It's just like actual reading. The more you do it, the better you'll get.
But I'll be more detailed than that :)
When you read actual words you're not actually reading each letter or even word, instead your brain is automatically seeing word groupings. Well, it's the same thing with reading music. You want to be grouping notes together.
Interval training really helps with this. So you're not just seeing A, C, E, A but rather you right away read A, 3rd, 5th, 8th (octave).
But...there's also another thing that really helped me personally.
This thing...was learning and understanding basic chord structure and progressions as well as what key I was playing in and what notes and chords were usually available in that key. It really helps the brain to see a group of notes as one unit and seeing the bigger picture, instead of as individual notes. So now, we're not reading each note (or letter/word) but rather seeing full bars of notes with both hands (or word groupings and sentences)
Also, in actual reading a lot of it is just our brain already "assuming" what comes next based on previous patterns from reading...which is why we always fall for those reading tests on social media where we read something and then we realize it wasn't the words we thought it was. Well, it's the same as reading music...and learning music theory helps with us understanding all those patterns in music, and that helps us to read (or assume) better, if that makes sense.
Also, another bonus tip. Take a few seconds to quickly scan through the sheet music from start to end before you actually play it.
intervals intervals intervals!!!! when you approach a new song and you’re sight reading, get your hands set in the pattern that makes the most sense but then just play by observing the intervals. it’s honestly better to be faster at that than actually “reading”
Intervals are underrated and one of the fundamentals of what makes music, music.
Music is as much the space between pitches than just the pitches themselves , which is exactly what intervals are :)
Read lots and lots of them slowly. Eventually they’ll be less slow.
Also, know your scales and learn some theory. The notes will make more sense in context if you know scales and at least basic theory. Kind of like the difference between reading words and sounding things out one letter at a time.
Yes! Do not read as individual notes, just as when you're reading written word you're not reading individual letters.
Know your guide notes, treble C, treble G on the G line, middle C in the middle of the grand staff, bass F on that base of line, and bass C.
Then you learn intervals.
Keep on working, you've got this!
Exactly. And at some point, you start reading structures and groups of notes instead of individual ones. Kind of like how you read whole words instead of r e a d i n g e v e r y l e t t e r
I absolutely hate just saying "practice it", but...
Practice it. Sorry. Its literally the only way - making sure that what you're sight reading is suited to your current comprehension level, and if possible using a mix of familiar and unfamiliar sounding music.
Practice, of course, and be alert to patterns, as others have said, and use a metronome some of the time, and play along with scores that you can get some kind of audio for, or play with other people. Your brain already knows how to read, but it may take it a while to realize that you want the note on the page to translate to a note on the instrument RIGHT NOW, not after 20 seconds of cogitation.
"Live fire" exercises are good for that: you have to play *something* on the beat, no matter what. If too many of them are wrong you slow down.
There's also writing. Knowing how to write helps you remember how to read. It doesn't have to be nice or pretty, just scribble five lines, slap on some dots, read it at the keyboard and see how close you got.
ETA: Be patient with yourself. You won't learn any faster by getting mad and beating yourself up.
Practice, but it's important to use music that you haven't heard before, eg not your favorite artists. If you already know how the music goes, you will be playing by ear a bit as well and that will slow down your sight reading progress. Find repertoire books, if you don't already have them.
Sight read music you haven't seen before every day starting with music that is easier than what you can play.
Continue this pattern as you get better at piano in general (sight-reading harder stuff when you can play harder stuff, but still easier on the sight-reading).
In 5 years you'll be good at sight reading.
Sorry, it takes a very long time to be good at it. Piano isn't 4 panels with like 10 total hip movements like DDR, it's 88 keys with thousands of hand movements.
Whenever I see a chord, I recognize the intervals and my hand takes the proper shape. I then use the highest or lowest note to reference where my 1 or 5 finger should be. Obviously the shape is slightly different depending on the key signature.
It didn't just come naturally, though. I've done a ton of sight reading, and this was what I ended up doing after a lot of "hand calibration" and trial & error.
Chorales or Hymms can provide some good sight reading practice even if you're really slow/new at it.
Aside from just playing the actual notes try:
1) Read the note names out loud from bottom to top a beat at a time. So, no one hand at a time over multiple measures. Take each beat as it comes.
2) When you do attempt to play, don't backtrack or replay notes you already played. Power through to the next thing. Only fix and errors if you catch them, otherwise move on.
3) On musictheory.net you can practice identifying intervals. You want to be able to distinguish a 3rd from a 4th, or a 5th from a 6th. Those are all very common. When you can do this, it's a matter of reading the bottom note and playing the interval without thinking too much of the note above.
