Category: Sight Reading

Tips for Turning Your Students into Super Sight-Readers

2/20/2020

Today I am sharing this article that I wrote for the blog at Tonara.com.

If you aren't familiar with Tonara, it is a unique app with a variety of features that enable teachers to manage their studio and motivate their students to practice. Visit Tonara's website HERE to learn more!

I have a confession to make. Sight-reading doesn’t come easily for me.

Growing up, I was always a diligent practicer. I worked hard to prepare for my lessons, and I learned how to use my time efficiently to break apart my music and practice it well. However, being able to play a new piece accurately, at first sight, was always difficult for me.

While I don’t think sight-reading will ever be my forte (pun intended!), my sight-reading has improved over the years--thanks especially to doing lots of accompanying. However, my struggles with sight-reading have made me determined to help my students better develop their own sight-reading skills.

Read on for five tips I have found helpful for improving sight-reading, for both me and my students!

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On Sight Reading, Part Two

5/8/2017

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In my last blog post, I talked about the top three skills I think are most important to being a good sight reader.

Just like any skill, sight reading gets better with practice! Today, I will share a few ways I help my students practice their sight reading.

There’s an app for that! Apps are a fun way to practice sight reading. A few of my favorites:

Piano Maestro: with fun backing tracks and scrolling music, this app is great for helping students keep their eyes moving ahead in the music, keeping a steady beat, and playing without stopping.
SightRead4Piano by Wessar: this app is designed for students preparing for the sight reading portion of exams such as those offered by the ABRSM. My favorite thing about this app is that as students sight read each piece at the piano, the measures in the music disappear--meaning no going back!
Tenuto: although this app is meant for theory practice and not sight reading, I find the "interval identification" and "chord identification" exercises very helpful to work on "chunking." I place my iPad on the music rack and have students see how quickly they can play each interval or chord as it appears on the screen.

Short Term Goal Pieces. I like to keep students sight reading as much as possible by assigning them lots of short term goal pieces, so they are trying out new repertoire (and flexing their sight reading muscles) at every lesson. Students should be able to master these pieces in just a week or two. As a bonus, these short term goals are great for boosting a student’s self-confidence!

Just Duet! Duets are a fun way to work on sight reading. I like to have students sight read duets and trios at our monthly group classes (see my "Free Stuff" page for links to my free ensemble pieces.) Sight reading is much more fun when you practice with a friend (or two)!

What do you think? How do you help your students practice their sight reading? Please share in the comments below!

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On Sight Reading, Part One

4/30/2017

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It seems a bit ironic for me to be writing a post on sight reading, since I don’t consider myself to be a super sight reader! Growing up, I was always a diligent practicer, but sight reading did not come easily to me. Because of this, I have spent quite a bit of time thinking about the skills needed to be a good sight reader, as well as helping my students to develop their own sight reading skills. I can safely say that my students are better sight readers than I was at their age!

There are a few skills that I think are key (pun intended!) to being a good sight reader. Here are my top three picks--as well as ways that I help my students to practice each of these skills.

“Chunking” the notes. A good sight reader recognizes patterns in the music, instead of just focusing on one note at a time. Intervals, repeated notes, chords and inversions—spotting these can help you to read more quickly and easily. Help students develop this skill by analyzing their pieces, looking for patterns in the music. Theory worksheets or apps that drill intervals, chords, and inversions (like this free inversion worksheet available in the "free stuff" section of my website) are also very helpful. As an added bonus, students can sight read these worksheets!

Eyes ahead of fingers. A good sight reader always looks ahead at what is coming up in the music. Ideally, your eyes should stay on the music, and be at least a measure ahead of your fingers so you can prepare for what is coming up next. Help students keep their eyes moving ahead by covering the measures of their music with a piece of paper as they play. Cover each measure as students play the first note, so their eyes must always stay a measure ahead.

Keep calm and carry on. A good sight reader keeps a steady beat and doesn’t stop—no matter what! Help students practice this skill by having them sight read with a metronome, or by sight reading duets together. I tell my students that sight reading is about perseverance--not perfection!

What skills do you think are necessary to be a good sight reader? Please chime in below! In my next post, I will share more ways that I work on sight reading with my students.

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Tips for Turning Your Students into Super Sight-Readers

On Sight Reading, Part Two

On Sight Reading, Part One

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