I've been a staff accompanist my entire professional career, so I say this without ego, but matter of factly -- I am an excellent sight-reader. If you really want to improve your sight-reading game, there is one general principle you want to become increasingly proficient at over time: being able to play without looking at your hands. End of story. Full stop. As a beginner student, my first teacher was wise enough to MAKE me play all my pieces like this -- she would cover my hands so I couldn't see them, keep my eyes on the sheet music, and count OUT LOUD, WHILE playing. As I got older, I made it a game to play without looking at my hands. And you can do this with repertoire you already learned. Play pieces you already know with your eyes closed, play them in the dark (turn off the lights), where a sleep mask when you play, etc. When you think about it, sight-reading is nothing more than being familiar with the topography of the keyboard, and reading rhythm in real-time. Best way to do this is to practice playing without looking at your hands. Whether it's music you're reading or music you already know, DON'T look at your hands. Learn what intervals "feel" like in physical space.
This is definitely an important topic that I didn’t cover in this video. I talk to my students about this a lot, especially the ones who have great ears and memorize quickly. We can definitely improve at sight reading the more we read music. Our brains are processing information as we look at the sheet music - like patterns and familiar concepts. Thanks for your comment!
I think it is wise to start sight reading practices as soon as possible while learning piano. Practice it every time and get to know the score. Reading the score by itself without playing it helps and playing the treble and bass separately and then putting them together helps too. Get to know your piano well and spend a lot of time with it. Master your muscle memory and don't look at your hands. Don't get frustrated. It will come to you in time. Good luck!
For me, interval recognition is the most useful thing for sight reading as that gets you through pieces quickly. No one is literally reading each note and then playing that note on the keyboard - that’s not how our brains work at this speed. The intervals also give you the feel for each section and what you should be hearing which is pretty important 🙂
I agree that intervals are key and you need to be able to identify them quickly. This happens with practice (like with the apps that I shared) and learning a lot of pieces.
Thank you - I learned the piano years ago but never became fully proficient as I was simply taught to master a few pieces each year to pass the exams... Now I'm relearning by myself, and I might dip into your videos too. By the way, you've been teaching for over 30 years? Amazing to think you must've started when you were just 18 months old! 😉💙
Thanks for your comment. I'm in the same situation. Took classical lessons for about four years decades ago. Just concentrated on a piece or two at a time. Learning more theory and chord work now. I want to play jazz and boogie boogie, which requires improvisation. It's a big leap from being stuck on the page. Best wishes for your progress and enjoyment!
It is good to find a RU-vid piano teacher that actually acknowledges how just how valuable software and modern technology can be these days. I use simply piano and love it. It is great if you can get a teacher too, I have had several for classical guitar in the past (I am in my 70's now). I love piano, but how marvelous it is these days to be able to use a keyboard and play different instruments or use backing tracks - even loop your own - for motivation, rhythm training and improvisation.
Thank you so much! Simply piano is very fun too! I’ve used the free version. From what I’ve observed, It’s not as thorough as piano marvel as far as giving you solid classical training but it’s definitely fun. And that’s such an important part of learning right? Keeping it fun and motivating!
It all boils down to linear melodic scale work (and intervals) and stacked/arpeggiated harmonic chordal function, along with rhythmic application. It’s not easy. It takes knowledge of music theory and application of that through continuous practice. Simply stated: it takes time. Like reading a book, excellent sight reading can be acquired - one “word” at a time with continual practice. Eventually, reading music and interpolating that music to an instrument will become easier. But honestly said, sight reading is a skill that is acquired only after spending enough intimate time with one’s instrument. So go practice and perform as much as you can!
What’s impressive about your teaching method is that you dum it down or simplify it. This shows your level of knowledge! Like Einstein said, “if you can’t explain it to a 6 year old you yourself don’t know it yet.” 😄 you must have produced a lot of pianists in your teaching carrier. Brilliant! 👏🏾
In my teens I would take songs that I knew and practice reading ahead of what notes I was playing. I think it helped me become a good sight reader. Later on I have become more of a clever reader and often just play the notes I like or the ones more convenient to play. But the techniques you mention are part of the whole process. No idea about the benefits of software teaching tools. The only software I would have had is the space invaders game.
