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Nice, I'm so glad you're keeping up with it. Maybe when you're feeling even more confident you could post a video or sound file. I'll post more videos soon.
Sure does! It's helping me learn harder pieces quicker because I don't have to decode them, even if I still have to work on them hands separately. Hands together... I think if you keep with the exercises you'll get there. It's all in going slow and not worrying about the speed. Like the one I played, it's quite a lot slower than the original, because I'm just trying to build my accuracy.
I'm hoping to continue posting videos, and to keep this thread going, and people can pop in when they want for tips or to share something they worked on when they're ready.
If it's not too late, I'd like to join in on this. I started playing piano about a month ago. I can pick my way through easy pieces, including a simplified version of Fur Elise. I am taking lessons once a week but need to find a teacher that's closer to home. Where do I start? I have so much to learn!
Yamaha CLP 440 Delivered on April 16 2013 Started playing piano April 16 2013
Welcome! I'm eager for more people to join. Definitely worth discussing this with your teacher, as they'll know where you are and where to start. And if you are looking for some tips, we'll be here as well.
This thread is a pretty good gold mine itself, but there are many others on this forum if you do a search. I've read every thread here on sight-reading, plus a book and studies, and watched videos, all while trying to work my way through sight-reading methods and easy piano books. Now based on my practise and the information I have, I pick and choose from different theories until I find out what works for me. But I don't think all of that's necessary. I just wanted to improve so much.
Maechre you mentioned earlier using big note books for bulk reading material. Any you would recommend and one of the problems I often find with the "easy" books is the melody if fine but there either is no bass clef or the bass just shows basic chords
Let's support each other in the endless journey to sight-reading improvement!
If enough people are interested, I'll go ahead and make myself a new email address and Youtube account, this one devoted only to my sight-reading. The idea is that one piece of pure sight-reading every day or so would be uploaded to Youtube and shared on this thread.
This way we can all support each other in our journey. I know my videos may be riddled with mistakes and painfully slow, but that's all part of learning to sight-read, isn't it?
_________________________ I love sight-reading! One day I will master it, even if it takes ten years.
When you first start learning to play the piano, you open a book and you slowly read and say the notes as you play them. Everyday you play that piece you have learned, and then you add a new piece that you read and say the notes as you play them. So from the start of your piano book you keep playing the old pieces you have learned and you add a new piece. And for the rest of your piano life, you keep playing the old stuff you have learned and add a new piece. So at any point in your journey, you are playing old stuff and adding a new piece to the pile of pieces you have learned. When I add the new piece, I have to play it a little bit slower than the other pieces I have learned over days, weeks, months, years - depending long you have been playing - but you can read and play every piece you have learned - and the new piece you can read and play it, too, but you have to read and play it a little bit slower the first time through to ensure that you make no mistakes and because it is a new piece.
So I don't understand what sight reading boot camp is all about because I don't undersand how someone would not be able to read their next new piece they are about to learn. Let us say you are at grade 7 music then you would learn new pieces that are around grade 7. Obviously, if you are playing at grade 7 and you are trying to read grade 10 or grade 12 or grade 15 - if they exist - that you have a difficult time trying to play at levels you have not reached yet. So what do you think it is that I am not understanding. What am I missing about sight reading. Thanks for any help.
When you first start learning to play the piano, you open a book and you slowly read and say the notes as you play them. Everyday you play that piece you have learned, and then you add a new piece that you read and say the notes as you play them. So from the start of your piano book you keep playing the old pieces you have learned and you add a new piece. And for the rest of your piano life, you keep playing the old stuff you have learned and add a new piece. So at any point in your journey, you are playing old stuff and adding a new piece to the pile of pieces you have learned. When I add the new piece, I have to play it a little bit slower than the other pieces I have learned over days, weeks, months, years - depending long you have been playing - but you can read and play every piece you have learned - and the new piece you can read and play it, too, but you have to read and play it a little bit slower the first time through to ensure that you make no mistakes and because it is a new piece.
