How to Practice the Piano - Sight Reading - Tips for Playing Piano 

How ironic that he mentions Star Wars in this vid....

sight reading is (kind of) similar to typing. after awhile the input becomes intuitive and when you read the figure your hands just respond. I agree that keeping your eyes on the page helps, even though it is painful at first.

He reminds me somehow Luke Skywalker :´D he is great !

Sight reading is very much like touch-typing. You don't look at where the keys are as you've already memorized their location. Sight reading is then playing those keys at the right time--like a Pavlovian conditioning situation. This can be encouraged in the earliest students as most early pieces use only single hand positions. Have the student look at the music and look at their hands, then quickly hide their hands from view and have them read it in time, wrong notes and all. Do that a few times with them. The bottom line is to look ahead (your eyes should be looking at notes you will soon play as your hands are playing notes you already looked at, i.e. processed) at the highest and lowest notes and fill in the middle after. This will minimize the need to look down, not necessarily eliminate it. Great video!

As for practicing sightreading alone, choose music you can play accurately at a slow tempo after playing through no more than 2 or 3 times. If you continually miss notes in your reading playing over again and again the mistakes will become ingrained which defeats the purpose. In choosing reading music on your level, your level will grow.

Ur personal story is exactly just like me. I memorise the song and scales and play them in front of teacher but when my teacher asks me to play a new song by showing me the new notes, I won't be able to play anymore!!! @_@ Thanks a lot for ur tips. :)

Legend... 10 yrs later he still makes videos. I can tell how enthusiastic he is about it. Definetly a motivator :)

im self taught and never learned to memorize, only sight read, and your are correct about most people not noticing mistakes, so often i get asked to accompany with music far above my ability and i am so horrified at my playing but seems people seldom notice, the most difficult i did was accompany hindemith trombone sonata, way beyond my ability so i made sure i played the main note(s) and faked the rest, nobody noticed and got a standing ovation

It is important to be able to sight-read to some degree but... don't underestimate knowing a few songs from memory. Once went to a Christmas party. There was a group of people in the room with a keyboard and at least 4 claimed to have passed their Gr. 6 Conservatory exam. Not a single one volunteered to play a tune. They supposedly learned to play at an advanced level earlier in life but haven't touched a piano for a while. But getting a certificate for a Gr. 6 level but not able to play anything is a bit odd.

I can listen to you talk all day. Thank you for the way you convey the lesson. You have a captive audience.

I love your personal anticdotes because they were your wake-up call moments (makes me feel like I'm not the only that has "that" problem!). Your advice and tips are spot on and very helpful. Thanks for sharing your experiences and knowledge.

This is when I could barely sightread at all! I kept my eyes on the music and counted and kept my hands moving hitting occasional right notes - but throughout the entire concerto, I never got lost! Since that day I have gotten more and more of the notes and can read anything.

OK -- since I cannot play by ear, everything I do play is obviously memorized after months of repetitive reading of the sheet music. And I am VERY slow. It literally takes me months to learn and memorize something as simple as a Joplin rag. Something (WAY) more difficult -- like a Chopin etude -- can take me upwards of a year. So, I'm going to try his advice of never taking my eyes off the music no matter how many notes and/or chords I butcher ............and I'll check back in about a week from now with a progress (or lack thereof) report.

3:47 ----- Robert -- this always gets me haha. Every time I watch your videos ------ it always gives the impression that you were the main actor in Star Wars!

1. Memorize right hand (keep checking that you're memorizing the section correctly) 2. Memorize left hand (keep checking that you're memorizing the section correctly) 3. Put hands together (try to do it from memory the first time & do it very slowly) 4. Move to the next section (size of the section depends on the complexity of the piece, but each step for one section shouldn't take more than 1 or 2 minutes) 5. Connect from the beginning facets to take into account when memorizing: 1. Notes 2. Rhythm 3. Fingering 4. Phrasing 5. Expression (dynamics, written words e.g. rallentando, accelerando, etc.)

