Want to strike fear into the hearts of pianists great and small?… Spring some sight-reading on them!
My piano students are not what you might call “sight-reading super fans”. I am not what you might call a “sight-reading super fan.” And I’m guessing we’re not alone. I think it is human nature to find comfort in predictability and sight-reading is anything but predictable.
But there are ways to ease the pain. In a post earlier this year I discussed my FAST approach to teaching sight-reading. Today I’m going to build on that approach by giving your piano students 4 extra strategies to lean on when they’re asked to sight-read in some sort of time crunch. After all… if they had ample time to practice it wouldn’t be called sight-reading!
Students in competitions, festivals and exams are often given a short amount of time to look over their sight-reading piece before they begin to play. But even if my students aren’t going to be placed in these exam-style situations, I still have them participate in “time-crunch sight-reading” so they are used to being efficient in their score study.
So… once your piano students have mastered a basic approach to sight-reading, break out these four “mistake busters” to take their sight-reading to the next level.
Teach Your Students To Sight Read Accurately By…
1. Knowing what to ignore: With a need for time management comes my #1 rule… “Don’t spend your time looking at the easy parts.” So many students go over a sight-reading piece measure by measure from beginning to end when they should really be trained to zero in on the most difficult measures; knowing that they will be able to cope with the easier material as they play. This affords students more time to work out that which cannot be done “on the fly” as they haven’t wasted valuable minutes looking at what they already inherently know.
Try This! Before your students spend time sight-reading, have them quickly cross off (with a pencil) the measures on their page that can be considered a “gimme”. For most students this would mean measures with repeating notes, notes that step, measures where there is only one hand at a time playing etc. Physically doing this then helps them to mentally do it in a real-life sight reading situation.
2. Understanding tonic, dominant and primary chords. Having the ability to quickly decode the tonic and dominant of a piece, and therefore what the I, IV and V chords are within that key puts your students way ahead of the game when it comes to sight-reading. Understanding these “building blocks” takes the guesswork out of much of your students’ sight reading (and also generally insures that they don’t commit the most dreaded sight-reading error; ending on the wrong note or chord… nothing worse than that!)
Try This! Instead of practicing sight-reading in a traditional way, have your piano students look over a short piece and simply be able to answer questions such as “Can you play me the tonic of this pice? Can you play me the dominant? What would the IV chord be? etc).
3. Looking for the relationships between notes that leap. If your beginning piano students are learning to recognize intervals between notes as they play then they’re usually quite adept at sight-reading… until a large leap appears and their visual cues may not yet be enough. For those occasional notes that break free and leap away, teach your students to look to the relationship between that leaping note and what has come before or will come after. Looking for these relationships helps to give meaning to that note and will result in less guessing and inaccuracies.
Try This! Hand your students a pencil crayon and have them find relationships between the note that is leaping and at least 3 other notes within the piece. For example, is it a 3rd higher than the previous high note they see earlier in their score? Is it a step lower than the lowest note they will be skipping down to in measures to come? Circle those with “relationships” in the same color and discuss how they are connected in some way.
4. Looking for chord shapes in left hand patterns. This ties in with knowing the primary chords too, but go one step further by having your students be able to decipher the root of a chord by using knowledge of inversions. Many kids fall into the trap of looking note per note when it comes to the left hand. Knowing these chord shapes and patterns will make a big difference.
Try this! Give your students a pencil crayon and show them a measure where the left hand is outlining a chord. After discussing which cord it is, have them circle all of the chord tones in one color. Next, go through the piece and find all of the measures that outline this same chord and do the same. Switch colours of pencils crayons and find a new measure and a new chord and repeat.
Now Throw In Some Fun!
Having repertoire that is actually enjoyable to sight read is key. With a PianoBookClub membership you’ll never run out of repertoire to use as sight reading! Throw away those dry sight reading books and instead use music that will engage and motivate your students. For just $8 a month you can build a dream library of repertoire for every level. Find out how here.
Dana M says
I fell in love with Crayola Erasable Colored Pencils two years ago. I bought them for my stepsons for their school supplies two years ago, and two different “half sets” came home at the end of the year. I salvaged them, sharpened them, and now I have a complete set at the piano for students to use for score study. They are AMAZING because if a student makes a mistake, it is ERASABLE!!! And means more to the student when they can correct the mistake. I love crayons, but these erasable colored pencils are a gift!!!!!
Christobel says
In Canada coloured pencils are called pencil crayons.
SF says
Lol that is ridiculously helpful for me, let alone my students!!!!
Barbara says
I agree with SF!! I’ll be using these techniques for myself:) I also think these ideas would make a great “masterclass” or group lesson. Thanks!!
