Take credit and grow

State of  mind and commitment to grow

If you’ve made a flub especially one that really annoys you--or that you believe you will  keep repeating, never mind!!! Mistakes are human so learn to let mistakes go. Breaking a habit takes time and patience.

Made a mistake--should I go back and replay once I'm finished with the piece?

   If the mistake was absent mindedness then don’t re-play the problem area.

   If the mistake was due to lack of muscle control, go over the problem area very slowly and move your arms, hands fingers naturally. Think about what the lack of coordination was about; going too fast? Difficulty leaping? Crossing fingers, hands? Whatever the cause was, commit to learning to move your hands and arms better.

    Moving along and growing

Concentration, focus. Know what you know, learn what you don’t is a forever job. It’s nice to have something for tomorrow!

In the weeds

Tricks and concessions to make before (or after)
the wheels come off the cart

Warming up. As with many things in life, when you start a sight reading session, remember that you need a few minutes to warm up. Consider your first efforts to be just that--a warm up as you refocus your attention to music.

Exclude some notes if you need to. Keep moving forward (after finishing go back to the trouble area and sight read only the trouble spot-go very slowly and focus on your muscle movement--easy and comfortable).

Slow down. It’s ok to slow down once you have started a piece. Slow down and count out loud.

Spoiler Alert/Use it in your favor. Each musical composition has a more complicated part involving modulation or chromaticism, whether it is a measure or several measures long. It is often located two thirds of the way through a composition. Knowing this you can be prepared for the inevitable.

Switch to playing one hand, until you are comfortable then re-introduce the hand you stopped using once you are able to.

Keep going,  do whatever it takes to keep going until you have finished the piece.

          More on leaving notes out...

Deciding to leave notes out: is just fine, perfectly legal,

not a crisis. It happens.

  Here are some common circumstances in which leaving notes out occurs. Sight reading often means adapt!

Shared note/s between hands, when the right and left hand share a note/notes learn to let the right hand play, not the left.

Thumb passages; when the thumb has several notes to play in succession. The thumb is not a leader. Learn not to be surprised when it does have a starring role, adjust for this.

Wide leaps often in the bass as an accompaniment. A coordination problem.

Arm crossing left over right, or right over left. An unusual circumstance.

Hands in the same area, over/under one another

When the bass clef (left hand) musical line moves to and is written in the treble, the the treble (right hand) to the bass clef

Reading syncopated music

           Disonance --when it doesn’t sound right and distracts you from your sight reading. Bach, temperament, early music.



A few thoughts on sight reading Bach's keyboard music:

             Bach--tap or count as you go the division of the beat that you can manage to sight read. Count it as a beat, don’t bother counting the division whatever it might be. Leave note note out if you have to, drop a hand and bring it back in. Bach wrote the most difficulty music on all levels, and he wrote the music of his time; contrapuntal. For the keyboard that means that both hands take on near equal leading roles--it can be hard to play for these reasons. Definitely go slow.

Reading ahead: a beat, a measure? It depends.

Reading ahead is essential, but it is up to you to decide how much ahead works for you.

Some skim read a piece before sight reading but if you are new to sight reading look for only the most basic information*:

*The key

* The meter

Unusual rhythm

 *Readability (print too small? Do you have good lighting? Always stack)

Phrases

 Repetitions and/or sequences

*Accidentals (and natural signs) not in the key

 Clef changes Look for small clef signs imbedded in the score

*High and low notes. Ask yourself,  are there ledger lines above or below the bass and treble clef?

 Key changes-- Key changes are not common, but when they do occur, the new signature is written into the cleffs, it is canceled by natural signs and the original key is restated.

Rhythm changes

 

    Cadences (usually every fourth measure, not always)

*The end. Is it the last few measures, or does the piece end elsewhere?

Nuts and Bolts

Additional practices to include as you make progress

Use these exercises when you are ready, they all can be employed regularly throughout your sight reading journey.

  Focus on staying confident, comfortable and moving with ease while not looking down at the keys.

  Practice tapping rhythm with drum sticks or hands so as to become accustomed to reading rhythm.

