defined as playing music you have not played, with your eyes closed ?

Sorry, didn't mean to make it confusing When I said doing them together/combining them, I meant doing both activities separately but on the same day/maybe one after another. Sightreading for your eyes, eyes closed for your hands. If you improve these areas separately, you can get better at sightreading later on (which puts reading AND playing without looking together).

[ranjit]

My girlfriend (who has a master's degree in piano performance) who wasn't very experienced with a vista used the following books https://imslp.org/wiki/Sight_Reading_Exercises%2C_Op.45_(Sartorio%2C_Arnoldo). She did a few exercises each day consistently over time, and by the end of the three books her a vista had significantly improved and she moved on to reading more advanced repertoire. It didn't take that long, either. She speaks particularly highly of the first book.

The book really reminded me of this:

The difficulty goes up pretty fast. Here's a breve, here's a semibreve, and viola!

[lostinidlewonder]

The book really reminded me of this:

The difficulty goes up pretty fast. Here's a breve, here's a semibreve, and viola!

Lol hilarious. I never saw that cartoon before thanks!

[ranjit]

Tom and Jerry has a lot of good music, largely based on early jazz or classical. The classical references I could spot were the Blue Danube, Grand Valse Brilliante, Prelude op 28 no 24, and Hungarian Rhapsody no 2. I could swear I heard Jeux D'Eau somewhere in there, but I was never able to find it. The way the themes are used and orchestrated is brilliant.

[chomaninoff1]

go in with no ego and just play through really easy stuff at first...this kinda stuff:

https://ks4.imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/a/a1/IMSLP400775-PMLP648794-Gurlitt_-_The_First_Lessons_Op_117.pdf
https://ks4.imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/e/eb/IMSLP462267-PMLP750624-Diabelli_Op._125_Les_premi%C3%A8res_le%C3%A7ons..pdf
https://ks4.imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/d/de/IMSLP529850-PMLP857059-02.pdf
https://ks4.imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/d/da/IMSLP240955-PMLP165092-Czerny,_Carl-100_Uebungsstuecke_Op_139_Peters_6983-84_scan.pdf
https://ks.imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/1/16/IMSLP04060-110ProgressiveExcercisesOp453Czerny.pdf

I would highly suggest going through the RCM syllabus and playing through ALL of the pieces you can get your hands on. Most of the Baroque/Classical ones are on imslp and at higher levels, many of the Romantic ones are as well. Start at level 1 and just start churning through the pieces. Don't play them to perfection, just sight read through them once, maybe twice and go on to the next.
https://files.rcmusic.com//sites/default/files/files/RCM-Piano-Syllabus-2015.pdf

[chomaninoff1]

also can I ask how in the hell you were able to get a degree in piano and never practice sight reading? 

[dogperson]

I’ve never understood these questions of ‘how do you get better at sight reading, and am even  more perplexed by the responses of ‘buy these exercises ‘ or ‘schedule time’. Isn’t anyone just inquisitive about trying music they have never played?  I started playing long before the internet,  but would play everything I could get my hands on, just to see if I liked it: pop, classical, musicals, tunes, rag, best of xxx’

It was an exercise in fun not a goal-oriented exercise.  Shut off YouTube to hear new music; play new music to hear it. 

[ranjit]

I’ve never understood these questions of ‘how do you get better at sight reading, and am even  more perplexed by the responses of ‘buy these exercises ‘ or ‘schedule time’. Isn’t anyone just inquisitive about trying music they have never played?

I'm not sure if that is the most effective method to learn. Even if you do try out music sometimes, sight reading is a bit of a separate skill. I learned a Chopin nocturne and a Schubert impromptu, among other pieces, and yet, I was unable to fluently sightread anything at all, even those exercises in C position. I wouldn't say that just going through new pieces automatically improves sightreading -- it also needs to be targeted and deliberate to an extent.

[ronde_des_sylphes]

Pattern recognition (ie the ability to glance at a score and spot "predictable" segments of passagework) and innate knowledge of keyboard topography are really important. Find a level at which you can sightread fluently, and then pick things which are a bit harder. Do not look at the keyboard, only at the score. The more you sightread, the more you will acquire sightreading techniques "on the fly".

[dogperson]

I'm not sure if that is the most effective method to learn. Even if you do try out music sometimes, sight reading is a bit of a separate skill. I learned a Chopin nocturne and a Schubert impromptu, among other pieces, and yet, I was unable to fluently sightread anything at all, even those exercises in C position. I wouldn't say that just going through new pieces automatically improves sightreading -- it also needs to be targeted and deliberate to an extent.

‘learning’ Chopin Nocturnes and impromptu would not improve your sightreading:  it needs to be ‘reading through a lot of music, at or below  the level you can learn over time.  Choose music you can read through even if the reading is not fluent. And yes. it does work — and not just for me. 
It is one of those areas where if you have just learned a few pieces you like regardless of the difficulty you will not improve your sight reading. You need to read a lot of easier music so that you progressively develop pattern recognition.  You might want to take the RCM syllabus, as previously suggested, and start with level 1.  Work your way up.

The benefit?  Learning new music will be easier as you will fluently  recognize more patterns.
 

