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Perhaps because it's not as clearly defined as you think? The fact that the debate arises so frequently on this forum alone suggests to me that it isn't clear-cut.

Not that it really matters, in my view. Arguing about what words mean serves only to reduce the amount of time available for arguing about music

There's a poster over in the Pianist Corner who is an exceptional sight reader. And he proved it in this thread:

Give me something to sight read!

Sam

Sight-reading music is a bit like working in another/new language that uses a different alphabet. (I speak and translate and interpret various languages.) Learning another language requires a lot of hard work in order to have the facility required to 'read' and instantly interpret in some fashion.

Perhaps the mistake many of us make is that we think we might be able to do this without that specific application.

I've bought a number of volumes - a little below my playing level - specifically to practice sight-reading (every day, if I can).

I agree; working on a piece until you've polished it probably doesn't help with learning to read music. However, reading the piece does, whether simultaneously playing it or not. Of course, if you read it enough times that you start reciting from memory, that kind of defeats the purpose...



I agree whole-heartedly. I would also like to add that I think it's important to make such a distinction in order to help manage people's expectations. "Sight-reading" in the strict sense can seem quite daunting to a beginner, whereas increasing one's fluency in reading music is a much less intimidating goal.



Exactly! I think that may be the best way to highlight the difference between "reading" and "sight-reading" that we've been discussing. Learning a language with a new alphabet involves a phase where words are decoded letter-by-letter; eventually, a certain level of fluency is achieved and whole words (or portions of words) become instantly recognizable, at which point one can "read". Being able to orate from text or recite poetry, however, requires still a higher level of fluency, which might be analogous to "prima-vista" sight-reading.

It is a pity that interest in this thread has faded so quickly. It is such an important topic, that I would think ought to be of primary concern to everyone who comes to this forum.

But it's been discussed many many times and will be again.

Brian, I am creating it and would love to talk about that. But I don't want to hijack this thread to talk about my own product. I will send you a PM.

What do they do during these classes? I would have thought you would have to be doing reading as an individual exercise, and unless this is one on one instruction sitting at the instrument, I would like to know the broad outlines of the process.

No, this is not sitting at the piano, it is a group lesson in a classroom. It is not especially for piano, students of all instruments find themselves together in these classes. The only instrument that the students have is their voice and their hands.

This has been true in my limited experience, as well. Studying a new piece away from the piano, just getting a feel for the tempo, the overall structure, and then a read through of actually name the notes to myself in each hand (even without solfeggio, which I'm not great at) makes a WORLD of difference in my first at-the-piano playing of either hand. I can only HT sight read (prima vista) very basic stuff, but for practical learning a new piece with the intent to work it until it is smooth and compositionally clean, a thorough study of the score makes the process go a lot quicker, especially in the first session or two of working a new bit of it.