 Practice muscle memory and maintain fluid muscle movements--imagine how your hand feels moving along to the next note/s, interval. Not looking, sense the feel of it before you play, while you play, anticipate your next hand movement. Develop a relaxed style in your sight reading--this goes hand and hand in going very slow.

Wide range movement: practise reading waltzes, music where left hand has accompaniment role. Without looking, focus on arm and hand movement, the geography of the keyboard. Ignore mistakes, stay fluid.

Melodic and harmonic expectations: music sometimes does not follow an expected pattern, keep reading. If you are thrown off balance by a note or chord, stay limber, keep playing.

  Practice seeing phrases, repetitions, sequences, the unusal and unusual at a glance rather than one tiny bit at a time.  Music is always going somewhere (even atonal). Learning to see phrases or the direction of a musical piece is very helpful in getting better at sight reading. It’s like reading short form. We do it all the time in other forms of reading or interpreting.

    Start with simple music because it offers fairly predictable  phrases. Anticipate them a little, but keep your eyes on the page, looking ahead as much as you are comfortable. Take note of repetitions because you’ve already played it, so relax through the repetition.

As for complications--composers and editors do like to offer variety for children and beginners, so a phrase can take an unexpected turn. Learn to expect the unexpected; stay focused, eyes on the page, read slightly ahead of where you are playing.

  Enjoy your ride around the learning curve because it will lead to ever growing confidence so long as you look at your gains, accept your problem areas as a positive challenge.

  Look for small musical/and or rhythmic motifs that repeat.

   Reading intervals

Some sight readers say that reading intervals is easier than reading notes by name and scale. Of course you have to know the notes and the scales somewhat, and the intervals too in order to read this way. Because I’m now well acquainted with much of these, I agree that it is easier--the scale, note names, intervals are almost a second language for me.

   Reading keys

   Learn or relearn and continue to review all the major keys and their relative minor as you make develop your sight reading skills.

   Minor keys and modal surprises

   Pieces in minor keys are read by keeping the major key signature in mind (i.e. remember C major when playing in A minor. Accidentals will appear, but they do in major pieces so read the accidentals as temporary--holding only for the measure.     
   A modal surprise is one that happens if you assume a key is in a particular key, say, in C major, for example, because you see that the there are  no flats or sharps in the key signature. You realized it could be in A minor, but started playing figuring it would be either. Some music will be in a mode not belonging to either of the major or minor keys associated with the key signature. The presumed C major piece could be in the dorian mode (scale on d, no black notes) so be flexible about anticipating the key of the music. Keys can be cancelled within a piece, and a new key named. A piece of music can change to major or minor of a given key, become modal, or have chromatic changes that are quite fleeting. Try not to be surprised by change. Another strong reason to keep paying attention to music theory.

      No matter what happens in a key, keep the original key signature in mind. If you lose your sense of the key, keep going and try to recall--glance to the left hand side of the staffs where the key signature is written if you need to.

    Accidentals (alteration of a note) are introduced and canceled in two ways; noted or implied--sometimes an editor will not note the cancelation but leaves it up to musician to understand that whatever the key signature is, if there are no alterations noted such as accidentals or natural signs, then the measure is read as it should be, in the key already established.

Carry on

Good daily practices to keep in mind

Read music every day for 15 to 30 minutes or more depending on your comfort level. Progress takes shape one day at a time.

Recommended lecture on sight reading by a teacher show know how to teach!!!

Mastering The Piano: Teaching Strategies--Sight Reading and the Sight-Reading Checklist--How the Great Readers Do It!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yvdALo22ME This is part four of a series of 12 from this teacher and you may find yourself wanting to watch all 12 parts--it’s that good!

As you continue learning, never stop being curious or encouraging yourself forward

  Do the practical, but also look for  material that suits your learning style, your temperament.  If something really turns you off especially at the start, drop it and stick to what works best for you.

  Regularly review music theory --start at grade one if necessary, chords, intervals, harmonic progressions, types of cadences, kinds of music and so on. As you continue to review theory --don’t get bogged down trying to understand everything at once. For many of us, repetition and gaining experience is how we grow. There are numerous theory sources online for musical practice in recognizing intervals, notes, chords, scales, etc. musictheory.net offers a powerful set of self testing resources and it’s free.  

