# How is your sight reading?



## Sofronitsky

I've recently been experiencing a rapid growth in my reading ability and I'm just having so much fun with it. I was hoping this thread could serve two purposes: How good are you at sight reading, and how do you think it affects your playing overall?

Of course, you can elaborate further than the poll options but I'd just like to see how many people fall into each category.


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## Moira

There was a time when my sight reading was better, but lack of practice ...


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## PetrB

Between most things immediately but without the having to 'slow down' much, yet not anywhere near the Liszts and Saint-Saens of the world. Both would read straight from full score, transposing instruments 'n' all, playing a more than creditable reduction at the piano - and at tempo.

I was an accompanist for decades, the 'knack' of course allowing that as a profession: sight-reading is very much part and parcel of the terrain, including knowing what to leave out of some of the more non-pianistic orchestral reductions while leaving the musically critical and 'what makes sense.'

Typically, I take forever to memorize. Those who don't read quickly tend to train the memory: those who do too often don't.


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## Ukko

Because of a complete lack of the skill the thread actually inquires about, I am reduced to answering the thread title literally: Sight reading is all I know to do, not having Braille.

Now, please continue on topic.


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## kv466

All I can say is I'm glad I memorize the playing of music forever because I can't read and play to save my life!


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## Ravndal

Anonymous poll. Darn it. Who is basically "'Liszt" when it comes to sight reading? 

Definitely not me.


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## Praeludium

I'm not horrible, since I don't have difficutly to read the music in itself (as long as itn't heavy virtuoso writing, but since I'm mostly a beginner, I don't sight-read hard pieces), but I have hard times feeling "at home with the keyboard". So I tend to make stupid mistake when there are shifts and so on. And I cannot really sight read counterpoint (of course..) (by counterpoint I mean at least Bach two part inventions and such).

I think it's because I lack experience. So I try to sight-read everyday and I'm patient.


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## Klavierspieler

I'd say I'm somewhere between "I am decent" and "I can read most things immediately."


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## Aksel

I definitely think I'm better than I actually am, but I am rather decent. (on the trombone, mind. I'm awful when it comes to keyboardy things)


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## AlainB

I'm rather bad at sight reading. I manage to quickly read the notes, but not quick enough to actually play the piano whilst doing so.

Which makes me wonder: just how do you lot practice your sight reading? Is it taking a simple or advanced piece and using your hand at a certain tempo to force yourself to read on said certain tempo?


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## Meaghan

I've gotten a lot better at sight reading in the last year, thanks to accompanying last fall and also to sight reading lots of 4-hands stuff with a couple friends of mine who are much better pianists than me. Sight reading with other people is a lot of fun and makes you improve quickly. I sight read for fun on my own now, especially lieder (while singing along) and Beethoven sonatas at less than their proper tempo.

I got better at sight reading (and got to the point where I could be a decent accompanist) when I started forcing myself to keep going and stay in my chosen tempo no matter what. If I make a mistake, there's no stopping and playing the passage over - it's not like other kinds of practicing. That's why sight reading with others helped me so much. It made me stick to these rules.

What PetrB says about people being good at _either_ sightreading or memorization definitely holds true in my experience. I memorize pretty slowly. I know several people who do not sight read as well as I do but memorize much faster.


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## Klavierspieler

My sightreading improved when a former teacher made me start playing no faster than I could make no more than two mistakes per page (there's something wrong with that sentence but whatever). I also started setting a period of practice aside (sometimes) to sightread.


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## Ramako

Well tbh I'm about as good at sight-reading as I am at playing nowadays. I stopped studying my instrument (piano) properly some time ago. This by no means implies that I don't play the piano - I use it in composing, and spend a lot of time improvising - but I just don't have the patience to sit and practice a piece. Yeah yeah, I know it's a good thing to do, perhaps I will acquire it. Still I was pleasantly surprised to find that after some time of reading very little music I could quite competently sight-read some of the 48, from there I moved to Haydn sonatas and loved playing these. For me it is the melodic parts that I find more difficult to play, but hopefully this will change as I get a better grasp of melody in general.


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## Bas

I unfortunately have a physical disease which make it very difficult to play the piano (I do understand the music, but my fingermotorics are not fine enough). Which means I always missed the right notes. Sometimes I'm very disappointed that I'll never be able to play better.

My musical understanding, sight reading, is very good. I read along Masses, Opera's, Organ and Piano pieces, Symphonies and I agree that it is very nice to be able to understand the music at that level...


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## TrazomGangflow

Lately I have put in a lot more practice time and my sight reading may (for the first time) be ahead of my playing ability.


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## Norse

I chose the next to best option, but I'm probably somewhere between that one and the middle one. It also makes a big difference wether it's something I've heard before or not, but then maybe it's not strictly speaking sight reading anymore..


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

Ravndal said:


> Anonymous poll. Darn it. Who is basically "'Liszt" when it comes to sight reading?
> 
> Definitely not me.


Ah yes, that was me.


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## BurningDesire

for me the difficulty is in sight-reading chords and contrapuntal lines. I can sight-read things on horn and guitar pretty well, but most piano music is very difficult for me sight-reading.


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## Humidor

So I guess the real question is what is the fastest and best way to significantly improve sight-reading? and with what materials?


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## RonP

I'm just starting at reading, so I'm pretty horrible. I'm better than i was 6 months ago, but nowhere near decent.


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## Turangalîla

I am only excellent on piano and oboe (this is why collaborative work is one of my favourite things to do). I can sightread classical guitar _painfully_ slowly, but I can play nothing else.


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## clavichorder

Oh you know, somewhere in between AWFUL and DECENT.