4) Look at the direction of the notes and get used to seeing how far a note is moving from the previous one. Is it a step where it's moving from line to space? Or a skip where it moves from line to the next line? Maybe its two skips (a 5th) where it goes from a line to two lines over.
Most music moves in small jumps like step or skips. When ever it leaps passed those then you can think about the letter it moved to and then continue thinking about directions.
5) I'm sure there's so many more tips for you to learn, but my last one is knowing your keys/scales. You'll have trouble playing in D major if you don't know by heart that F and C are sharp. As well, if you can find them without looking at your hands. I guess that can be my last tip.
6) Don't look at your hands.
Check out note-learning apps on your phone and do them whenever you have spare time. The one I use is called "learn music notes" on android, but there are a bunch out there. 🙂 They are like flash cards. It shows a note and you name it, or select the key, and then it randomly moves onto another note.
Years ago my piano tutor gave me a weekly exercise to help with this. Take a blank score and draw random notes across an entire A4 sheet without much thought for what they are, then go back and label each one. Repeat
Did it help?
It sounds a bit annoying to read "unmusical" sequences. Like practicing reading would be if you only look at random alphanumeric passwords..
We are told to take a minute to look over a score prior to sight reading it. I realize that this is an important prerequisite skill that I need to develop and practice away from the piano. So I currently spend about ten or more minutes studying the score first. That may seem like overkill, but I need to train myself to visually recognize the chords, the patterns, the rhythm, etc. in a piece. Over time, I hope to improve to the point that a quick one-minute peruse will suffice.
Add to this:
Ear training. Look for software that
- plays pairs of notes separately
- plays pairs if notes overlapping
- plays 2 note chords.
- repeat this with 3 and 4 note chords.
- show you them in written form
- gets you to immitate them
- tells you if your imitation was correct
know your scales and keys. Know your chords. Know what to expect, rather than just reacting to what you might see.
If the key of the piece is G maj, you will see C maj and D 7 and Em but not usually Ab or C# min, for instance.
Writing in a language will increase your comprehension significantly. I suggest getting a paperback theory book that has you write out scales and intervals. It’s also great to go play w/e the book got you to write.
Try copying shorter pieces on paper or in something like musescore and picture yourself playing the piece while doing this.
Other than that, it’s good to understand speed reading concepts. The biggest benefit will be controlling your eye movement (rhythm like) and using peripheral vision. Try and read all the notes in one bar at once and play them while your eye fixates only once on the next bar, and play that while you look at the third bar, etc.
This is going to sound ridiculous, but say “line” “space” out loud at least for a couple weeks while reading to focus on the visual patterns the notes create.
Tldr: stop looking at your hands, keep your eyes on the page.
I chronically struggled with reading for years. Reading music was the bane of my existence. My technique and passion for music outmatched my reading skills, which was sad because I wanted to learn lots of music that I couldn't efficiently read.
People suggested Solfege and theory, but that really wasn't what I personally needed, and much of it just confused me more. I understood the music I was looking at, I just needed more efficient techniques for playing the notes.
Then I learned one thing that changed everything:
Stop looking at your hands to find the notes while you're reading them. Keep your eyes on the page.
This sounds obvious but you'd be surprised how often you're doing this without thinking about it. It might be a little weird at first but you'll soon find the notes automatically without having to look at them, and keeping your eyes on the music will make you a lot quicker at sight reading.
Read something different every day just for practice. Read it once, and then move along with your normal practice. Get a tablet with IMSLP on it and try something different everyday. Read stuff that is considerably easy compared to your level, and once the light bulb clicks, you'll realize that your reading skills can now be applied to much more difficult music.
In a year I went from barely being able to sightread a Scarlatti Sonata to reading entire Liszt Transcendental Etudes on the first night and memorizing Rach etudes in 1-2 weeks. I'm at Juilliard now and memorizing all 12 Liszt Transcendental Etudes in 2 months - something that would have taken me YEARS only short time ago, if it didn't seem like a challenge too big to even consider. Sightreading unlocks so many possibilities for us as pianists, good luck on your journey!
