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FWIW, I do not agree with Dons assessment that our eyes are unable to process the entire grand staff at once. Processing this much information was a goal of the speed reading course I had to take in high school. At the end of the course we were reading/skimming entire lines of text with only a glance or two. This is very comparable to processing the grand staff to the level needed for an experienced sightreader.

Other than this, I do agree that sight reading is about patterns - that is the same thing speedreading was about.

Rich

But it doesn't matter if we are actually seeing both staves at the same time or if our eyes are scanning back and forth at an incredible speed.

The important thing is to get the job done.

When sightreading is well in place (quick reaction to what is seen in a graph (5 Lines/4 Spaces) symbolism of music characters, placement high and low showing relationship - - -

It is no longer sight reading with the eyes, because the brain has transformed it into reactions of physical movement.

Sight "doing".

This is the point I think, at which a musician in training becomes a very capable musician.

Of course, I'm speaking piano and the piano person here - - - a great combination when the music, the instrument and the person are totally ready for each other.

Thinks have become subconscious and known and used - you have left your outer world to be in your inner world.

Truthfully, "flow".

Plus hand seperate practice is only way to not have weak left hand...

An example from my tortuous progress so far...

I can read reasonably a RH melody together with known chords in LH, easy enough to attack and forget about them, concentrating on the RH.

I can play the same LH notes in an Alberti bass pattern LH alone - but this takes so much 'multitasking' (almost like full RH reading) that RH melody reading suffers, from tempo hiccups to complete blockages.

Any hints from teacher experience HOW students overcome this to a smooth coordination ?

To those interested in ideas,

Ask yourself co-ordination questions!
Do the hands (vertically on the music page) play:
Together?
Left Alone?
Right Alone?

These are the only 3 answers one can conjure up.
Two hands - 3 combinations.

The next step would be to put helpful blue dots equidistantly in the middle area of each music grand staff 0 0 0 0 (etc) to show a steady beat. Taking this into observation (thing "vision test") aligns the physical movement of your hands and fingers into the next present moment.

Do an away from the piano (on a table top) study of the music for coordination purposes. You can even take a more simple piece of music and write L - R - T on the page as an easier study piece before tackling the "now" piece of music.

NO, I do not believe in reading ahead - I believe we play ("think" and "act") in the present moment and we can multitask in the present moment.

Eye movement training should also be incorporated when we study how to coordinate and place the rhythms at the right time.

Without eye training,co-ordination practicing, and interval reading by direction and distance, everything we know about rhythm can become arrythmic, note reading is full of error.

One test of a well prepared musician is that they can talk at the same time they are playing. Anything before it's time will make the pianist stumble, fall, stop.

Music carefully planned out, completely understood, with the above list of key ingredients you supply operating your body movements, puts you into being a candidate for "flow".

It is all multitasking! So you master multitasking one step at a time.

What comes first? Then? And?

How do you recognize what isn't working?

How do you solve problems in music?

It's all in your domain - or, hopefully, you are at least in pursuit of the answers from qualified responders.

Concerning whom to avoid: "Be on the watch for....."t-h-e-m". Suspects are armed and dangerous and give off misinformation freely. Avoid at all risk."

Choose your mentors carefully!

Betty