Master Sight Reading With These 6 Tips! |Piano Tips

In this video I share 6 tips that can transform your sight reading into something to be proud of. If you are willing to spend just 5 minutes a day, you can Master Sight-Reading With These 6 Tips!

Sight-reading is one of the most challenging skills facing the pianist and I think these tips can help anyone become a better sight-reader. Piano tips.

Tip number 1 is to sight-read daily. Even if this means only for five minutes, that's fine! Music is a language and like other languages it's very difficult to learn if it's not something you do daily.

tip number 2, don't look at your hands. Now this is the number one mistake that I see most people making.

tip number 3 Make sure to keep a steady beat. This is also a common mistake. Because half of sight reading is reading rhythms, it is very important to make sure that the rhythm is precisely accurate. In fact I think that the hardest part about sight reading is reading The rhythms.

tip number 4 is Learn to recognize patterns. You probably won't be surprised to know that there are many many recognizable patterns in most music. In fact many pieces follow predictable harmonic and scalar patterns. Being able to recognize these patterns is essential to becoming a good sight reader. If you have to look at every single chord and slowly figure out what each note is, rather than instantly recognizing that it's a C chord in 1st inversion, then it will be very difficult for you to sight-read Fluently. Recognizing chord and scale patterns is essential to being able to sight read fluently.

Tip number 5 is Always be looking at least one measure ahead of where you are Where ever possible.

Tip number 6 is Don't worry about the wrong notes. Oftentimes people are so worried about playing wrong notes that they end up stopping and hesitating constantly throughout a piece that they’re sight reading. This habit will make it very difficult to Sight-read fluently. Even if you only play half of the notes correctly, keep going!

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[oneirdaathnaram]

I think you really have nailed it down to the very most important pillars of sight-reading.
The message that the rhythm is half the music, is very wise and profound, I think.
Also: That it takes a long time and the need of daily, continous practice, is a very important remark, I'd say.
I am teaching myself piano because I want to be able to understand scores better. Gradually I'm getting better. Very slowly, though. But I'm getting better. And: It's fun, if I don't rush and keep it constructive.

[fightingforfreedom]

Great tips ! Sight reading is much more than only reading the notes. I just figure that out by myself after 39 weeks playing the piano. And you just confirm it.

[Maurice-xkzr]

Great remark (at the end of the vid) about how duet practicing can help one with keeping your focus on what's next / not worrying about a missed note. Hadn't thought about it like that. 🙏

[christianhwang]

Why don’t you have more subs? You summarized so many helpful things concisely.

Do you have a video on making scales sound even and buttery?

[jeanlucchapelon]

Bravo
It’s exactly right and that’s what I learn to the students and apply to myself !

[Alwpiano]

Hardest part of sight reading is rhythm - I agree. I listen to pieces first so I only have to deal with the notes.

[willostrand]

Clear, helpful, and to the point. Great editing on the video and it made me chuckle a few times. Easily earned a subscriber

[ikemyung]

Great tips, especially the last one. I think I learned to sigh-read by playing for choir rehearsals. Part of that is playing select parts (just the soprano and also, just the tenor part, etc.). This teaches your brain to be able to selectively focus on certain parts and "throw away" the rest of the musical texture. This automatically makes it easier to sight-read, because there is less to play, but at the same time, your eye is exposed to the whole texture. You sort of mention this idea in passing (play down beats) but this can be applied in so many different and really useful ways.
An idea I have used is to use a 4-part hymn or choral and just play the notes that occur on the down beats, but one voice per beat (ex: beat 1 play the bass note; beat 2, the tenor; 3 the alto note; 4 soprano.). Keep this going through the hymn, always looking ahead to the new measure and never looking at the hands. In fact, the teacher or friend can cover each new measure one beat 1 or 2, which forces you to keep looking ahead.
I know, it sounds almost tyrannical, but doing this for about 5 minutes can be almost game-like and is not so terrible.

[KevinRoddy]

Hey Craig! Good point about learning to read rhythms from a rhythm book. I’m both a melodic musician (harp) and a percussive one, and believe that all musicians would benefit from adopting either side into their practice. If you are a percussionist, take on a melody instrument. If you are a melodic musician, take on a rhythm practice by investing a in a small drum. I would recommend a darbuka/doumbek or a frame drum. One will find their musicianship greatly increases by doing both practices! By the way, I get a lot out of your videos because a lot of your instruction can be easily adapted for harp.

[Jamesdq]

Great video as always, if I may make a recommendation, can you make a video explaining the technique behind playing scales in double thirds? I’d very much appreciate it!

[washykhasera]

Thanks a lot, Sir Craig. Very informative to a novice like myself! A very slow sight reader here. I really appreciate the sight reading piano lesson. - Following from Nairobi, Kenya.

[KevinRoddy]

Hi…these are great sight reading tips for harpists as well! Thanks for this advice!

[AutumnSonderness]

Thank you, these tips are really helpful! :)

[PIANOSTYLE]

Good tips. Everyday sight reading is a helpful. practice. While watching, I had several Aha..moments. One was the illustration of straining to see the notes. Realized that I play familiar music without looking. As I watched your video; it occured to me that I should review the sheet music or book...before going to the piano bench. Especially review the ledger line notes. In jazz pieces, recognize
-7b9 chords, etc.. that helps to see patterns and understand the music.

[victoriairias]

It's so hard for me because my brain can't let go of the notes I played wrong. My body stops playing and wants to fix up what I did wrong... it hurts deep down inside to sight read not perfectly... so it's a battle, but I want to get better at it, and I know I need to work hard and not listen to my perfectionist self .

[EyesFoward]

I love Sight Reading even though it is difficult. I sight read for guitar.

[josephusk]

Very good tips and well-presented. Thank you!

[arnaudripoll]

Thanks for the tips!

How much time (approximately) did it take you to go from mediocre to great, and on average how much time did you spend each day sight reading during this period (accounting for missed days)?

[planetary-rendez-vous]

Not looking at your hands is WIZARDRY. You guys play knowing the piano by heart, given how large it is? Complex chords and jumps absolutely kill me.

[Gilloringsend]

Hi I love the ((possibly obvious yet not so) idea that a note is a letter and a chord a word.