Don’t be scared of the learning curve-- there will be a lot of information and details that are new to you or that you knew but didn’t quite learn thoroughly--give it time, time, time.

  Reading notation is not cut and dry-- there is a learning curve here too-- interpreting the editors use of notation (scores are notated differently because editors preferences differ from oneanother and and because practises change)

 Bare in mind that even contemporary scores can be scored in numerous ways, so first glance over the piece of music before reading it. Take note of key, time signature, accidentals, highest notes, lowest notes, look for patterns. Old scores from the 1800s, the 1940s look a bit different than say something that is current--the notation might even be distracting to you--take a moment to focus before playing.

   And let’s not even talk about atonal music where old rules hardly apply-- because expecting to read atonal music  (unless it is written for beginners or you are incredibly talented) might be called torture. Stick to tonal music!!! At least at first.

Sight reading starts when you say it does

To begin, choose easy peasy

Start with a very simple piece of music--one note per staff in large print if necessary.

   Look for first grade piano music, children’s music, folk, beginner music and hymnals (if you do not have this music, search for free music online or check out your local library).

  Also you might find music books in 1. local thrifts, 2. used books  stores, 3. transfer stations that  have give-and-take huts, 4. junk and antique shops for inexpensive or free music books.

Free online music:

https://imslp.org/

  In choosing a piece, remember that if you cannot read music at all, then at first your mind will be occupied with many things--muscle coordination, focusing on the notes of both staffs, reading accidentals--don’t make it harder by choosing a difficult key or a complicated score. C major is good. So is F or G. Easy is just fine to start.

After you have chosen your first piece, set it in front of you and boldly begin.

   Go slow--very slow, count as you go--don’t look down. Play in a relaxed way. Slow-count-next measure, slow-count-next measure, slow-count-next measure until you are at the end. Done!

That’s it

The journey has begun

One more word about hymnals

  Hymnals are perfect for variety(styles, keys)  and shortness of pieces. They also include a number of relatively easy keys (you are not likely to find a hymn in C# or F#--Gb maybe but skip it if you have to). Avoid antiquated books as scoring has changed and you may already be so accustomed to contemporary notation to some degree, that very old scoring may be too distracting to read comfortably.

Modes and meter in hymnals

   

    

      
      Some hymns will have no meter, may be irregular and may be in a mode other than major or minor. Keep reading anyway. For meter, pay attention to the lowest common denominator (in the example above that would be the eighth note--if you count that as the beat, even though the meter is irregular, you will be able to read through the entire piece.

                Some hymns will change modes. Expect the unexpected.

               Also some hymns will have an unusual measure mark that can confuse the sight reader. Here are some examples:

               Hymn music notes are written for the voice, not standard keyboard notation.

Take a look at what you already know

Before you start

What do you already know? You know something...but what is it? Put it into words ...

Musical memory

   One thing that characterizes all of us (musical or not) is preferences. In our preferences are our memories. I’m not talking about memorization here, but what we prefer and because of that, what we have gathered into memory. What do you know best? Jazz? Popular? Folk? Classical? Baroque?

  If you like classical, then stick with that, because you already have a knowledge advantage.  If you like folk, find folk music to sight read. If you like popular piano, go for that. Broaden your horizons later on, because anything that makes your beginning sight reading uncomplicated, will help ease you into reading a greater variety of musical styles.

Muscle memory and physical coordination

Take note of when you are having a difficult time moving either hand in a particular way because your muscle memory doesn’t want hands to move in such a way. Go slower and think about how your muscles feel, think smooth, relaxed movement.

Pay attention to when both hands are struggling to play the written music due to a muscle memory or coordination issue. Again, to deal with this, slow down, think about how your muscles feel--imagine moving in a relaxed, smooth manner.

Review the Keyboard

   Do you know the keyboard by heart? Where middle C is? How many octaves there are below middle C? Above? Practice feeling the piano keys for all octaves. Once you’ve looked at the keyboard, look away and imagine the octaves, the white keys and the black keys-- use your mind’s eye rather than your eyes. What you don’t know is revealing in itself; because now you know what to spend more time learning. Keep reviewing the keyboard.