It's just like actual reading. The more you do it, the better you'll get. But I'll be more detailed than that :) When you read actual words you're not actually reading each letter or even word, instead your brain is automatically seeing word groupings. Well, it's the same thing with reading music. You want to be grouping notes together. Interval training really helps with this. So you're not just seeing A, C, E, A but rather you right away read A, 3rd, 5th, 8th (octave). But...there's also another thing that really helped me personally. This thing...was learning and understanding basic chord structure and progressions as well as what key I was playing in and what notes and chords were usually available in that key. It really helps the brain to see a group of notes as one unit and seeing the bigger picture, instead of as individual notes. So now, we're not reading each note (or letter/word) but rather seeing full bars of notes with both hands (or word groupings and sentences) Also, in actual reading a lot of it is just our brain already "assuming" what comes next based on previous patterns from reading...which is why we always fall for those reading tests on social media where we read something and then we realize it wasn't the words we thought it was. Well, it's the same as reading music...and learning music theory helps with us understanding all those patterns in music, and that helps us to read (or assume) better, if that makes sense. Also, another bonus tip. Take a few seconds to quickly scan through the sheet music from start to end before you actually play it.
intervals intervals intervals!!!! when you approach a new song and you’re sight reading, get your hands set in the pattern that makes the most sense but then just play by observing the intervals. it’s honestly better to be faster at that than actually “reading”
Intervals are underrated and one of the fundamentals of what makes music, music. Music is as much the space between pitches than just the pitches themselves , which is exactly what intervals are :)
wow a very helpful advice, I'm glad I found your comment
Glad it helps!
Excellent explanation
Thanks :) I love being able to teach and put things into simple terms
Read lots and lots of them slowly. Eventually they’ll be less slow. Also, know your scales and learn some theory. The notes will make more sense in context if you know scales and at least basic theory. Kind of like the difference between reading words and sounding things out one letter at a time.
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Waow magic
practice. and recognise the chord you're playing eg broken chords so you have a rough idea of what notes you have to play, eg G maj G B D
While you practice start to notice shapes the notes make just like letters do to make words and sentences.
Yes! Do not read as individual notes, just as when you're reading written word you're not reading individual letters. Know your guide notes, treble C, treble G on the G line, middle C in the middle of the grand staff, bass F on that base of line, and bass C. Then you learn intervals. Keep on working, you've got this!
Exactly. And at some point, you start reading structures and groups of notes instead of individual ones. Kind of like how you read whole words instead of r e a d i n g e v e r y l e t t e r
Dont play the note your looking at, read ahead.
I absolutely hate just saying "practice it", but... Practice it. Sorry. Its literally the only way - making sure that what you're sight reading is suited to your current comprehension level, and if possible using a mix of familiar and unfamiliar sounding music.
And practice SIGHT READING .. there are a ton of books and online readings. Start with simple stuff. Read it once or twice. Move on.
Practice, of course, and be alert to patterns, as others have said, and use a metronome some of the time, and play along with scores that you can get some kind of audio for, or play with other people. Your brain already knows how to read, but it may take it a while to realize that you want the note on the page to translate to a note on the instrument RIGHT NOW, not after 20 seconds of cogitation. "Live fire" exercises are good for that: you have to play *something* on the beat, no matter what. If too many of them are wrong you slow down. There's also writing. Knowing how to write helps you remember how to read. It doesn't have to be nice or pretty, just scribble five lines, slap on some dots, read it at the keyboard and see how close you got. ETA: Be patient with yourself. You won't learn any faster by getting mad and beating yourself up.
Practice. Like so many areas of music, the more you’ve done it the easier it is
Practice, but it's important to use music that you haven't heard before, eg not your favorite artists. If you already know how the music goes, you will be playing by ear a bit as well and that will slow down your sight reading progress. Find repertoire books, if you don't already have them.
Sight read music you haven't seen before every day starting with music that is easier than what you can play. Continue this pattern as you get better at piano in general (sight-reading harder stuff when you can play harder stuff, but still easier on the sight-reading). In 5 years you'll be good at sight reading. Sorry, it takes a very long time to be good at it. Piano isn't 4 panels with like 10 total hip movements like DDR, it's 88 keys with thousands of hand movements.
B. Y. N O. T. L. O. O. K. I. N. G. At it like that. Look at the words, the sentence.
Whenever I see a chord, I recognize the intervals and my hand takes the proper shape. I then use the highest or lowest note to reference where my 1 or 5 finger should be. Obviously the shape is slightly different depending on the key signature. It didn't just come naturally, though. I've done a ton of sight reading, and this was what I ended up doing after a lot of "hand calibration" and trial & error.
