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Question for the more advanced classical pianists: when you read chords, do you read them as three separate notes or intervals (this is what I do), or do you read/play them as a d minor, augmented iii, dominant 7, etc., as a jazz musician does?

It's better to play them as a chord.

It's the same as reading English - you would never read "P-i-a-n-o W-o-r-l-d"; it would be faster and much more meaningful to instead read it as "Piano World."

I like the analogy, but it seems overwhelming to be able to recognize all of the different chords, as well as their inversions! The only chords I can easily recognize are the major triads.

I'm not experienced enough to just look at a chord and recognise it, so I tend to look at the evidence and then judge.

When I started, I read the notes from the bottom up. Now, I see the whole chord.

This is a particularly interesting question. I don't always recognize chords in their various inversions, particulary 7th, 9th chords, or altered chords. So, I now set aside part of my practice period just working on this aspect of reading. I have reached the point where I can immediately recognize at a glance certain chords in all their configurations.These are the ones that appear most frequently such as triads and dominant 7ths.
Others I have to spell out in order to find the root, when it appears in one of the middle voices. These I write in my music notebook, in all their inversions and say them out loud, as I play them.
This has helped me enormously. Some pianists I have discussed this with object to the verbalization part of this. For me, it works, and seems to be a necessary part of my learning them. I may start out saying p-i-a-n-0, but eventually say " piano," and this is followed by my reaching the point where I don't have to verbalize them at all, but my fingers go directly to the correct keys.
We all have different ways of learning. I have to verbalize them during the learning process. After that, it becomes almost automatic for me to recognize the chord. Gaby Tu

Interesting. I tend to read only one note and the intervals and play that without reading all the notes. So I think I am doing the same as Jerome and reading a block. I do not know all of the chord names at sight and don't feel I really need to as my fingers seem to spread to the correct intervals without me thinking about it really.

Oh, thank you AJB! I was hoping to hear that. The thought of having to start naming every chord at sight was enought to make me take up basket weaving instead of piano!

I usually "see" simple major/minor chords in regular or open voicings and can recognize the chord as such. Example C-G in bass with E-G-C in treble I'd see the whole thing as one chord. Same thing with arps over a common chord. Same deal with dominant 7ths. Since I look at the key signature first I'll always "expect" the V7 chord to show up at some point anyway...

I have more trouble with less common keys like Db Major and C# Major because of the number of accidentals in the basic chord and the fact that i don't play many piece in those keys (i have played for less than 2 yrs)...

I don't have this ability with less common chords though. I think it depends on how long you have been playing and the kind of music you play. A jazz musician would no doubt be able to recoginize major and minor sevenths as a single unit after so many years of playing ii-V-I progressions.

~pianocliff

Mr. Jerome stole my analogy ( :p ), but it would seem you've misinterpreted it, so I'll help it along.

Take the sentence, "The dog went to school." When you read the sentence, you don't read the letters, "T-h-e d-o-g w-e-n-t t-o s-c-h-o-o-l." Now, when you're 3 years old, you might have to read every letter and piece together what the words are, but after a few years, you should begin to read fluently. And what do you read? The words. You recognize the letters "s-c-h-o-o-l" as "school", not because you've looked at each individual letter, but because you recognize the combination of letters unconsciously. Now, take it one step further...you read a story. At the end, you may not remember every little word, but you know the story.

This is what we mean when it translates to the piano. If you can recognize chords, you can forget notes. Recognize the word, and not the letters, and both your sightreading and your overall musicianship will improve greatly. Then, once you get a hang on it, you even lose the chords and remember the story. You make it that far, and there ain't much you'll ever have to "ask" how to interpret again. You'll be able to tell the story yourself. But if you're stuck on notes, you'll never be able to do that.

Ocassionally I will rocognize chords as minor triads, or diminished 7ths, however I usually remember chords as patterns. I don't necessarily see each note (ie: p-i-a-n-o) but I will see it as a block. Pretty similar to what others have already said...

I don't always know the name, but I usually will see a block. Then I can play it easily without having to think about each single note.

For example, I might see C F A, and recognize it as a familiar chord that I have seen many times before, even if I don't immediately recognize it as the second inversion of an F major chord / subdominant of C Major. I might notice that while studying the score, but when I'm just reading the score, even if I don't know exactly what the chord is, I usually do recognize it and am able to play it without having to think about each individual note.

Also, after a while, experience and familiarity with basic chords helps (at least me) to recognize other unfamiliar chords. Intervals usually look the same regardless of context, so whether there is a major third in the chord (C E) G, or if there is a major third in the chord (G B) (D F#), I still recognize that interval as a major third, and I know how to play a major third. (When I say I recognize it, I don't mean to say that I see it and think, "Oh that's a major third." I recognize what it looks like on the page, and I just know how to play it.)

(The other thing about that last example - G B D F# - is that I don't even have to recognize if the thirds are major or minor, because I remember what a third looks like in general. When I see the sharp, I don't think "oh, that sharp goes with the F#", I think "oh here's a chord and the top note is sharped" so I sharp the top note of the chord)

I read the block. I don't think I ever think chord symbols while I play. Jazz or classical.

Yeah, the only time I've ever thought about chord symbols was while playing lead sheets. But even then, the symbol is immediately turned into its "word" or "block" as you put it.

I suppose that if you are someone who has learned to read figured bass then you're probably pretty accustomed to seeing chords in their technical form.

I bought a book of Ravel yesterday. Reading tghrough the Pavanne (one of the easier pieces in it) I was struck by two things; 1) the harmony changes pretty much every quarter note, and 2) this is not standard triadic harmony. I'd like to discuss each of these a bit because it relates to reading this music.

The subtle harmonic shifts every quarter note reminds me of Bach. The reasons for the harmonic shifts are similar in that while there isn't overt counterpoint like Bach in Ravel you could say there's covert counterpoint. It's not useful to try to analyze each harmonic nuance, but recognising the intervallic shifts is very helpful to reading.

That the harmony isn't your nice functional harmony makes it that much richer. As I said above analysing every nuance is probably more work than necessary but it helps to be able to recognize the function of a major seventh chord even if the 3rd or 5th are missing.

Last, for a piece that sounds so pretty and simple it's not a simple piece to read. This is rich music that's very well crafted. I look forward to getting to know Maurice better.