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## Avengeil

Humidor said:


> So I guess the real question is what is the fastest and best way to significantly improve sight-reading? and with what materials?


For me what worked was simply taking stuff out from the library and trying to play them without caring about the result...
Now if you are a perfectionist maybe repeat a difficult part or two even though that is not exactly sight-reading....
You can also try to follow music scores from some videos on youtube, I actually quite enjoy doing that.


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## Mephistopheles

I put "decent", but I'm worse at sight reading than I should be for my playing ability. I would enjoy playing a lot more if I was better at sight-reading, but I don't enjoy playing enough to put the time and effort in.


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## Krummhorn

Sight reading training was a part of my later keyboard lessons. It was in preparation for auditioning for church organist positions, where during the playing part of the interview, most always an unfamiliar anthem or hymn is placed on the music desk and the organist candidate is required to play it at sight ... and in tempo. 

I've never regretted that training and can still, to this day, sight read organ and anthem scores. My choir director at church appreciates that ability of mine. 

Once learned, it still has to be practiced to remain effective.

Kh ♫


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## Iforgotmypassword

I'm not that great a violinist.. but my actual playing is far beyond any ability to sight read that I might have. I can pick simple things up by ear pretty quickly, but sight reading only works when I've already got most of it by ear and just need something to fill in the blanks with.


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## appoggiatura

I'm very good at sight reading compared to my piano skills... My parents, both professional pianists, have TONS of sheet music and I like reading them for fun. I think that's how my sight reading became good. This is the fastest way in my opinion. Reading *a lot of stuff *for fun. 
It's a good thing.. However, I realized that it makes me 'lazy' sometimes. I know I have to study harder the difficult technical parts... I just go through passages quite easily and I feel less need to study because I can read it. 
Now that I'm getting serious at playing the piano, I'll have to study more


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## Rasa

This summer, I sat down and figured: "hell, I've played a series of Prelude and Fugues, and a Toccata, surely I can sightread two-voiced inventions by Bach?". Nope. Polyphony is hard.


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## dionisio

I have been studying piano and music reading for these last years.

I've always played music by hear (popular music) but there was a time when i realised i needed to learn how to read music.

I play normally little pieces (first movmt of Moonlight sonata or a couple os Mozart sonatinas for example), but it takes a couple of days (or weeks, depending on the score) to play it from the beginning until the end.

Because i'm a very anxious person, i had to start on Bach's Well-tempered clavier. It takes me weeks to exercise a prelude or a fugue. But the problem is not reading, is the playing. And when one plays Bach is like a door which was open to an universe of such greatness.

Also i try to exercise at least one hour per day (i'm very busy all day). So progression is slow. And also i play everything in Larghetto or Andante (Allegro is to fast for me).

But what excites me most is to read while listening to music. Sometimes i try to read conductor's scores.


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## Sonata

Just starting to teach myself how to read music.....I don't know that I will ever be able to truly sight-read since I'm starting so late, but I'll take any progress I get!!


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## dmpdmp

*Me Sightreading*






It took me about 30 minutes to play this circa 10 minute piece for second time. Sightreading is my strength, I rarely bother to memorize anything, as not being a performer I do not need to right now. Starts off well, gets worse lol.


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## Sonata

well, I have to say that I am better than I thought I'd be. I'm only sight reading simple piano solo pieces, but since I can only play simple pieces it's fine. That's been my biggest area of practie so far.


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## Head_case

I can sightread absolutely brilliantly - when playing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star; Three Blind Mice; Pease Pudding Hot, Pease Pudding Cold. Jingle Bells might be a push for 4/4 tempo but I can get there like a virtuoso beginner 

That's on xylophone 

On my preferred instrument, the flute, I can sightread most things, except those awful Russian minor harmonic scales which has about 6 flats. My tempo is always idiosyncratic. I play fast when the coffee machine is ready; I play even faster after drinking coffee; I play slow in the mornings, and when the music is difficult. 

Grief. What a mess. I'm better off practicing a piece properly than sightreading lol


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## obwan

I'm in the 'I am pretty awful and can only sight read simple music' category. but i should say that my reading ability aproved significantly after having picked up the trombone. Before I picked up trombone, i could 'read' both treble and bass cleff but only 'sight read' simple melodies in treble cleff. Now my treble and bass cleff reading are at the same level and can sight read simple melodies with simple acompaniment.

I usually memorize my pieces, which has probably caused my sight reading to suffer.


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## PracticeReserch

This was a great question and the results point to a normal distribution. I am a bad sight reader but I memorize quickly - just like others in the forum suggested. It would be great if we could ask both questions of each person and see whether these are anti-correlated. If the survey cannot be done in this forum (two questions of each person), then I can do it with my own software.


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## quietfire

I think I am average on sight-reading. I don't think I have a good musician's ear, and have a more analytic and scientific personality, so I tend to rely on sight-reading to play a piece.


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## Bettina

I chose "I can read most things immediately, but have to slow the tempo down on extreme difficulties." Actually, though, I don't really slow down for difficult sections--it's important to keep the rhythm going. I simply skip notes when the going gets tough! :lol: I'm a professional accompanist, and strong sight-reading skills (and a steady tempo) are a big part of the job. I practice sight reading every day, in order to keep my skills in shape.


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## Pugg

I am decent, but take a long time on difficult parts, special pieces I don't like very much.


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## quietfire

I mean I can read notes, but it helps that I already "know" the piece, like I have actually listened to the piece quite a few times. Then sight-reading is exponentially easier.


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## Phil loves classical

Simply awful I am. I don't think I progressed at sight reading very much at all. Still sound like a beginner


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