Where are your eyes looking when you sight read 2 staves at once?

[trizzinator]

I can read decently well when i'm reading hands separately. When i'm reading hands together, i typically read bottom note from bass clef all the way up to the treble on a beat-by-beat basis.

Where do you look when you read both clefs at once? I was watching nahre sol's video today and realized there's no way experienced readers are reading like that given that it's so slow. How do you read 2 clefs at once? My reading is way below my playing level and i want to fix that.

[ego0720]

Our eyes have two field of visions. Where u direct and then the stuff around it. I gaze at the melody and use my peripheral vision to see the accompaniment. I sort of see both concurrently.

[lelle]

I also look primarily at the melody. My reading and harmony knowledge is extensive enough that I can recognize chords and harmonic progressions at a glance in my peripheral vision. That makes it possible to quickly glance at the melody, followed by a quick glance at the left hand, to take in the entirety of what the right and left hand are supposed to do, often for the entire bar, if not more.

I'm not familiar with the nahre sol video you are mentioning, can you describe quickly what they say about how you are supposed to read?

[geopianoincanada]

I can't see two staves at once. I can focus only on one at a time and even then my sight reading skill is questionable.

[hichew]

I look at the "middle", with practice you should be able to see the all the notes you need to play with just peripheral vision. If you're trying to practice your sight reading, one of the things I can't recommend enough is getting good with music theory, if you can quickly recognize scales and chords without having to read note by note it makes it 100x easier to sightread.

another thing, when sightreading you should always be looking forward, when you're playing a bar already be looking at the next bar or two and seeing what notes youre about to play, this gives you the necessary leeway in case there's a wall of notes somewhere.

[perfect_pitch]

I found this rather fascinating...

[lostinidlewonder]

Experienced readers quickly scan the entire page to understand the overall procedure that will be followed. This process takes only a few seconds, as they can absorb the entire page and relate it to their past reading experiences. While reading, they anticipate the upcoming sounds, which reduces the need to read every single detail. Recognizing common patterns and shapes helps them to identify important information without reading it in depth. Similar to reading words as a whole instead of individual letters, they can also perceive both bars simultaneously and comprehend the ongoing events. Occasionally, specific details or areas with significant changes attract their attention. Developing a strong sense of timing and perceiving the organization of patterns allows them to anticipate the upcoming groups of patterns and how they are coordinated. Minimizing unnecessary thoughts is crucial, as focusing on every detail would result in consistently slow reading.