So I don't understand what sight reading boot camp is all about because I don't undersand how someone would not be able to read their next new piece they are about to learn. Let us say you are at grade 7 music then you would learn new pieces that are around grade 7. Obviously, if you are playing at grade 7 and you are trying to read grade 10 or grade 12 or grade 15 - if they exist - that you have a difficult time trying to play at levels you have not reached yet. So what do you think it is that I am not understanding. What am I missing about sight reading. Thanks for any help.
Michael_99 what you are describing, learning a new piece by reading the notes slowly is described as decoding, right. Sight reading is the ability to read & play a never seen before piece at tempo, and the idea of this thread is to support anyone who wishes to contribute in their journey towards that goal. I guess for some people reading at speed is not necessary or important but it is a highly desirable skill if you have the many years it takes to even become half good at it.
Michael_99 what you are describing, learning a new piece by reading the notes slowly is described as decoding, right. Sight reading is the ability to read & play a never seen before piece at tempo, and the idea of this thread is to support anyone who wishes to contribute in their journey towards that goal.
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Thanks, earlofmar, I understand.
But, earlofmar, when you say
--->I guess for some people reading at speed is not necessary or important but it is a highly desirable skill if you have the many years it takes to even become half good at it.
----> a highly desirable skill if you have the many years it takes to even become half good at it.
I am only a beginner, but if I reached grade 10, then I would able to read and play lots of music because a lot of it would be at grade 10 - so anybody at grade 10 would have a great advantage because of their years of playing to get to grade 10.
So I guess what I am saying is that sight reading speed is based on the piano player's ability to read and play the music at their level. A piano player cannot read/sight read music that is beyond is ability to play the music. In other words you can't sight read music that is more difficult than you can play. A person's ability to sight read is limited by his level of playing the piano.
In other words you can't sight read fast any music that is beyond your ability to play. Music that is at your level you could read it quickly and you can play it for the first time.
If you opened a beginner's book of piano you could sight read new pieces you have never seen before, but it is easy music because it was at a beginner level and now you are reading and playing 4 or 5 levels beyond the beginner level. _____________________________________________________
I am only a beginner, but if I reached grade 10, then I would able to read and play lots of music because a lot of it would be at grade 10 - so anybody at grade 10 would have a great advantage because of their years of playing to get to grade 10.
So I guess what I am saying is that sight reading speed is based on the piano player's ability to read and play the music at their level. A piano player cannot read/sight read music that is beyond is ability to play the music. In other words you can't sight read music that is more difficult than you can play. A person's ability to sight read is limited by his level of playing the piano.
It's true that you can't sight-read any higher than your technical ability. The rest of your statement isn't as hard and fast, though. One's ability to play a piece of music the first time they've ever seen it (even after looking at it for a while) is hardly ever on par with their playing ability. I'm studying an Advanced Diploma of Music, yet my sight-reading is at the level you see in my video. I played a Grade 6 (AMEB) piece for my audition, but I can't sight-read at a Grade 6 level. In exams, you are given a piece to sight-read that is TWO levels below yours, eg. in a Grade 6 exam, you will be expected to read a Grade 4 piece.
Since the development of sight-reading skill is such a slow process, and learning new pieces and scales, etc. to advance through grades is relatively fast, your sight-reading probably won't catch up with your technical ability in order for this to become a problem.
You can stay if you want. This thread is here to support people working on their sight-reading, and discussion on how to improve. We know that sight-reading skill doesn't just magically evolve. It requires dedicated work.
Here we are. I ran through this once before recording, and the first page a second time. Still made heaps of mistakes -- I honestly restarted a couple of times just because I did the beginning so badly. So this one isn't technically sight-reading, but using what skill you do have to learn a piece quickly is also important. The cool thing about recording it is that you have to play through the mistakes and get to the end.
I'll post more videos soon.![[Linked Image]](https://www.pianoworld.com/forum/gallery/42/thumbs/7728.jpg)
![[Linked Image]](https://www.pianoworld.com/forum/gallery/42/thumbs/5225.png)