Do you know all of the key signatures? A few? Half? Nail down what you know.

   Sit at the piano and think about the key signatures. For each key signature that you are interested in reviewing, think about the white keys and black--how a key lays out on the keyboard. For example, in the key of Eb, sit at the piano and find Eb. Visualize, without playing the scale, what notes are white, which are black. Theory is important in understanding a key. Identify the triad of each scale degree. Understand which notes are in each triad.

   

    Introduce more keys--one at a time, after you have been reading for a while. Keep reviewing  each key signature as you introduce it. Not just as a scale, but review each chord built on each scale degree. Play each interval of the key as it is built from the tonic-2nd, 3rd, 4rth, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8ve. Play cadence sequences- I IV V I. Ask yourself, what is the dominant? Then play it. Looking away from the keyboard, play the chords and consider each one. Explore each key, slowly, and rely on what you already know to guide you forward.

Review Musical Notation

   Get acquainted or re-acquainted with the basics. Many who play already, and play well, or by ear, but say they cannot read music, actually can read music, though it is painstakingly slow, measure by measure-- playing over and over again while trying to memorize. Often one hand at a time, then together. If you were like me, you would continue to read the score after learning the piece but only look at the score for some prompt--mostly playing by muscle memory and memorization.

  If you are this kind of reader, then what you can do to start your sight reading journey is to choose the absolute simplest music. Go very, very, very slow and read lots of it for a couple of months. Add a hymnal to your sight reading selection when you feel ready and read only keys you are comfortable with at first. Read music well below your playing ability --that is perfectly OK. Feeling comfortable and confident is most important.

  

  Also continue to review musical notation and keep reviewing music theory (just the elementary stuff if that is where you are comfortable). Even when you think you know something by heart, still review and refresh regularly. This means read about staffs, ledger lines, notes, meter and rhythm, time signatures, easy keys only (C, D, Eb, F, G, A, Bb and leave the more difficult keys --C#, Db, E, F#, Gb, B, Cb for later after you have become more comfortable  in the simpler keys--they are simpler mostly because these are the keys we are taught and play from early on).

There are plenty of online resources--websites or youtube videos--for reviewing the basics of music. Try searching music notation as a topic in youtube or your browser.

              Three extremely useful sites about music theory:

              https://www.musictheory.net/exercises

              https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8yI8P7Zi3yYTsypera-IQg (produced by Music Matters)

      Another online source for beginners is Coursera--which offers a dozen or so music theory courses online--for free.

     Print sources are fairly easy to find free or used. If you prefer a hands on approach, use flash cards and musical notation books to learn and refresh your memory on music basics.

  

Main idea with theory and notation: review, review, review!

Patience is a virtue

The big picture

  Skill and time

   Learning to read music is a skill--a skill most people can learn and imrove on. It takes time.

   Patience

   Why must so many of us be so impatient about learning? Impatience really chokes up the process. Stay calm, patience works and makes learning so much easier.

   Practice

   Yep it’s often said and I’ll repeat it here-- ‘put in a little bit of effort each day to gain the experience which you will need to sight read music reasonably good. Fifteen to Thirty minutes  will add up to good growth over time.

    Benefits

    The benefits of learning how to sight read are 1.) you will be able to learn a new piece of music much faster, 2.)you will learn to keep going no matter what --finishing counts, and 3.) you will have access to so much more music than you do now as a non reader.  

    Reasonable expectations

    Please note--there is a big difference between sight playing and sight reading. Sight playing means playing a new piece very musically as if you’ve played it before--this requires a lot of experience, natural talent and/or acquired skill. Sight reading means playing from start to finish a reasonable rendering of the piece. This means reading the entire piece without stopping, dealing with mistakes, choosing what to include or leave out, if necessary, as you progress to the end, and, finally,  playing as musically as possible considering the the complexity or ease of the piece and your own skill level. A beginner shouldn’t expect to sight play--just getting through a piece is good enough!