My Approach on Sight-Reading

I agree with Martha Beth Lewis PhD, that: "musicians without sight-reading skills are hampered in all they do. As she can confirm, approaching new work has become a hassle. At a progressed stage picking up a piece of pop music will become a chore and learning it will be equivalent to learning a piece of the standard repertoire. It's no fun to "go shopping" for new pieces. Many entertaining options will not be easily accessible: accompanying, playing duets and ensembles, playing "requests" for family members and friends. All "students" need to learn to sight-read! … Sight-reading, also called sight-playing, is a learned skill, although many professional musicians don't remember how they learned to do it."

Why Sight-Reading?

The ability to read a musical phrase at sight is considered invaluable by the vast majority of musicians. My piano tutor was surprised when I said I could not read notes. Her first reaction was to say that I had to learn them; otherwise I would be unable to progress at the speed I had been progressing so far; Not only this, but exploring new music would be almost impossible.

I started researching the topic, but did not find much on the question at to "why". Reading a few books, some information on the Internet and having my own light bulbs going on, I figured the following:

• The ability to sight-read greatly speeds up one's training as a musician because s/he is able to read examples, studies and exercises
• Sight-reading ability gives one access to the vast literature of published sheet music: Classical, Jazz, Contemporary and all other styles
• Musicians who can sight-read are much more likely to get work as session musicians, for recording and for live performance

While I am far from the latter, I can only agree as I said before and elsewhere: sight-reading (as slow as I may be; currently [Aug 26th, 2007] reading bass & treble clef notes without accidentals at 1.3 seconds [median] per note) has already enabled me to learn the pieces (in the fourth quarter) of my Hal Leonard: Adult Piano Method — Lessons, Solo, Technique & Therory, Book 1.

Perceived Problems of Learning to Sight-Read

Traditional methods of learning to sight-read often require a teacher to spend long periods of time with the student, giving feedback and correction. The student is encouraged to practice sight-reading at home, but here s/he is deprived of the feedback of the teacher. Many students learn the piece they are reading through repetition, so that after a few times through, they are not really practicing reading anymore, but are playing the piece from memory.

Prevalent misconceptions regarding sight-reading are:

• It is "too difficult to learn"
• It "takes too much time"
• It is "only necessary for Classical Music"

Nevertheless, many musicians who have a good sight-reading ability agree that the only secret to this skill is lots of practice. I am convinced that the correction of sigh-reading deficiency must take utmost priority in musical education. Sight-reading does not only enable to grasp the piece as a whole, it also trains the memory and sharpens concentration.

The Standard Approaches to Sight-Reading

• Before playing, study the music silently, taking special note of the key and time signatures
• Clap the rhythm (Most adult learners feel uncomfortable doing this)
• Keep your eyes on the score at all times
• Read from the bass clef upward
• Look ahead
• Move your hands only when necessary
• Avoid making mistakes; they are much harder to unlearn
• Start playing slowly, if necessary to the point that the melody becomes indistinguishable
• Speed comes with practice

What Have I Done So Far?

Well, I thought I did a bit, but later learned that I am doing note-reading, not sight-reading. Because of that, I have moved my note-reading approach off this page in July 2008.

What I Need To Do

I have also removed this section — as described above. In essence: I have now plans to practice sight-reading on a daily basis, and be it only for ten minutes. Yes, the practice schedule gets bigger and bigger. Ear Training is another important thing that has to go onto my daily practice schedule too.

Footnotes

* Bernstein, Seymour, With Your Own Two Hands: Self-Discovery Through Music, (Paperback), p. 40.

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