Another excellent video, with wonderful advice. Many years ago, I withnessed the great Hungarian pianist Agi Jambor playing with my friend Joseph Stephens, (sightreading) the Rachmaninoff suites for 2 pianos. Although she was not playing all the notes, she would play the melodic element to perfection, and added to it what she could, in rhythm and dynamics. Agi was probably one of the greatest performers for Bach, of the previous century. I have posted her recordings at my sight. Thank you.

What a fantastic man! Thank you so much to share these great stories that help us to understand how to sight read. Great man and a very humble and nice person. Thank you again!

Find an instrumentalist or singer and ask to see several piano parts to different pieces of music they play to find one that is manageable. You will be amazed at how happy people will be to have you play with them even though you may think you are doing a bad job. For them it's a rare opportunity to hear their music in context. So even if your part is not entirely accurate, it provides invaluable experience for them.

What's for dinner Dad? Wookie steak. Is it any good? It's a little Chewy. HAHAHAHA.... Alight, gotta get back to practice. May the Force be with ya'll.

0:30 ------- similarly, I am so lucky to study with you!!!!!! Actually - so lucky to learn from you. Thanks very much Robert.

"it's like in star wars when..." This guy is the greatest thing to happen to music since Bach. Bravo Robert great video sorry that im 8 years late

Thanks. Great inspiration and advice for someone who struggles with reading.

This guy is amazing! Thank you for these videos.

I can relate to this guy, great videos and very well spoken

LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS VIDEO! Great teaching style

Thanks for that, very cool approach and helpful insights

Firstly ,thank you very much. I was so into your story that when you had to play the proformance live only by reading ,,it scared the shit out of me in real life ! As a child I was never able to grasp reading music. Why ? I really don't know to this day.I am 57 now and in 1998 I played cello at the Syracuse Jazz festival with Walt Madox and never had a clue what notes I was playing ! I had the time of my life and got a great right up in the Syracuse news papper.God was with me for shure.

Great personality. This guy is so enjoyable to listen to. So transparent. 😀🙌

This is a very inspirational and insightful video. Thank you very much. I have a similar story to you in sight reading. I'm at a pretty bad level right now but your video was really insightful.

Thanks for the inspirational video!

Sight reading is very similar to actually readiing a sentence....i mean the alpabet in all,think of it,ts like learning new language,similar when youep were young your not able to read...but as grow older.with some practice you can no make some speech or somethin,yes SIGHT READING TAKES TIME TO MASTER But mm for i was really bad kid i mean i never followed my teacher,i just prefer my ear,now im learning to sight reading ,and it is great ..

What I got from all these story telling was that to learn to be a good sight-reader, you should just keep your eyes on the score, and keep going, even when you are making mistakes and not hitting the right notes. I am going to give this technique a try when I get home. Some of the most effective lessons do not necessarily involve actually showing it.

This was so good. Thank you for this

Thanks! Through this I figured I could possibly just sightread Grieg Concerto, although I still have to look down sometimes, but still, thanks! My sightreading skills have improved significantly!

I'm just starting out learnign to play been at if for a couple of weeks, focusing on my hands and getting my notes down, and I have trouble with this, looking at my hands and taking my eye off the score. I've got to get my eyes off my hands and your video really opened my eyes up to this as I wasn't paying attention to what I was playing as to the keys I was hitting, if that makes any sense at all. Just wanted to say Thanks for taking the time to do this.

Very helpful Robert! Thank you!

Merci Robert pour toutes ces videos très enrichissante !

Not just sight reading, but some good tips on accompanying, to boot.

Great video, great teacher!

