Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Extremely frustrated with sight-reading

Bob Newbie :

When one has a piece already well-learned, but is using the music because the piece has
not yet been memorized, one reads the music in full bars or full phrases at a time. It's more or less a visual reminder of what one already knows; it is not a note-by-note reading of the score.

Regards,

just lets me know when i hit the wrong notes.

With due deference to the well-meaning responses

No matter how long you work at your sight-reading you are obliged to go through the lifetime laboured ritual of identifying the notes, working out the fingering and then slaving at the piano for days before muscle and aural memory begin to take over and help smooth out the performance ... the problem is that memory fades fast ... thus the tired watchword of "practice, practic, practice".

All the talk about playing something easier than your present ability is a feeble confidence boost ploy ... but who wants to go backwards ... most people know what they want to play ... but are frustrated by the lengthy path of slow progress which yawns up on front of them ... all the endless encouragement to "hang in there", persist, work hard, concentrate, practice, etc ... eventually falls on deaf ears as the once enthusiastic pianist loses confidence and experiences the start of an unwarranted inferiority complex ... the unfortunate begins to wonder whether they are really cut out to play the piano.

A solution to the problem clearly lies in a notation format which is instantly comprehensible ... no business man would put up with the poor return on his money using the present format.

what would you suggest? it seems marvelously succint to me..

On the contrary,it worked for me and countless others before me and is extrmely logical from a pedagogical viewpoint.

I would think that close to 100% of experienced teachers would recommentd this method.

First you have to practise reading and the best way to do that is with pieces you know. Focus on the score and relate what is written there with how it feels to play and how it sounds. Quite often, reading between the lines of posters who are frustrated with their sight-reading ability, it is evident that their basic reading leaves much to be desired. If you can't read well then you will not be able to sight-read - stands to reason.

I do agree that good sight-reading material for those on their way is to be found in hymnals and, later, Bach chorales. Earlier I would recommend first volumes of graded repertoire series.


John

The only way I could see this working is if the system was based strongly on our own English language. But how would that work? "Two C's above middle C play a C major chord and add 9"? Fake-books are one thing, but in classical music they seem quite inadequate; the chords that the composer wishes to convey would not have the accuracy of the standard notation system. What do you suggest? I too was thinking of a system which could be easier to read than this, with all its flats and naturals and double sharps etc. Isn't there a way to better convey the composer's intentions than the literal writing out of the notes and expecting the reader to identify its concepts? Such as chromatic runs. What if there's something missing in the run that doesn't make it fully chromatic (the chromatic runs in the middle of the second page of the Revolutionary etude. It skips to a "C-flat" instead of what is expected). A misread note or two is unacceptable in the classical world. And I remember in Chopin's B minor octave etude that the double sharps were confusing the heck out of me, even though the idea was quite simple: working up and down chromatic octaves.

How about instead of considering each key signature as a variant of sharps or flats on the C major scale, perhaps we should consider each key signature as a seperate entity? Thus, a B-flat in the B-flat major scale would be considered the natural B in that scale. Flatting the "B-flat" would designate an "A-natural" in the standard system. Sounds bad on paper, but in practice? I think key signatures SHOULD all be considered seperate entities. Perhaps harmonic, melodic, and natural minor scales would be a problem in this system, however.

I guess it's a question of persepctive, conditioning and training - which some might simply call brainwashing! - but I find the notation system that is in common use to write what composers want to express in music with the instruments that have evolved to what they are, an extremely efficient system.

Regards,

well, i took a completely different approach and still found considerable success. i would try to sightread relatively hard music (beethoven sonatas, for example) and just work through them, never stopping, and faking when necessary. this helped me to a point where i dont have to fake much anymore. i mean, sightreading to me is a skill that is mainly good for gigs, and in gigs if you dont know how to fake music then you have to learn it all, which takes a lotta time.

I always find the sightreading threads interesting, probably because for me my sightreading is a skill I'm working to improve. There's a reason sightreading is a difficult skill to develop, it requires growing new synapses in the brain, i.e. new connections. Only by working on it consistently does one develop this ability and yes it takes time, actually many years. So for a student whose been studying for only a year any progress is a good thing.

Someone suggested reading music you've heard recordings of and another suggested reading music you were very familiar with. This is helpful for knowing when you've played incorrectly and will not impact the utility of the exercise in growing new synapses. Ultimately however when it comes to learning music you'll need to work out fingerings and analyze the music. This involves careful consideration of every note and phrase. As others have already posted reading and learning music are two very different things.

In my sightreading practice I've found a good number of pieces I'd like to learn. Too many in fact to actually learn them. So when does one go back and actually start learning new music? I know, I know, when you have time and/or inclination, my problem is I have a lot of pieces I know pretty well and I'd like to keep polishing them, but I need some new music in the pipeline and I don't have enough time to do both polish and learn. What to do, whatb to do????

BTW Reaper if you can sight read a Chopin Nocturne I'd say you're doing just fine.

Hi Reaper,

I am an avid and excellent sight reader. I ended up this way by doing and doing, and doing! Part of the training came from having to learn chamber music under pressure. When you're given less than 4 days to learn a part, you learn to read quickly.

One of the things that helps, and this has been mentioned here in this post and other on the topic, is to play things that are easy for you to master quickly. They don't have to be grades below, but maybe just easier than your current level. For me it was some of the early Haydn Piano Sonatas. They were easy enough for me to absorb quickly, yet difficult enough to keep my interest.

Once you build up your confidence at one level, turn up the gas and go for more difficult pieces. These maybe Haydn's middle-period works, pieces by some of the different early Classical and Baroque composers - Benda, Wagonziel, Durand, etc. These pieces again have enough going for them that they will hold your interest.

Now while you are doing this, try to absorb the style of the pieces, and recognize particular patterns so you can expect something like this when it comes up. While working on a Haydn sonata for example, you should expect to see the dominant chord at the end of the first half of the first movement, and end of the sonata will be in the tonic in the second half. He usually will go by way of the minor some where, and through the recap end up in the tonic in the end.

What am I getting at here? Well learning and recognizing form and patterns. Know your key signatures and your scales and arpeggios inside and out. As you play through a piece for example, you'll recognize a bit of a scale. Instead of stopping to learn each note, you'll recognize that this is an A-major scale and get your fingers into the correct position. Whew, that's one less thing to have to learn, and you can keep going through the piece!

Later on, you'll then see a diminished chord somewhere. In a Classical period sonata, a diminished chord will mean that the tonic chord will be next as part of the cadence. Knowing this will help you get your hands lined up for the correct fingering so you don't have to fumble around.

Anyway this is all about practicing, recognizing form, particular patterns, and expecting certain things in situations. Really most importanly, the best thing to do is to get to know your scales, arpeggios, and key signatures. These will become your best friends while sight reading.

John

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