Hi, my students call me Teacher Valarie. I'm a piano teacher, I gained an Associate Diploma in Piano and Bachelor's Degree in Arts. I've been teaching for 15 years and counting. It's my passion to teach piano to everyone. This post is about sight reading.
What is Sight Reading?
Sight Reading means playing the notes of a music score, of a song, of a melody, of a sonata, of FĂŒr Elise... given to you on the spot. The moment I give you a music score, you can immediately play it. It's like reading a book, you read the story aloud. It is a skill that many pianists nowadays lack of. Pity, because tutorial videos are available anytime and easy to follow. Not that music notes are useless, some of my students said they felt lazy to read because it is difficult.
The coordination of sight reading skill is:
(giphy.com)
- Eyes looking at the score, at individual notes. đ¶
- Brain analysing the position and which finger to play with, the length of the note.đč
- The correct finger playing the correct note, correct weight and correct articulation. đ
- Ears listening whether it is correct and move on to play the next note with the correct volume. đ
- Repeat.
That's how it works. That's how what works?... That's how we sight read music for piano.
How to Improve This Skill?
Here are some tools to help improve your Sight Reading:-
1. Magnetic board with music notes
(Picture taken in my own studio)
Yes, amazingly this was bought online and I managed to buy it around MYR25 (approx. USD$7). You may view your online stores. Otherwise, be creative! Make one with a cardboard and cut out some note shapes. You can memorize the music notes' positions. I always give quizzes to my students using this board. They like it very much more than drawing those tiny little đ¶ things.
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2. Mnemonics For Music Notes
(Google.com: stave mnemonics)
Just like above 4 examples, we memorize the positions by remembering the mnemonics for music notes. However, be careful because they might mess your head a bit. It is recommended to just choose 2 instead of all 4 to memorise. You can always change the words for the mnemonics. You may change EGBDF to Expelliarmus Griffindor Bombarda Dobby Firebolt (if you're a HP fan).
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3. Key Stickers
(Picture screenshot from Shopee app)
Also available online, one piece is included with all white keys, appropriate sizes with self-adhesive stickers to place on your ivory keys. This is too straight forward and too easy to explain. However, only use it temporarily, after you master Sight Reading skill, please remove the stickers. Let your muscle memory do the work.
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4. Use Apps To Help
(Picture screenshot from Sight Reading Trainer app)
The best app that helps with sight reading, I found, was Sight Reading Trainer. Each clef (for Right and Left hand) has its own levels: Beginner (5 notes), Easy (up to 13 notes), Medium (up to 25 notes) and Hard (all notes of piano). You may get many apps that promote Sight Reading exercises, however some apps have lots of ads, some loading consumes time, and some concepts were wrong and misleading.
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In conclusion
These are the contemporary methods that I'm using to teach my students the much-needed skill in musicianship. Without reading notes, your playing ends somewhere. With sight reading skills, your journey of playing music never ends, you don't even need me to teach you.
It's my Honour to teach you music but it's my Pride to see you teach yourself to progress. -Teacher Valarie