how to get decent sight reading skills for 5 months but starting from scratch

[mavis_]

Okay hear me out, I can play with decent dexterity but I CANNOT SIGHT READ FOR THE LIFE OF ME. Like even the most basic of all basics, like it'll take ages for me to read which sucks and college auditions are fast approaching and sight reading is apparently a requirement, so how do I manage to do that? I know it sounds kind of impossible, but is there a way to make it possible? help please

[brogers70]

There are different ways to be bad at sight reading. For me, I had no problem with notation or rhythm, even in the most remote keys, but I was lousy at the "touch typing" aspect of sight reading, knowing where the keys are without looking. To fix that, I started 30 minutes a day of reading things so simple that I could find the notes without looking, for example, the first exercises in here...

https://imslp.org/wiki/Sight_Reading_Exercises%2C_Op.45_(Sartorio%2C_Arnoldo)

When that got easy enough I switched to things like Music For Millions in the beginner level, they have a couple of volumes of easy things. I try to play those without looking at the keys and at a tempo slow enough that I do not need to stop. Eventually I moved on to harder things and went through bunches of Scarlatti sonatas, then all the Mozart and Haydn Sonatas, Bach Suites and Partitas, etc. For the harder things, I play lowly enough that I do not need to stop, but I do let myself look at my ends for bigger jumps and that sort of thing. It's fun. It just takes time to improve. You might improve faster if you did it for an hour a day, but if you are working up to college auditions you may have other ways you need to spend your practice time.

[anacrusis]

There are different ways to be bad at sight reading. For me, I had no problem with notation or rhythm, even in the most remote keys, but I was lousy at the "touch typing" aspect of sight reading, knowing where the keys are without looking. To fix that, I started 30 minutes a day of reading things so simple that I could find the notes without looking, for example, the first exercises in here...

https://imslp.org/wiki/Sight_Reading_Exercises%2C_Op.45_(Sartorio%2C_Arnoldo)

When that got easy enough I switched to things like Music For Millions in the beginner level, they have a couple of volumes of easy things. I try to play those without looking at the keys and at a tempo slow enough that I do not need to stop. Eventually I moved on to harder things and went through bunches of Scarlatti sonatas, then all the Mozart and Haydn Sonatas, Bach Suites and Partitas, etc. For the harder things, I play lowly enough that I do not need to stop, but I do let myself look at my ends for bigger jumps and that sort of thing. It's fun. It just takes time to improve. You might improve faster if you did it for an hour a day, but if you are working up to college auditions you may have other ways you need to spend your practice time.

My girlfriend speaks highly of that book by Arnoldo Sartorio, especially the first one. She's a high level pianist but was pretty bad at sight reading. So she picked up that book, started from Book 1 and did a few exercises each day. Even though the first exercises might seem trivial you need to start there to lay the foundation. Her sight reading progressed remarkably fast. I highly recommend you go through those books, starting from the very beginning and do maybe 5-10 exercises each day in progressive order. It'll take much shorter than 5 months.

[mavis_]

thank u so much, would definitely try this out! if it works for me then I'd go review it insanely!

[bryfarr]

Strange the link in IMSLP says "Sight Reading Exercises, Op.45 (Sartorio, Arnoldo)", but when you open the file, it says they are by G. Schafer.  I opened both vol II and vol III.

I think I could start with vol III.  I suppose I "should" get better at sight reading, but not really sure I need to, since I mostly work on challenging pieces that take months to master, and I try to get to performance level.

[lelle]

Strange the link in IMSLP says "Sight Reading Exercises, Op.45 (Sartorio, Arnoldo)", but when you open the file, it says they are by G. Schafer.  I opened both vol II and vol III.

I think I could start with vol III.  I suppose I "should" get better at sight reading, but not really sure I need to, since I mostly work on challenging pieces that take months to master, and I try to get to performance level.

That's a funny observation, I had never noticed that before. Seems like the guy has a lot of aliases for some reason: https://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Sartorio,_Arnoldo

Sight reading is valuable in the sense that with good sight reading you could be devouring lots of simpler material on the side of studying those pieces. This would help enhance your technique and musicianship faster, helping you out with the harder pieces you are studying.

[ego0720]

It’s time for OP to give us update how it’s working out. And if they recommend the process.

You know what helps me with sight reading? Creating a template in the head with the ledgers fixed in place and know that reference to the piano layout (all 88 keys). Also reverse the process from piano to sheet (draw it out with a pencil on blank staffs). In addition, noteheads are movable declarations of the desired chords or notes but that which I don’t concentrate on and rather ignore until after I locate the key.

[geopianoincanada]

Okay hear me out, I can play with decent dexterity but I CANNOT SIGHT READ FOR THE LIFE OF ME. Like even the most basic of all basics, like it'll take ages for me to read which sucks and college auditions are fast approaching and sight reading is apparently a requirement, so how do I manage to do that? I know it sounds kind of impossible, but is there a way to make it possible? help please

Have you had an eye exam? For me sightreading has been torture due to optic nerve issues but persistence in effort has been the key for me to grow albeit at a slower pace than most others.