Sight Reading Challenge and Tips

This month at group lessons we will focus on sight reading strategies For the studio challenge, I invite students to level up their sight-reading skills by choosing a challenge to complete below. 

Sight Reading Challenges

• New Beginners: 90% Piano Key Names on Tonic Tutor & Flashnote Derby Landmarks
• Play PedaPlus Notes or PedaPlus Intervals 5 minutes a day for 15 days.
• Sightread new music 5 minutes a day for fifteen days in a row. (Students can choose a new book for sight reading each week from my library).
• Play Piano Maestro Journey Mode until you complete the next "10" level (10, 20, 30, 40, 50).
• Sight-read 50 measures in a row with accuracy at lessons with your teacher. You choose the speed. Slow is better!

Sight Reading Skills

Super sight readers can quickly learn music they have never seen before by mastering several key skills.

Scan the music for patterns before you play.

Spot intervals, chord shapes and starting notes automatically. (PedaPlus Notes or PedaPlus Intervals Games).

Learn to look ahead. Your eyes should be about a measure ahead of where your fingers play.

Aim for the "speed of no mistakes," even if it feels slow.

The "RICE" tips from Kate Boyd in the video below are super helpful for both beginners and advanced students! 

RHYTHM - Focus on accurate rhythms, instead of "rewinding" to fix incorrect pitches. 

INTERVALS - Scan for patterns (intervals, chords, scales, sequences, etc.) before you begin. 

CONTINUITY - Aim for continuity by playing at a slow speed.

EASY - Choose music a few levels below what you are currently learning that you can play 80% accurately on the first try.

Anticipation

Marina on the Piano Keys YouTube channel shares some helpful tips about anticipation for more advanced students that can also help with sight-reading fluency and learning new pieces. She demonstrates each aspect of anticipation with some intermediate-level music. In addition to looking ahead in your music, it helps to anticipate the physical motions and audiate.

Visual Anticipation (2:10) with a chord progression (7:15)

Physical Anticipation (12:49) with hand shape cross and shifts

Musical Anticipation (14:00) audiation or singing (16:30) Twinkle

Sight Reading Games and Tools

PedaPlus Notes: Practice identifying note names as fast as you can. This skill is necessary for identifying starting notes quickly, but the best sight readers focus on interval relationships (steps, skips, leaps) instead of letter names. 

PedaPlus Intervals: This game gives you practice identifying intervals quickly. Level 5 and higher include the challenge of both minor and major 3rds. To tell the difference, think of the lower note as the first note of the scale. Would the higher note be in the major or minor chord in that key?

Sightreadingfactory.com: Generate music samples to sightread as you hear the audio. You can  customize the key signature, notes, and rhythms used and improve your skills by choosing specific key signatures you need to become better at playing.

Piano Maestro App: My students use this app during piano lab. For sight reading, it is important not to display letter names or use the "stop" feature for missed notes. Instead adjust to a slower tempo so you can play the notes with accuracy and keep the flow of the music moving forward. The sight reading exercises focus more on quick note identification on the keyboard so I prefer to just have students learn new music at a slow tempo instead.

Related Posts

Music Mapping in Music Lessons

How to Sight Read: Tips by Paul Harris

Adagio Play Slow Teaching Tip