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Hello to all of you
I would like to get some advice on how to learn sight reading. I am a beginer, I can read sheets music, but it takes me a lot of time to finish a piece, because till now I do not have the skill to see the notes and play them instantly in the piano. Any websites, books or techniques would help. Thanks.

Slow, with a lot of patience but not too much time .....Carlos

hi carlitosway, I know others will post a bunch of websites to help with note recognition. I think those are a great idea, but when i first started alfreds one, i would use primer books that had notes in the bass and treble clef to help me recognize notes faster, and being able to play recognizable music was a great confidence booster:) i still do this but i use level 1 books and some level 2 and others that are harder just to see if i can. the best way to get better at sight reading is well sightreading:)

You need to take my Super Secret Sight Reading Pills 3 times a day. Contact me for details. It's what Liszt took (though he overdosed often). Trust me, I'll give you a deal.

Keep in mind that sight-reading requires very good memory. You have to remember, as you are playing for the first time:

-- the key signature
-- the time signature
-- any accidentals that carry through the measure
-- any patterns that repeat
-- any changes in key signature
-- any changes in clef
-- any changes in tempo
-- dynamics and other interpretation markings

-- a lot of people suggest reading ahead... that is, reading faster than you are playing. So you have to remember what you just read -- in order to play it -- even while you are continuing to read several bars ahead!

This takes A LOT of focus. Even when you think you are focusing, you can still focus even more!!

Very importantly, you have to remember the style of the music. I took a 2-semester course on sight-reading at music school this past year, and we began by sight-reading over 100 Bach chorales... then Beethoven Sonatas... then Mozart Concertos... then all of the Mendelssohn Songs without Words... then Debussy... then Bartok, Shostakovich, and Satie... and finally, 3-and 4-part fugues in open score....... and all throughout both semesters, random pieces by Bartok and other modern composers. We always discussed the styles of each of these composers, as it helps a lot -- to know how their music is constructed. That way, a new piece of music by one of these composers is in a way predictable, so it is not as hard.

I guess that's what people mean when they say "Sightread a lot!" It's not just reading a lot, but reading a lot of different kinds of music, because we like to play a lot of different kinds of music.

You can try this if you have a digital piano.

http://www.etudesoftware.com/

Serge

Or here if you don't have a digital piano.

Or here if you don't have Java.

It just about lots of practice...

Just read all you can at a comfortable level.

Having played the clarinet all through school and now, many years later learning the piano, I am naturally more confident reading treble lines than bass. I'm not sure if this is frowned upon, but I often pencil in the bass notes as I am learning a piece. This gives me sort of an immediate gratification by being able to play a little faster than if I must stop to remember each note as I go, and in turn ups the number of times I can practice the piece in a given period of time. I also note any dynamics, accidentals, etc. that I might otherwise overlook and this, over the past few months, has helped me to automatically pay closer attention and better focus on everything going on all at once. Lots of practice is helping me retain exponentially more than drilling myself on paper or online (but maybe that's just the way I learn - it might be great for others!) and many things are coming to me automatically now. The more I play, the fewer reminders I need.

I'm not a great sight reader, but I know this is true. Just doing it as part of the normal practice routine for 10 minutes a day will help. After a while the challenge becomes finding new repertoire to read because you want to be reading unfamiliar music. It isn't sight reading if you've seen it before. This is why practicing your pieces is not practicing sight reading.

When sightreading - keep your eyes on the music - always. You "feel" your hand/finger position on the keyboard - this is strictly touch. Do not look at your hands. Go very slow. As you see the notes, before you actually play them, try to hear them in your "mind's ear". This process will develop the feedback link you need between sight, sound and touch. Obviously, as a beginner, you must start with relatively simple music. And you must do all this at a steady, albeit slow, tempo. Over the years, as you continue this process, you will develop your skill and be able to read increasingly more difficult material at an increasing rate. You will learn to recognize notes faster and hear the music in your head, and develop a better sense of your hand position. This process is much like what you did when you learned to read and speak a language honing your skills with repetition and incremental degrees of difficulty.

Thanks to all of you for the great pieces of advice, I will put then in practice and get results. Thank you again !!!!

On a slightly related note, how many of you can look at a piece you've never played or heard before, and know what it sounds like? I'm not sure what the official term for that is, but I'm wondering how you can work on that.

You mean... like looking at an ABF post that you've never read or heard before, and hearing the words in your head?

I personally don't think it makes a difference if you're able to simulate the sound in your head before you play it. But I believe that if you play music at sight as opposed to memory this will slowly help in addition to traditional sight reading. I've been going over some of the same 7 pieces or so on and off but i don't have them memorized. My sight reading has improved noticeably, but of course as I get them memorized I do move on.

Ah. I think I worded it wrong. I meant playing by ear. How do you play by ear?

They aren't separate... sight-reading and hearing it in your head.

Just as reading English and hearing it in your head aren't separate; if you become very fluent in English, and you are a very good reader/speaker of English, then you will simply be able to hear it in your head.

If you are very fluent in Music, and you are a very good reader/speaker of Music, then you will be able to hear it in your head. Maybe not as well as English -- for the reason that we don't have as much experience as we do with English. But the more experience you have, the clearer it will be.

But I don't think that hearing it in your head is a separate skill from reading it on the page.

That could be true. I have no experience in either, though my sight-reading has been improving as I practice more. I can't look at a piece for the first time and know what it sounds like, though. I have to play it through first, and sort of get the gist of it before doing anything with it.

Not completely true. When the hands have to move some distance almost 100% of pianists will use at least a little peripheral vision to locate the notes. You don't have to look down at your hands to do this.