You have to be able to read the notes, work out what key the piece is in and it helps if you can recognise chord progressions, phrasing in music and cadence points. Too often pianists read sheet music as individual notes, and not enough as patterns. Music is really made up of a bunch of scale patterns and collections of chords. Over time, the more music you read the more you’ll start to realize what those patterns are. Every piece of music has an awkward spot that presents some sort of difficulty. Sometimes it’s a rhythmic difficulty like 32nd notes, and other times it’s a random note or articulation. Below is a list of 5 common difficult spots that can make sight-reading tough for anyone.

Maintaining a steady pulse through silent bars is not easy. Me and my husband, who are both professional musicians, didn’t always get it right, and we had a good giggle when I was creating this post. Learn how to improve your sight-reading and why it is absolutely essential for you to develop this all-important piano skill! Why is sight-reading so important? I will preface this section by saying that the ability to play with or accompany someone else is a really valuable skill,and not being able to do it will rob you of some great musical experiences. In my opinion, this alone is worth being able to sight read. The joy of sitting down to play with someone else you’ve never played with before without worrying about an exam or an audience is one of the best things about being able to play an instrument. Increase the conditions that lead to more sight-reading. Work on eradicating whatever’s getting in your way. With practice, your sight-reading will improve.There’s always a temptation to try and play everything in both hands. While this is not a bad thing, it is better to keep the rhythm accurate and miss the occasional note out. If you can hear it, then you can play it. I ask all of my students to work through the music in their head because it’s really effective. This way when they are sight reading they can have an idea of where to place their hands, even if they didn’t quite read the note correctly. If you are looking for a clarinet sight reading book or saxophone sight reading book this series by James Rae is fantastic.

The ABRSM sight-reading syllabus for piano has been completely revised, with effect from January 2009. To help students prepare for these new exams, a brand new edition of Improve your sight-reading! will be published in September, with separate workbooks available for each of the grades 1–8. It’s been devised to support the new criteria at every stage, and with numerous practice tests included in each book, guarantees sight-reading success in every exam!

I find doing this simplifies the piece and allows me to look at the music in different parts rather than one huge continuous work. 7. Memorize Chord Shapes And Scales When you are a beginner, sight reading is difficult as there’s an awful lot to think about and process. You’ve got the notes to read, the fingers to co-ordinate, you’ve got to maintain a steady pulse etc.

Practicing can be all sorts of things; not just playing. Take some time to work through your sight reading method books, listen to recordings, and more. Pull out some random books and read through passages on your own too and continue to expose yourself to new musical material. Sight reading well involves the culmination and combination of many different skills. The ability to identify notes and chords, to be able to correctly identify time signatures and key signatures, to be able to look at the composer’s tempo and articulation markings and generate a convincing performance. Many exercises suggested in this post don’t require your instrument, so they are perfect for doing during a lunch break at work or while multitasking with chores.When the music stops, you’ve got to keep clapping and count through four bars of silence. That’s 16 claps that you’ve got to maintain at the same tempo, and on the 17th clap shout “NOW”. https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/expert-blog/eating-for-eye-health/bgp-20095574 Even if you’re still learning to read music or are a new piano player, you can still start sight reading. But it may be a good idea to practice sight reading the parts for each hand separately. There is no secret. Like any other skill, it is by doing it extremely regularly that you will improve greatly. If you’re just getting started with sight reading and you need a simple way to try it online, I’d suggest sightreading.training.

In both cases, I had the same surprise when they attended their next lesson a week later. They were both totally unable to play. I could not understand it at all. Being able to read ahead is a crucial skill when it comes to improving your sight reading skills. It’s one of the hardest things to practice, and developing your memory skills is essential. Tip number 4 – Read ahead

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Furthermore, sight-reading is hard! As with all things piano, sight-reading asks us to bring our complete selves to the table. Our minds and our bodies must work in harmony to allow us to function as a unified whole. Specifically, you must coordinate: Whether you are sight reading on piano or sight reading violin music, you need to develop an internal sense of pulse. Tip 1- Develop an internal sense of pulse For example, if you see five notes ascending in a row at intervals of a second, then you immediately know the fingering is probably going to be a basic five-finger pattern. Being able to anticipate that fingering removes half the thought process for sight reading.