Checked out the Piano Marvel program, got it and am really happy to find it. I'm a self taught, former pro musician now teaching myself keys. Never read very well, this is the program I have wanted all my life, seriously. So, thank you!
You shared a lot of great resources. Thanks! I've been taking lessons for 4 months and sight reading is very tricky for me. Actually playing in general is tricky 😂. But I love it.
I'm a beginning student whose first lesson was 45 years ago, but I had to quickly give it up back then and never really learned how to sight-read. Now with more time on my hands I've picked it up again, but I find that I'm back at square one and have forgotten everything I once knew. It's like music is a new language all over again. Simple things like "the Key of C Minor" (whatever that means); moving up 1/2 step; major and minor chords; practicing intervals and scales, etc. are all confusing to me. Only when I learn what these things are first can I then learn where they are on the keyboard, and then figure out how to play them. Thanks for the resources you listed - I shall be checking them out.
Thanks for your comment! I understand that some people won’t understand some of the terms I used in the video. You will learn these important concepts if you use good piano method books like the ones I linked in the description or if you decide to use the piano marvel software. Good theory books will also be very helpful. I like the “Basics of Keyboard Theory” series by Julie Johnson
by far the best video I've ever seen on the subject, full of practical and detailed advice. I will be checking out the apps and your channel. Thank you
Something that has helped me is to listen to other performances of songs I have played before while following along with the score and not playing myself. If it was one of the ‘harder’ pieces that took months to master, there was likely a point where reading the music happened less and muscle memory kicked in. By going back and rereading it with a different performer, recognition of intervals, chords, and rhythmic patterns becomes just a bit easier to see.
Thankfully there were no such things as apps to worry about when I began piano lessons in the late 1960s. However I did learn to sight-read which was jolly useful as i became a pro and worked well for 45 years during which time there was a heck of a lot of sight-reading required especially in recording studios. It's all far too, long ago to recall how i conquered the SR stuff but I can say that in those days hard work and patience were recognised as worthwhile unlike today's get it now philosophy. There are no short cuts to doing music well and properly. If you want an instant thrill learn three chords and join a pop group.
Thank you for the comment! I didn’t learn with any apps or special software either. But I would have loved the resources we have now days! It definitely helps to love your instrument and have a passion for learning a lot of music.
That is exactly what it is. No shortcuts. The only way to for improvement in playing piano is practice and practice. The same apply with sightreading. Start with easy compositions playing both hands, do it for enough time until feel you get it. In my opinion learning from some kind of software looks like it is a middle step. Go straight into it. Read real written music. No software will help you if you do not devote to your instrument enough time since we do not play only in intervals. You need to get used to the right fingering and follow the rhythm so counting is important especially on the beginning. This is the whole package and only time and persistent work will give you good results.
The software that I mention in the video is Piano Marvel and it is real music. It has over 20,000 pieces, mostly classical and popular. It gives instant feedback if you hit a wrong note or play the wrong rhythm. It’s a great way to accelerate progress. I’ve been teaching for 30+ years and have taught with and without technology. The new apps and software are truly amazing and fun!
Hopefully you got more from this video than that! Improving our sight reading definitely takes time and practice. There are people who are naturally better at sight reading than others but the more music we learn, the better our sight reading will get.
What a great teacher!! I love music and unfortunately, when I was young I was too bored to do exercise so they through me away from conservatorium when I was 7 (after one year). Now I am 64 and want to get back and learn reading sheets. It seems that your method will suit me the best. I play keyboards (Kaway grand, Johannus Rembrant organ, Korg OASYS and Yamaha Tyros 5) and now I have the time to really improve by learning how to read music sheets. it seems you give me a great hope. Thank you very much for that Video!!
I like to read easy things just for pleasure. And write songs with a couple of chords. Like my pop music… It’s satisfying to express yourself freely. Then it become relaxing to just work on a classical piece and work technically hours and hours.
I agree! I like to sit down and read pieces that are on the easier side and then I’m always working on a bunch of challenging classical pieces. Sounds like you’re enjoying the piano!