At first I thought this guy was giving an annoying lecture, but It really summed up quite nicely

You have such a great disposition! Enjoyed watching your videos :)

Over time you will progress gradually to more difficult music. There is no substitute for playing with other musicians. The discipline of having to continue moving forward no matter what when playing with others is invaluable for developing your reading.

thank you for this. i've been told this before but sometimes it's not so bad to be told again

Reading notes is the same as learning another language...as you start, you would translate the words into english, word your response in english, and translate into the other language...similarly, when you start sight reading, you would look at a note, work out which letter/note it is, work out where that note is and play it...as you practise, eventually a bulb goes, where notes dont respresent letters, they just show where your fingers should be, missing out those middle steps

Thank you Robert from Australia 🇦🇺 please do come over and visit some time here in Australia. In a Australia the locals would say not only can Robert play great piano 🎹 and teach useful techniques and tips. He’s a genuine top bloke 😎👍🏻. I would agree and add a descent human being with the extra care wise caring people apply in life.

Excellent advice. Thank you.

I was sceptic at the beginning but that actually was great advice! Thanks :)

Ha, this is one of your better videos. Very much entertaining, and very helpful ;-) Thanks so much for uploading. Greetings from the Netherlands, Europe.

Really great video share. I noticed this phenomenon that you mentioned, naturally, myself. I am a real beginner, adult learner. Couple of things. Witnessed something 40 years ago when my brother was practicing with a garage band. The drummer kept stopping every time he was off a bit, and would kind of fake retightening cymbal stands, etc. After an hour the band (all friends) were yelling at him, "Just keep going!" Weird how that memory stayed with me until now, to try to learn a different way with piano. Second thing, I was practicing on something beyond my ability with a left hand that was just walking octaves, walk up 3rds, back down. I found that just getting the pattern of my hand movement up and down was more valuable in moving ahead, then I worked on actually getting the notes. So, I really have sensed, myself, what part of what you are saying is all about. The continuation is more important at times than precision. Thanks so much for the share - I started way back at the beginning of your series, as you can see.

your videos are amazing keep it up

Yes I overcame my inability to sightread on a decent level. It came to me in an "Aha" moment. I describe in a video I produced on sightreading how when my father was performing the Tchaikovsky B-flat minor Concerto at Carnegie Hall, he asked me to accompany him on the 2nd piano for practice.

Nice informative video,i know all to well about learning a piece left hand ,right hand on guitar and it does work somewhat I think after considerable practice on pieces that help divorce the bass from treble it becomes much easier,i know some musicians especially classical practice pieces for years literally of course forcing a piece.

good to hear, so good to hear.

You would be surprised at how appreciative instrumentals and singers are to have someone accompany them even if the accuracy is poor. What is vital is having sensitivity to their timing and expression. Knowing what key you are in so that you have some basic framework of the piece will help you achieve decent results. As you read more your accuracy will improve.

Thank you so much for the tip.

Great insight and stories.

Very sane advice. I would expand this to suggest that one practise all pieces not looking at hands. It is said that Richter heard Rachmaninov's performance of his own 3rd piano concerto, and decided that he must learn it blindfolded.

Excellent lesson

ya know i was thinking the same as above comments but he does make a ton of sense. This applies to after you have the basics down. I am horrible at reading but notice when having to keep up reading a piece the fingers work like typing. Should be easier cause the staff is layed out in a way turned sideways could coinside with keys. He does say try it, so..... Thank very much for sharing your time and knowledge with us.

Funny you mentioned start wars, I was thinking that you reminded me of Mark Hamil lol. Thanks for the training - I'm a metal guitarist trying to teach myself piano, this is useful.

To get a good sight-read, some piano teachers would recommend you try to read music in 1 eye scan from the bottom up (Bass to Treble). There are instrument sheet music that are easier to sight-read such as a violin or trumpet written 1 note at a time. An intro piano piece can be easy to sight-read when you have the Bass & Treble alternating just 1 note at a time. And then there are simple pieces where the Bass part repeats the same / similar intervals or chords over and over again (no surprises). You play 1 interval, you have an expectation what the next interval would be.