Cherilyn says
Great ideas! I am always trying to teach my students about patterns and relationships in music. These methods will help reinforce my teaching. Thanks!
Vicki Marston says
Great suggestions. My students sightread at every lesson, even the youngest beginner. However, I strongly emphasize playing with rhythmic accuracy, which is the most important element. So, we also look at the time signature and any rhythmic passages that look challenging and how to approach sight reading those passages. If you don’t play with rhythmic accuracy, then nothing you play or sightread will be accurate.
Melene says
I recently did this with my students: I photocopied a piece in a level 2 Faber and Faber book and cut it up into individual measures and had them sightread each measure one at a time in random order. Then I showed them the whole piece at once and it was fun to watch the light bulb go off when they realized they were one in the same. It helped them to see it’s good to take the piece apart when learning it and not tackle the whole thing at once. I love your ideas too and make sightreading a priority in lessons.
Grover Farr says
Thank you for some really great ideas about sight-reading. Also, thank you, Melene, for your post in response. I intend to try some of these ideas with my students.
Sandra says
Sight reading has always been super easy for me. And it has been reinforced by a lifetime of accompanying choirs (which I have been doing since age 10). I think that I was lucky in that my brain seems to work well coordinating symbol with sound. …I recognize that SR comes more easily to some students than others. I spend a lot of lesson time on reading skills. Sometimes this is SR passages, but more often it is using new pieces being assigned …looking for all those things that will make nome study easier.
An interesting side note: In the real world of sight reading in a choral or instrumental setting, sometimes other skills are necessary — like simplifying a bar on the spot to keep the music moving forward. A good working knowledge of harmony helps! Reading ahead is another skill. …a kind of multi-tasking where you can play one bar or phrase and make decisions about what is coming up. — Whereas SR for the purpose of learning a new piece, or to prepare for the SR portion of an examination requires attention to accuracy.
Barbara says
Love the side note, Sandra. Such good points. Why are we really practicing sightreading and how will we use it in the real world? I don’t think enough piano students are taught to play along with other instruments. Such a great skill to possess. Wishing I was better at it myself;) Thanks for pointing out that there are a lot of individual skills that go into sightreading!
Eleanor Baldwin says
Your best advice yet! If you want to have fun with the chord inversions, put whole notes on a large staff (Larry, Curly and Moe) and have the three stooges take turns sleeping on the top bunk.
Mary Beth says
Very cute idea!
Shari says
Eleanor–loved your idea. Here’s another twist–when I tried the three stooges in the bunk for inversions with two students, neither knew who the stooges they were. What worked for us was changing the notes to the three bears. Papa Bear was the lowest note, Mama in the middle and Baby Bear on top. Then Papa moved to the top bunk. Thanks for the tip!
Shari says
Thanks Andrea, Melene, Sandra and Eleanor….so many good tips here–affirming things I already teach such as looking for patterns, shapes and relationships PLUS new ideas I can’t wait to try! And Barbara—thanks for the masterclass suggestion. So grateful you all shared.
Brian Jenkins says
Those are all really great tips! I’ve always loved sight reading so sometimes it’s hard for me to relate when students hate it. I think for me I started really early with playing hymns at church. Hymnbooks are such great practice because you get four part harmony and hundreds of different pieces to play. So anyone can just open up to a random piece and start sight reading away.
I think when you get the hang of it, sight reading is really enjoyable. As a classical pianist I always envy people who can sit down and play what they hear, or just have fun with a progression. Although I just don’t have that kind of freedom, I do love to sit down and sight read a new piece, not have to worry about it being perfect, but still hearing some good music!
suzy says
Love these ideas and see many ways to use themfor learning a new piece not just Sr thanks for sharing your brilliance
DeeDee says
One thing I tell my students from the get-go is that Sight Reading is one of the really FUN parts of playing the piano. Seriously, what student doesn’t want to just grab a book of Christmas music or songs from the latest movie and just read through it, enjoying the experience of making music without having to struggle and practice. Sight reading music is like sitting down with their new favorite new chapter book and just ENJOYING it without having to sound out the words. We assume students will become fluent book readers and we expect they will enjoy it. Why not assume children will become fluent sight readers and enjoy it?
Andrea says
This is very true DeeDee! It’s important for sight reading to be viewed positively rather than with negative or “scary” connotations. I like your comparison to reading very much!
SarahM says
I have always loved sight reading since I began playing the piano at age 6. The new, unfamiliar and sense of adventure at starting new music is exciting to me. The lessons with my students often start with sight reading and it’s definitely a challenge to balance the sessions with things that are easy to read (so they build confidence) and things that are a challenge so their abilities can be stretched. Now only if I could get me ear to be as good as my sight reading. 🙂