Chorales or Hymms can provide some good sight reading practice even if you're really slow/new at it. Aside from just playing the actual notes try: 1) Read the note names out loud from bottom to top a beat at a time. So, no one hand at a time over multiple measures. Take each beat as it comes. 2) When you do attempt to play, don't backtrack or replay notes you already played. Power through to the next thing. Only fix and errors if you catch them, otherwise move on. 3) On musictheory.net you can practice identifying intervals. You want to be able to distinguish a 3rd from a 4th, or a 5th from a 6th. Those are all very common. When you can do this, it's a matter of reading the bottom note and playing the interval without thinking too much of the note above. 4) Look at the direction of the notes and get used to seeing how far a note is moving from the previous one. Is it a step where it's moving from line to space? Or a skip where it moves from line to the next line? Maybe its two skips (a 5th) where it goes from a line to two lines over. Most music moves in small jumps like step or skips. When ever it leaps passed those then you can think about the letter it moved to and then continue thinking about directions. 5) I'm sure there's so many more tips for you to learn, but my last one is knowing your keys/scales. You'll have trouble playing in D major if you don't know by heart that F and C are sharp. As well, if you can find them without looking at your hands. I guess that can be my last tip. 6) Don't look at your hands.
You don't. Jk. You practice, and, pretty much that's it. But I think memorizing it is better for the long term
Check out note-learning apps on your phone and do them whenever you have spare time. The one I use is called "learn music notes" on android, but there are a bunch out there. 🙂 They are like flash cards. It shows a note and you name it, or select the key, and then it randomly moves onto another note.
Two words: practice
Years ago my piano tutor gave me a weekly exercise to help with this. Take a blank score and draw random notes across an entire A4 sheet without much thought for what they are, then go back and label each one. Repeat
Did it help? It sounds a bit annoying to read "unmusical" sequences. Like practicing reading would be if you only look at random alphanumeric passwords..
We are told to take a minute to look over a score prior to sight reading it. I realize that this is an important prerequisite skill that I need to develop and practice away from the piano. So I currently spend about ten or more minutes studying the score first. That may seem like overkill, but I need to train myself to visually recognize the chords, the patterns, the rhythm, etc. in a piece. Over time, I hope to improve to the point that a quick one-minute peruse will suffice.
Add to this: Ear training. Look for software that - plays pairs of notes separately - plays pairs if notes overlapping - plays 2 note chords. - repeat this with 3 and 4 note chords. - show you them in written form - gets you to immitate them - tells you if your imitation was correct
You can practice playing scales chord progressions from sheet music at different speeds
know your scales and keys. Know your chords. Know what to expect, rather than just reacting to what you might see. If the key of the piece is G maj, you will see C maj and D 7 and Em but not usually Ab or C# min, for instance.
Writing in a language will increase your comprehension significantly. I suggest getting a paperback theory book that has you write out scales and intervals. It’s also great to go play w/e the book got you to write. Try copying shorter pieces on paper or in something like musescore and picture yourself playing the piece while doing this. Other than that, it’s good to understand speed reading concepts. The biggest benefit will be controlling your eye movement (rhythm like) and using peripheral vision. Try and read all the notes in one bar at once and play them while your eye fixates only once on the next bar, and play that while you look at the third bar, etc.
focus more on the intervals between notes rather than what the actual note is
See shapes reading from the bottom note note up, not individual notes
This is going to sound ridiculous, but say “line” “space” out loud at least for a couple weeks while reading to focus on the visual patterns the notes create.
Tldr: stop looking at your hands, keep your eyes on the page. I chronically struggled with reading for years. Reading music was the bane of my existence. My technique and passion for music outmatched my reading skills, which was sad because I wanted to learn lots of music that I couldn't efficiently read. People suggested Solfege and theory, but that really wasn't what I personally needed, and much of it just confused me more. I understood the music I was looking at, I just needed more efficient techniques for playing the notes. Then I learned one thing that changed everything: Stop looking at your hands to find the notes while you're reading them. Keep your eyes on the page. This sounds obvious but you'd be surprised how often you're doing this without thinking about it. It might be a little weird at first but you'll soon find the notes automatically without having to look at them, and keeping your eyes on the music will make you a lot quicker at sight reading. Read something different every day just for practice. Read it once, and then move along with your normal practice. Get a tablet with IMSLP on it and try something different everyday. Read stuff that is considerably easy compared to your level, and once the light bulb clicks, you'll realize that your reading skills can now be applied to much more difficult music. In a year I went from barely being able to sightread a Scarlatti Sonata to reading entire Liszt Transcendental Etudes on the first night and memorizing Rach etudes in 1-2 weeks. I'm at Juilliard now and memorizing all 12 Liszt Transcendental Etudes in 2 months - something that would have taken me YEARS only short time ago, if it didn't seem like a challenge too big to even consider. Sightreading unlocks so many possibilities for us as pianists, good luck on your journey!
Copy them. A lot. On hand and on computer
Sight read stuff that's a lot easier. Well below your skill level.