Sight-Reading Strategies

HI Chelsea,

Could you tell me who this course is geared to?  I would say I am an early advanced pianist (no late Beethoven sonatas!), and I don't need tips like a line to a space is an even-numbered interval, and a line to a line is an odd-numbered interval.  I have played tons of four-hand music in my day (I'm 72) and I am very  comfortable in that realm, but when I sit at the piano to sight read a solo piece,  I lose all confidence, and stop and start constantly.  My technical ability is far greater than my sight-reading ability, and I think it's a matter (for me) of instilling trust in myself to force myself and look ahead and be confident that my brain will remember what I just saw and actually be playing not what I am currently looking at.  Will this course be for me?  Many thanks, and sorry for the long-winded question.  Best regards, George.

This time clashes with the travelling time for a dance class on Rhumba.  However, I might plan to drive earlier to the dance class and then log into this session from the venue.

I am now 74 and am fairly ambivalent about the pressure that younger musicians have regarding sight-reading, which is largely economic in my view: fewer rehearsals are needed if your instrumentalists are expected to play a concert after one rehearsal where they sight-read everything at that single rehearsal.  Six weeks rehearsal for a concert is probably excessive but somewhere in between, say 2-4 weeks, seems reasonable.  It costs (much) more but the experience may well be better for the musicians and the audience. 

I say 'much' because a figure given recently at Saffron Hall in Essex, a local concert hall that seats 740 people as £120 for each seat at an orchestral concert.  These seats are subsidised hugely somehow as the top price seat is around a half of that cost!  

Wonderful timing, I’m focusing on sight reading at the moment…..I’m astonishingly hopeless at it! My difficulty seems to be the inability to read ahead, I’m so hyper focused on getting the notes right. As a result, It takes me ages to learn a new piece of music.

Hi,

I am a beginner, pretty ropy Grade 4 so could be an interesting challenge to meet all our levels ! I would echo what Jenny has said.

Hello Chelsea,

I have been working on my own through the Helen Marlais series of Sight reading books and have just finished level 3B. I have found it has made a difference in my ability to read music but I am looking for ideas to make my learning even better as i have not been doing this with my teacher. Thanks!

Janette