Sightreading: flats or sharps?

[solange]

When sight-reading,,, which pieces do you find the hardest? Ones with flats, or ones with sharps?

Personally, I can't STAND "5-7 sharps". I avoid these ones! [until the guilt catches up] 

[nanabush]

Me it's 5-7 sharps, I always forget to play B sharp in a full house of sharps... Huge problem with the Bach prelude and Fugue, especially the fugue.  Also I could say no sharps or flats, cuz your bound to see a posse of sharps or flats comin ur way when it's in C major..

[Bob]

the B sharps, the E sharps, and then those double sharps that creep in with the sharp minor keys.... very prickily feeling to them.

[milkcarton08]

I seem to be in the minority, I hate flats.

- michael

[ranakor]

I seem to be in the minority, I hate flats.

- michael

same here glad to see i'm not alone

[rhapsody in orange]

Hmm how about double flats and double sharps?

[jhon]

The bottomline is "many sharps" is harder to read than "many flats."  (Just take a C# and Db piece for instance.)  Theoretically, "sharp-pieces" have more tendency to use DOUBLE-SHARPS than "Flat-pieces" using double-flats.  Such "double" stuff makes it harder.

[Derek]

It seems to me reading for any key has mainly to do with whether you are physically familiar with that key on the keyboard.

Its just an experience thing. Just force yourself to read more (or perhaps improvise) in keys with lots of sharps or flats and they'll become just as easy as other keys.

[Etude]

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[Teddybear]

Awww. It's so cute: no flats or sharps ( )

I can't handle 5-7 sharps. With Hungarian Rhapsody No. 8 it wasn't a problem, though. Go figure.

T

[Bouter Boogie]

 

[nanabush]

Look in the Grieg Sonata first movement, I think it's the fourth page at the bottom, it changes keys, and there are a ton of accidentals, that I find is the hardest part of the entire sonata.... with the chromatic scale going up man that took a while.. too long..