[anacrusis]

I'm not sure if that is the most effective method to learn. Even if you do try out music sometimes, sight reading is a bit of a separate skill. I learned a Chopin nocturne and a Schubert impromptu, among other pieces, and yet, I was unable to fluently sightread anything at all, even those exercises in C position. I wouldn't say that just going through new pieces automatically improves sightreading -- it also needs to be targeted and deliberate to an extent.

You have to start out with the simplest of stuff that is way below your level, and do a large quantity of reading, and you'll feel the improvement. My girlfriend, who has a master's in piano, started with a sight reading exercise series and did a few exercises every day for some time. The first ones are SIMPLE. It's like going back to kindergarten of piano playing. And it's amazing how much her sight reading has developed just from going through those series from the beginning. I used to be way better than her at sight reading but she has now caught up with me, and in some cases she is even better. I can look up what it was she used if you want.

EDIT: LOL I just realized I made almost exactly the same post earlier in this thread, and even included the link in that post. Here it is: https://imslp.org/wiki/Sight_Reading_Exercises%2C_Op.45_(Sartorio%2C_Arnoldo)

[lostinidlewonder]

Pattern recognition (ie the ability to glance at a score and spot "predictable" segments of passagework) and innate knowledge of keyboard topography are really important. Find a level at which you can sightread fluently, and then pick things which are a bit harder. Do not look at the keyboard, only at the score. The more you sightread, the more you will acquire sightreading techniques "on the fly".

If people can do all of these things they will unavoidably get better at reading. The hidden difficulty, something that people constantly underestimate as being a challenge: finding many pieces at a level you can read fluently then once you have established that how one raises the bar needs to be done in a mindful way. It is not like you can say I can sight read all grade 1 pieces, because you might have some technical patterns well known and could actually read a grade 4 piece because it uses tools you know well, but then you might come across you have no experience with, for example part writing and thus your grade level falls below to the preliminary levels.

When sight reading pieces that is easily within your level EVERYTHING needs to be done perfectly. Perhaps the musical playing is not perfect but your fingering, coordination, timing, confidence, all needs to feel completely certain, you certainly don't need to look at your hands. So you really can go back to bare basics which can feel like you are totally resetting your piano experience for some people who have never practiced their sight reading skills. Find those pieces you can do effortlessly and go from there, everyone should have a certain piece they can read fluently even if it is one hand playing a single note.

[chomaninoff1]

I’ve never understood these questions of ‘how do you get better at sight reading, and am even  more perplexed by the responses of ‘buy these exercises ‘ or ‘schedule time’. Isn’t anyone just inquisitive about trying music they have never played?

This is what happens when music becomes about fulfilling some non-musical goal, like completing a grade in time, or taking an exam.

[dogperson]

This is what happens when music becomes about fulfilling some non-musical goal, like completing a grade in time, or taking an exam.

Of course the grade/exam pressure is a contributing factor, but I am convinced, without evidence, that the internet is a huge culprit.  See an unknown piece referenced? You don’t need to play it to decide if you like it, you can easily find a recording.  This contributes to the demise of exploration and sight-reading.  It is certainly quicker, but there is a negative.

[chomaninoff1]

Yeah I would certainly agree with that, dogperson. Anything that takes the work out of reading pieces for yourself is a factor. Or even on piano forums where someone asks if something is playable, when they could just sit at the piano and try it themself!

Not saying that piece grades and forums aren't helpful--they certainly are, and save lots of time--but it takes away sight reading practice like you said.

[anacrusis]

I’ve never understood these questions of ‘how do you get better at sight reading, and am even  more perplexed by the responses of ‘buy these exercises ‘ or ‘schedule time’. Isn’t anyone just inquisitive about trying music they have never played?  I started playing long before the internet,  but would play everything I could get my hands on, just to see if I liked it: pop, classical, musicals, tunes, rag, best of xxx’

It was an exercise in fun not a goal-oriented exercise.  Shut off YouTube to hear new music; play new music to hear it.

My girlfriend's story regarding this (why she turned to a series of sightreading exercises) is that she simply studied and learned the pieces she was interested in but never did any focused study on the ability to read things well on sight. She was always slow and meticolous when reading scores so she never practised the other skills involved in reading things. Since she has a master's degree she is of course playing advanced repertoire and her sight reading simply was not up to par with that level of repertoire. So she decided to do some focused study on sight reading using exercises that increase the difficulty step by step. It worked. It just took a couple of months of working in a deliberate manner on her sight reading skills to see an enormous improvement.

So the reason to use exercises specifically developed for improving sight reading is that it works and is extremely effective, because it builds up various skills such as pattern recognition, interval recognition, ledger lines, key signatures, accidentals etc in a systematic, step by step manner. Now she is able to just read a lot of real repertoire like you are suggesting to further grow her skills, because she has the fundamentals she lacked before in place.

[jimf12]

I spent the last year working through the Bach Chorales.   I would just do a couple per day, and now I'm going back and doing it again.   I feel like I'm getting the same bang for my buck going through the second time.  Even though my brain has seen these pieces before, it was one play through a year ago and doesn't seem to be enough to hinder the purpose they are being used for.   They all still seem brand new to me.   

Pro tip - if you do the chorales don't get the Riemenschneider version which is what I have.   The print is ridiculously small.