How to Improve Your Piano Sight Reading FAST- 3 Proven Tips

(All my students use this app too! 😀)

Being able to Sight Read well on the piano is an essential skill for any pianist or piano student. Are you finding sight-reading challenging?

Here are 3 pro tips on how you can improve your sight reading now!

1. Stop Looking at Your Hands
2. Learn Chord Patterns
3. Play Each Chord Slowly

Let me know what you think in the comments! Ask questions if you've any! I'd love to help you out! :)

[jazerleepiano]

Do you guys have any sight reading tips to share?

[RafaelBergLopez]

Being a good sightreader open so many possibilities

[trashbin]

AHHHH THE DON'T LOOK AT YOUR HAND THINGS DID WONDERS FOR ME THANK YOU SO MUCH MY SIGHT READING SKILLS HAVE IMPROVED MORE IN THE 15 MINUTES OF DOING THAT THAN THEY HAVE IN THE LAST 5 YEARS

[plekkchand]

To save you time: Don't look at your hands when reading, learn chords by shape, go slowly.

[killerqueen]

When I see someone playing the piano without looking at their hands I can't stop thinking that it looks like a superpower they have. Who's with me?? 🙋

[aliciam]

I'm going to try these sightreading tips. I'll record my weekly progress to show how long it takes for an average sightreader (at ABRSM grade 5) to gain spacial awareness. Every day, I'll practise for about 30 minutes😊
Started: 2/7/20
9/7/20– I'm so bad now that I'm back to playing grade 1 pieces! However, there are certain jumps (bigger than an octave) that I'm sometimes able to do now– but I had spent months learning those certain pieces anyway. I mainly struggle to remember which note each finger is on, which is particularly difficult during pieces containing many sharps and flats. I just wonder how long it'll take for that not to be a problem😒
16/7/20– Been on holiday for a week so I couldn't practise😬
23/7/20– My playing is still far worse than it was when I was looking at my hands but I'm getting more used to playing this way. I've moved on to grade 6 sight reading.
30/7/20– I've been sightreading the grade 6 pieces I want to do and although I do occasionally glance at the keyboard, I feel much more comfortable looking away.
6/8/20– Not much difference
13/8/20– Not much difference
20/8/20– In certain pieces, I am looking at the keys quite a lot but still not as much as I used to. I'm definitely improving in sightreading due to the daily practice at least😊
27/8/20– Not much difference
3/9/20– I need to stop looking at the keyboard because I keep forgetting! I find rhythm's the hardest part of sightreading but I can read the notes much better😆
10/9/20– Not much difference
17/9/20– I've been sightreading my violin accompaniment pieces (slowly but pretty well).
24/9/20– I've been able to learn 7/8 pages of my G6 pieces in ONE ACADEMIC TERM!! That's twice as quick as it usually takes me so I'm delighted😆
So I'm going to stop updating this comment because it's hard to tell whether it were these tips that helped me improve or the increase in practice. If you've actually read this comment (or skipped to the end🙃), work hard and practise regularly you will see improvement!

UPDATE 2 YEARS LATER: Hello, just wanted to say, I'm taking my grade 8 piano exam this June 2022. I'd really recommend the idea of developing spatial awareness by looking at the keyboard a bit less, I believe it's helped me learn my pieces a lot faster!

[purrsolus]

Sight reading without looking at the keys is like typing without looking at your keyboard. Writing your own sentences is like composing your own music. Just takes time and practice. :)

[pilotsmother]

I sit and read both left and right hand notes, so I know the notes, in advance. Then, at the keyboard, I play left hand only til I know what I'm doing, and I do the same with the right hand before I attempt both hands at the same time. I'm only a year in, and slow as molasses..but I am trying!

[rebeccam]

For exams when you have to do a short piece (one or two lines) i find it helps to look at what the last bar is before you start so that if you do mess up in the middle you can always end it right!

[gothamelliott]

I was a "child prodigy"! Yes really! I learned to read music and play the piano at age 3. All that to say this: I sight-read so well that I never really had to "learn" my pieces. My teachers were always frustrated because I could just look at the music and play it! Of course that didn't apply to really complex works like Chopin etudes, or Beethoven concerti. But for the first few years it worked. LOL Another "hack" when you don't want to look at your hands, is that you can actually feel the clusters of black notes and see where the two-note and three-note clusters are, and thereby know where on the keyboard you are!

[uronlyafeeling]

i learned piano for more than half of my life already but i still have trouble with sight reading :(( thank you !!

[travellife]

Very useful information. I like the way Totoro is watching your every move. Subscribed.

[Agent.]

This winter I learned one new hymn each week, and yes! My sight reading reading improved along with my familiarity with cords!

[TommysPianoCorner]

I have always associated sight reading as an exercise for music you don’t know and probably won’t play again. However, I’m now coming to the conclusion that in fact it’s vital for playing things you want to be able to perform but won’t have time to mémorise. I’ll be doing some sight reading work this year !! Thanks for the tips

[dancassidy]

I have just retired at 72 yrs young as an RN with ptsd. Music is therapy.
I play bass in a band after years of singing kicking bass pedals (Hammond) and singing all by ear.
I am now studying and practicing on a Nautilus hrs daily
Thanks for your insight!

[TheSIGHTREADINGProject]

Sight reading is a huge push for me right now. Thanks for this video. I’ve only just started not looking at my hands. Hoping for results soon as learning a new piece takes so long without this skill!

[yukishika.yamamoto]

I agree with all your points, but would like to make some adjustments to it.

1. I find that it really helps to know my scales and arpeggios really well. Doing scales (e.g. similar, contrary, thirds, sixths, dominant/diminished 5ths across all the keys) helps build muscle memory over time.

If a student is able to play their scales/arpeggios quickly, confidently and fluently (with dynamic gradation if possible) without looking at their hands, they're more able to sight read without looking at their hands, since music is made predominantly with patterns that can be found in arpeggios in the first place.

2. I feel that the most important point in sight reading is identifying the key of the music first, and not to assume that someone already knows their keys. This should be the first point IMO because there's no point sight reading something fast if they're sight reading it in the wrong key lol.

So in my opinion, the three tips during pactise can be:

1. Identify key signature
2. (optional but helps) Play the scales, arpeggios confidently and fluently multiple times WITHOUT looking at your hands
3. Glance through the entire work first to get an idea of the general movement of notation/rhythm. If you can take note of its dynamic/articulation that's even better.
4. (To practise mindfulness) take note of scalic/arpeggiac patterns. They usually follow the fingering set in scales books.
5. Play at a tempo that allows you to read ahead (notes in the subsequent bar/s after the one you're currently playing) correctly, fluently and confidently. It will train one's mind gain confidence in note reading. With confidence, mindfulness through repeated practise over time is the key IMO.

(For complete beginners) Try the "Improve Your Sight Reading" book by Paul Harris. If you start from Grade 1, it is simple enough for one to not need to look at their hands.

[venkatvallabhaneni]

This was the first time I was able to read both the bass and treble notes at the same time, thank you so much.

[garden]

1. Don't look at your fingers as much as possible.
Position change without looking.
2. Really familiarize yourself with chord pattern. Chunk all that information into one block. Play chunk of pieces. Play hymns to recognise chord patterns.
3. Play each chord really slowly. Build correctly. Learn what these chords are until it stick in your hands.

[pgkrkkhtenus]

“Piano, right? When you look at this word, you see the word piano. You hear the word piano. Your not thinking… P E R N O”