This is a bit difficult but it does seem to work. I'm wondering how you go about saying the notes when you are playing flats and sharps...and playing eighth notes. There isn't much time to say or sing d, d flat, c, b flat. Any suggestions on how you do this? And how you say the two handed notes together.

This is a bit difficult but it does seem to work. I'm wondering how you go about saying the notes when you are playing flats and sharps...and playing eighth notes. There isn't much time to say or sing d, d flat, c, b flat. Any suggestions on how you do this? And how you say the two handed notes together.

"...I can't get anything from the LDS music site to print. I get a header and footer only. I guess they know what a heathen I am..."

It's ok, malkin, you can buy an actual hymnbook if it comes to that. There are church supply stores where heathens are welcome--- they may even especially like heathens who buy hymnals; you've heard the saying "Preaching to the choir"--- or your local music store can order one for you. You could even write to the publisher, and I'm sure they would be glad to fill even a small order. There's that other saying about "the ninety-and-nine," which means that the shepherd goes out and finds the lost lamb which is bleating in the backcountry, with hungry wolves and no hymnbook.

Oh--- you would think I'd been in a choir; maybe I should take that thing about bleating out. Never mind, I calls 'em like I sees 'em.

I have noticed that some of the various denominations have hymnal print jobs that are much easier to read than certain others. Better print, better paper, better editing. They shall remain nameless; you'll have to do your own comparison shopping.

One little tip for sightreaders. I've found it is helpful to play a few times through the scale in which the piece is written, before I tackle the piece itself. It helps the fingers and ears know where they are going, and a little warm-up is not a bad idea anyway. Some of these hymns are trickier than you think; they are scored for the SATB voices and not the piano. So I just get out my pencil and help the notes go to the hand that will be playing them. Some are surprisingly worthwhile, as music--- take a look at the index of authors' names and you will find some that are already very familiar.

Quick question: According to what I read there, she's saying that sight reading entails very rapid eye movement, going forwards and backwards (up, down, etc.); however, I've always read that it should be done by "reading up," from the bass to the treble. How do these concepts fit together?

The very rapid eye movements are pretty much involuntary -- you also make them when you're reading a book without even noticing them happening.

The conscious eye movements are larger, and purposely bottom-up and forward directed (though of course your eyes might regress to catch things you've missed).

Oh, I see. Thank you.

I've tried some of the iPad apps, but haven't found them very useful. The best guidance I've seen came from Keith Snell: Try to read and play a new piece of music every day. That doesn't mean the whole piece, and it doesn't mean play it to a level you'd want for recital. It means that you can become comfortable reading and playing music if you do it often enough with pieces you are reading and playing for the first time.

I have a pattern of looking at a new piece of music, scanning it quickly to see if it looks at all reasonable for me to learn. Then I try to play through some, or even all of it to see if I like it. If that much sight reading gets me interested, I'll work on the whole experience of the piece, using a method similar to what Deborah uses.

As far as I can see, the real point of her method is to develop finger memory out of the experience of sight reading the piece. Most music doesn't come completely naturally, and developing finger memory is important, but so is the sight reading that ultimately drives you to it.

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When practicing sight-reading and there are complicated rhythms (well, they're basic beat sub-divisions, actually, but complicated for me to sight-read prima vista), is it detrimental to your practice and progress to figure out the rhythms by clapping before starting playing? It's as though the sound of the music/notes distracts me from feeling the beat whenever the pulse gets subdivided, and then I get lost. Truth be told, the problem is with single-voice reading (hands together) so I can't yet even imagine dealing with similar or more complicated two-or-more-voice rhythms simultaneously. If it's relevant, I tend to feel the beat by either tapping my foot along with it and/or instinctively feeling it. I try to orally count the beats, but lose track whenever its subdivided; it sounds silly, but because I wear headphones when I play, the closely-timed sounds of eighth-or-smaller notes overpower my voice when trying to count solely by vocals and I lose track of the pulse this way.

Also, I've yet to read much on the topic of the metronome and its part in sight-reading. How do you all employ it in your practice regimens?


On a side-note, Mark Phillips suggests in his Sight-Read Any Rhythm Instantly that you count aloud (along with every other text I've come across), but disagrees with most everyone else I think I've heard in that you should NOT subdivide the beat when counting and I was curious what you all thought of this - see his exact quote below.

Is there a suggested level for reading music vs. learning a more difficult piece?

I took piano at my high school for four years, then I took two blocks of piano lessons from my community college (back in 1997).

I have an electric piano, and I've played here and there, but I really, really want to progress. I feel I've stagnated. I spend much of my time trying to read easy pieces, but I would like to know what type of pieces I should try?

So far, I can play Moment Musical by Schubert and Solfeggietto by C.P.E Bach. (I also play Burgmuller's Arabesque and Ballad).

I can sort of sight read level 1 and 2 pieces, though not perfectly.

Should I try to learn a new piece, or am I lagging behind too far in my sight reading? Suggestions?

I wonder if subdividing the rhythm is bad because the bass and treble don't always jive that way. I have the HARDEST time trying to read contemporary music such as rock and roll. It looks easy, but I keep trying to count out the beats, but the left hand doesn't match up correctly when I do that.