Sight-reading piano
To sight-read well, check the key, the time signature, the range and any hand moves before you start; then keep the beat, look a note ahead of your hands, and let a missed note go rather than stopping. Read a little new, easy music every day.
Sight-reading means playing music you have never seen before, in time, without stopping. To get better at it: check the key, the time signature, the range and any hand moves before you start; then look a note ahead of your hands, keep the beat, and let a missed note go. Practise with a little new, easy music every day.
Before you play: thirty seconds
Take a short look before the first note. Ask:
- What key is it in? Check the key signature. In G major every F is sharp; in F major every B is flat.
- What is the time signature? Three beats or four? Is there a pick-up?
- What are the lowest and highest notes? Any ledger lines? Anything that needs the hand to move?
- Where does each hand start? Find the first note of each hand from a landmark, and any fingering printed there.
- What looks hard? A leap, a chord, a run. Look at it now so it isn't a surprise.
Then choose a tempo slow enough to keep going through the hardest bar.
While you play
- Eyes ahead. Look at the next note, or the next beat, while your hands play this one. The hand plays what the eye has already read.
- The beat comes first. Keep counting. If a note is missed, it is gone: come in again on the next beat. A steady beat with a few wrong notes sounds like music; perfect notes with stops don't.
- Read shapes, not letters. Steps, skips, chord shapes, scale runs. Only use letter names to find your place.
- Keep your eyes off your hands. Find keys by feel and by the black-key groups. Every look down loses your place on the page.
After you play
Play it once more. The second reading is the reward: everything you learned about the piece the first time makes it music the second time. Then move on to something new. A piece you know is no longer sight-reading.
What to read
- Easy music, and lots of it. Read pieces clearly below your playing level. Reading improves with volume.
- Different styles and keys. Hymns, folk songs, minuets, simple duets.
- Both hands, and each hand alone. When both hands are too much, read the right hand while tapping the left hand's rhythm.
Common mistakes
- Stopping at every mistake. It is the habit that most holds sight-reading back.
- Starting too fast. Pick a tempo you can keep through the hardest bar.
- Reading note by note. Look for patterns: a scale, a repeated figure, a chord shape.
- Only practising pieces you know. Memory plays; the eyes stop reading.
- Skipping the look before you play. Most sight-reading slips come from a missed key signature or a missed hand move.
How Octotune helps
Unit 12 of Octotune's adult path is sight-reading. It begins with a concept card on keeping going, then new pages of music played along in time, where a slip doesn't stop the page. There are rhythms at sight, pages in G and in F, and pieces played in time: the Minuet in G with its bass and Pleyel's Rondo. Because the pages are generated fresh, you never run out of music you haven't seen. From there, every song in the library is sight-reading practice. Open Octotune.
Next: Memory aids, and when to drop them.
Questions
How can I get better at sight-reading piano?
Read a little new, easy music every day, in time, without stopping. Before you start, check the key, the time signature, the lowest and highest notes and where the hands move. While playing, look a note ahead and keep the beat.
Should I stop to fix mistakes when sight-reading?
No. Let a missed note go and come back in on the next beat. Stopping breaks the music and trains you to stop. Fix things on the second reading.
How hard should sight-reading practice be?
Easier than the music you are learning to play. Pieces a level or two below your playing level let you keep going and read in shapes, which is the skill you are building.