It certainly was a secret to me. Thanks so much. I keep thinking there is no way to play the upper and lower octaves without looking at the keys, guess the brain will manifest itself when I believe in the force.

3. My tips on reading as especially as I came from an orchestral instrument background, one note only at a time. I've been asking btw, for years, tips from advanced players. Here goes a) just like you learn to read English, read everything at your level, read read read! In English reading same thing, you read the funny papers, simple stories, everything you can get your hands on! b) While there is some benefit reading beyond your level, you must spend 90% of your time reading stuff

I consider myself a very fair sight reader with a good kinesthetic sense of the keys (I don’t have to look down when playing). My ability is based on experience and knowledge of functional harmony. However, faced with music outside that experience cracks appear. Recently I was asked to play a piece in C# major and couldn’t do it - but I can play in Db. Similarly I struggle with atonal music or that using unusual scales or tonal combinations. The music language I understand is functional.

That was very funny! And encouraging. I wish I'd been there.

wow! thank you so much!

haha 2:00 cracked me up, love the camera angle change. Anyway, great videos guy :)

Hmm... That's basicaly the same at the PC keyboard. I NEVER look to it, except when I'm using a different one and still don't know exactly where are some keys. I just keep looking to the monitor, with the hands (and body) in the correct position, and that's it!

This is true. My father, as a young boy, had to accompany his grandfather, a cellist, on the piano, and got disciplined to keep playing, whatever happens. So he had to keep going and became an excellent sightreader.

Great video! Even 9 years later

Of course phrasing, dynamics etc goes beyond that. And of course as you say, you must be able to do right hand solo, LH solo, then both LH & RH! Thanks again Bob! David

Wow, I found this pretty interesting. Coming from classical guitar I pretty much never look at my hands when playing. I think it makes me a much better sight reader than normal, but I tend to be more sloppy when actually playing. Thanks for the insight

Still have trouble sight-reading and usually relied on learning pieces beforehand thru memory. The piece I tried sight-reading was from a songbook "Hook on Easy Classics". In it was an arrangement of the melody from Schubert's unfinished symphony #8 (barely 1 page with simple L & R parts). Being a proficient reader takes time but you can play many more pieces. Once tried to play an arrangement of Contrapunctus Fugue #1 by Bach in public from memory. The audience thought I was a pro.

It happened just the opposite for me. I read the notes and then I look at my hands and I’m flabbergasted at how those notes look on the piano keys. Two notes look close together on the score but way far apart physically on the piano. So I have this disconnect between the notes on the page and notes as the physically appear on the piano keys.

Robert, from what I had stated before also apply to sight reading except it take less time for someone to get better.

The challenge with a book for sightreading is that by its very nature, you must constantly be searching for new material - otherwise it's not sightreading! I suggest browsing in a sheet music store (if you can find one these days) or online for music that is on your reading level. If it takes more than 3-5 times of playing the piece through slowly in order to play accurately, the music is too difficult. Once you have the pieces fluent, get another book.

'a big blur of black dots': that made me chuckle.

Thumbs up for the Star Wars reference!

So much truth here. When I started playing ice hockey I could barely stand up, let alone stop, turn and move. As I got more into the gameplay I stopped concentrating on the mechanics of the metal under my feet. Spent more time on that little black disc, the guy in front of me, less on the "how" and more on the "why". Musically I am a very average pianist at best, but I am ALWAYS glued to the score even with a piece I know intimately. If the score is not there then I actually tend to get a bit of a mild panic sensation. The score is my safety net. I cannot sight read well, certainly not quickly, but I hit more right notes when I am eyes-front than when I am eyes-down. If I take my eyes off the score then go back to it, as often as not I'll have lost my place. If I had a third hand to follow under each bar with a finger then I'd do so.

Very similar to when I had to learn a couple of songs for bass for a youth jazz band last minute. So stressful that I knew that if I took my eyes off the music, I would be lost for the rest of the song..

this guy is funny, but his anecdotes are very true. Still, sightreading is only possible if your hands can respond in time, that is, they should be skilled hands already.

