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Hey guys, just checking back on some previous posts before practice when a question occurred to me....

As some of you know, I am returning to the piano after more than a decade, at which time I was playing at an intermediate level (which would have been nice to know!), but there was never any sight-reading as any demonstrable part of my lessons, and I believe that it should have been. Besides improving hand-eye coordination (which only would have availed me, then); it will facilitate the speed with which one may learn new pieces of music; one may become more quickly affluent with a wider range of musical styles, rather than wasting precious minutes and hours studying a new piece of music locked in a rehearsal room; it assists one by imparting the necessary skills to make and play music at a moment’s notice when gigging in a group-setting, under pressure and with confidence; and, sight-reading competency is a beneficial indicator of a student’s musical proficiency, as well as their understanding of music theory.

That being said, I was wondering if there are any books from a particular method on the subject of sight-reading that others would recommend to one who was at an Intermediate level, but is returning to the piano, and has had no sight-reading exercises as a part of his or her lessons in the past? I believe that I would appreciate a book (or two or three!) that I could work through.

You can get a nice set of graded sight-reading exercises free for download here.

http://michaelkravchuk.com/sight-reading-354-reading-exercises-in-c-position-by-michael-kravchuk/

But rather than instruction it might be better to have a large collection of graded pieces on hand to work through at your leisure, with no expectation that you're going to polish each piece to perfection (unless you run across something you really like). A good way to put together something like that quickly is to get one of the collections like Denes Agay's Classics to Moderns series or the Alfred Essential Keyboard Repertoire. There are other collections, too.

http://www.amazon.com/Easy-Classics-Moderns-Music-Millions/dp/0825640172/

http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Keyboard-Repertoire-Intermediate-Selections/dp/0882848577/

Hi MacMorrighan,

I'm also coming back to piano. In my case it's the second time - first time was as a kid, second time from about 2006 to 2010 and now I'm relearning all over again. My sight reading skills are not my problem, it's getting the older yet fingers to do what I want them to.

Anything you can find is my best answer.
- Bartok's Microkosmos
- Any repertoire series: Keith Snell, Eseential Keyboard Repertoire, Faber & Faber Piano Literature, etc.
- Any method books
- Easy Czerny: The Young Pianist & Practical Exercises for the Beginner come to mind as the easiest collections
- The Big Book of ... name your favorite genre here.
- Any easy collection of music you can possibly find.
- Hymnals after you get a bit better, it's a bit hard to reach all the chords plus this is sometimes quite a bit different that playing other music types.
- Find a big box of used sheet music at an estate sale.
- Offer a barter with a piano teacher to use their library for sight reading.
- Raid the local library.

Most of the books aimed at sight reading give you about a page a week. You will most likely want to be playing many pages several times a week. Many of these books would not be enough sight reading material for even a month. One of the few ones that might be worth it is Hannah Smith Progressive Sight Reading Exercises for Piano. 534 exercises to sight read, most of them are 8 bar exercises.

There are some books on rhythms that will help with mastering that skill, but I've not seen much that specifically addresses all the skills that are part of sight reading.

For rhythm maybe try Book 1 of Christopher Norton's Microjazz, and then the rest if you find that you like it, although only Book 1 has step-by-step instructions for getting the rhythms correct. But like DragonPlayerPlayer said, just collect as much stuff as possible so you always have a couple pages of material you've never seen before to play through.

(Christopher Norton has written two more method series since Microjazz. There might be more material like I described in his newer methods.)

A couple of other graded sight reading books are:

Paul Harris "Improve you Sightreading"

http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/improve-your-sight-reading-piano-sheet-music/19094108

ABRSM " Join the Dots"

http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/joining-the-dots-book-1-sheet-music/19476375

Both of these are graded to match ABRSM sight reading levels. I especially like the "Join the Dots" series, because the pieces are actually very interesting and it includes work in the key before you try the piece. It also has an improv section in each key.

Thank you, David! I was entirely unaware of that free and huge sight-reading resource! It surprised me considering that I have Googled similar search phrases in the past to no avail. What a find!

Thanks DPP! I actually buy many books/ sheet music from the bi-annual Planed Parenthood book sale, but it can be rather expensive buying each individual piece of music when I'd rather buy the whole box. I also wish that our local public libraries carried sheet music; but, they don't.

https://sightreadingfactory.com/ might be a great resource for you. The membership is very inexpensive (like $20/year or something). Scores are generated by computer algorithm, and you can print them out or read them from a tablet or computer screen. There are some limitations, so I wouldn't use it exclusively, but as part of your sight reading regimen it could be a very valuable addition.

Thanks, I had never heard of the ABRSM series of books before.

here is a couple I use

http://imslp.org/wiki/110_Progressive_Excercises,_Op.453_%28Czerny,_Carl%29

http://imslp.org/wiki/Mikrokosmos,_Sz.107_%28Bart%C3%B3k,_B%C3%A9la%29

https://www.lds.org/bc/content/shar...Hymns_000_HymnsMadeEasy_eng.pdf?lang=eng

I can also vouch for the Paul Harris series

+1.

The way you learn to sight-read is to sight-read -- _lots_ of sight-reading.

Use pieces that are well below your "polished playing" level. If you want hard-core classical stuff, get the Anna Magdalena Book, and the Mozart sonatas, and Bach's Two-Part Inventions (if you can play those), and start reading through them. Don't push the tempi -- slow playing is OK.

The goal isn't a perfect performance. It's to teach your brain and fingers to react _right now_ to seeing a note on the page, and get the fingers to play it.

Actually, you'll find yourself reading a little ahead of your fingers, if that makes sense.

. Charles

I use kabalevsky op 27 thirty pieces for children. They are very pretty and interesting music that includes plenty of rhythmical challenges for those who struggle with it (like me).

Thanks a lot, Charles, that was invaluable advise.

MacMorrighan,
Here's a sight that has some good tips and examples of sight reading.
http://www.belmont.edu/music/admissionaudition/piano_sightreading.html

Rhythm and a steady tempo are more impotant than being perfect on the notes. If you are having problems with the rhythms or keeping going, try easier pieces. Or work on just the rhythms first.

Thank you so much, guys! These materials are well worth it to increase my skills in sight-reading. Very much appreciated.