Thanks for the tips, really helpful. The examples kinda made me laugh lol

Awesome video. Just for clarification, when you say you couldn't read music, you mean you couldn't sight read, correct? I assume when you say you memorized pieces in order to play them, you were not learning by ear? You would read a small portion slowly, memorize, and them move to the next section? Is that correct? Great video, thanks a lot.

you said "jedi" and "force" so i like the vid XD

As the presenter maintains, playing with someone encourages fluent reading. Duets are excellent for SR. A good place to start is from a fixed five-finger hand position. I use the six sonatinas from Diabelli’s Jugendfreuden Op. 163 - Four Hands Piano. Students learn to read rhythms and intervals up to a perfect fifth fluently. The secondo part, meanwhile, uses common progressions and modulations, making it ideal for the more advanced tyro to read blocks of harmony.

I strongly recommend that you play with other musicians - because when you are playing with others, you absolutely must keep going. It's almost impossible to discipline yourself to keep going when wrong notes are hit.

sir, it's such a wonderful tips, i'm a newbie in playing piano, the first piece i played is the minuet of J.S. Bach. And i tried other pieces but i can't apply the dynamics to it and i don't know how to apply the articulations in the piece. Please Help me. I am a teacher. and i teach music class, so i must know how to play the piano well. so that learning will come to my students

Hey Bob, thanks again for sharing your insights. That being said, here's my comments, please. 1. The video should really be entitled as "Some major s.reading tips for advanced pianists". So you directed this to people who can read yes, but having trouble as you once had. 2. Can you do a video for let's say intermediate readers?

To sight read well, do a lot of it. (Like anything). And know triads, seventh chords, scales so you can find the non-diatonic tones (accidentals) quickly.

What should a complete beginner start with for sight reading? I'm only about a month in to learning as an adult.

Sometimes sightreading involves reducing the score to its skeletal framework and fleshing out the harmonic structure rather than actually reading every single detail. You have to make intelligent assumptions as to what the score is saying when it's not possible to see absolutely everything on the fly.

I was fortunate to be taught sight reading right along with learning to play. I also like to memorize pieces as well, but I must use a different method than most musicians-I'm having trouble understanding how one can memorize a piece without being able to read the music. In other words, how does one know what notes to play and memorize if they can't read the music?

Hi Robert, is your dad still teaching? I’m on Long Island! Thank you you have a great yt channel!

Just stories no secrets teaching.

I’ve got an off topic question, if I may ... You are such a brilliant and talented performer of the classics .. But, do you ever play improvisational music .. such as *gasp* blues? Just wondering 😁. And thanks for your videos!

can you recomend for any sign reading book. I am intermediate and self study right now. i have hard time not to look at hand

Then, I work on the notes. I also use a pencil as a pointer following along as I go. e) The entirety of elements to read piano i) note ID ii) where the note is on the keyboard iii) being able to read all the rhythms iv) Reading all chords stacked vertically v) FINGERINGS! So in my mind, if you had let's say a robot, if you programed him to learn the prior tasks, he could read and play any sheet music.

Mr. Estrin, have you managed to get a lot better at sight reading since the time of this anecdote? I'm willing to do whatever it takes to improve (I honestly relate to your story, my sight reading is basically non existent compared with my level of playing, and it's starting to hurt me now). I practice close to 3 hours a day, and devote 1 hour to sight reading very basic pieces - will this help? Is there a more effective way?

thx

at your level. What's your level? To me, stuff that's so easy for you, it's almost boring and you can immediately read it almost perfectly. c) 2 types of practice i) very slow where you stop for each mistake and fix and ii) blow thru the piece with mistakes be damned as this will train your eyes for speed. d) My trick, I read thru a score entirely for rhythm reading, ignoring the note names. Just rhythms.