Amazing vidoe and useful tips! Of all thins I liked most is the part that explaining your thought process when you are sight reading. It helps me get a glimpse of what I should be doing if I could do it right
Love it.❤ Thank You for sharing wonderful resources and modern technologies. Subscribed. Unfortunately, the piano teachers whom I know use only traditional methods. You are not just teaching. You are learning together with Your students and constantly exploring.
Read a book passage aloud. Are you reciting aloud what you're reading simultaneously? No, you're not. You read, you comprehend, and you recite in this order. What you recite aloud has already been read and understood. Same goes for sight reading. What you are playing aloud should aready be read and understood. You should be scanning at least a measure ahead of what you're already playing aloud, like you scan ahead at the next sentence while you're reciting the previous one in order to recite fluently. Anyway, my 2 cents. Agreed about the Piano Adventures method books. They're very good.
This was so helpful! Thank you... i have worked on a lot of hard pieces yet my sight reading is horrible and i am going to change that. Thank you for the resources. I will download and grab some of the books. Subscribed and looking forward to watching more of your content.
I never learned to sight read.I play by ear! I love being able to play exactly what I hear on the radio and not some book that someone else written, which usually isn’t from the composer themself and therefore, sounds different from what I heard on the radio.
I wish my teachers had made me learn easy pieces routinely. Every three months, the program was 1 study+1 bach + 1 sonata +1 romantic/modern/folk, plus scales and Hanon. I was a terrible music reader but I had great memory, so I got by with it. Now in my 30's I am playing looooots of new music that arent very difficult for me but
Beautiful anyway. Also learning pop arrangements, a bit of jazz and composition. I feel that I play worse technically but I am a better musician all around
I notice that a lot of teachers have their students playing too difficult of repertoire. It’s great to hear that you’re learning a lot of music now and hopefully your reading is improving because of it. Thanks for commenting!
@@BRILLANTEPianoLessons Thank you for your answer! and thank you for your videos, very useful for advanced beginners and intermediates, which is harder to find content for. Best wishes from Spain!
Useful video well presented! Kudos! When I see the chord at 03:04, I see a first inversion Dm chord. With regular practice of inversions of all 24 M/m chords, the whole chord is read in one mental calculation (one chord) instead of two (two intervals)!
Thank you so much for the comment! Yes that’s a great point. Being able to identify Major and minor chords quickly is incredibly helpful with sight reading.
There are some good tips in there. I definitely will work to implement the ones that are new to me.Yours is the first clear explanation I have heard on how to use interval reading on the piano. I use it in singing, but never learned it for piano, because I learned note names instead, which may even possibly be detrimental because it is extra information, so to speak. (Maria Montessori talks about isolation of difficulty: you don't include extraneous information. If you want to teach color, you use cubes of different colors. You don't give the child a fire truck to teach red and things like that. In teaching phonics to my children, all seven in homeschooling, I did not teach letter names, but letter sounds.) However, I should note that not all of us are fond of apps or have a device that can use them.
@@BRILLANTEPianoLessons Yes, you did, although I value your video more for the ideas, like the 12 hand positions. Using a piece that fits into the five notes also makes sense to me. Thank you.
Yes it’s great for sight reading, ear training, rhythm and technique. It’s an incredible resource for classical training and also very fun and interactive. Obviously I love it!
I'm re-starting to learn sight reading for playing my guitar. I found the book: "1000 Music Reading Studies for Guitar" very helpful because it got me into a flow of playing. Before it often took too long for me to figure out just a single row of a piece. With that book it starts really simple and literately becomes more and more complex. How much do you think that writing music will help to read as well? ist there a method book for guitar you can recomend? Do you know if Piano Marvel also works with a Guitar (not a midi Guitar) Thanks in advance 🙂
Thank you for your comment! The book you’re using sounds great because it’s gradually getting more difficult. The most important thing is to keep reading new music. Writing music definitely helps you to sight read better if you’re actually writing the notes on theory paper or putting the notes into a software program like Dorico. I’m not sure if piano Marvel supports guitar but definitely go to their website and check it out. I know that the Simply Piano app does support guitar. Happy learning!
@@bh5606 It does work with acoustic pianos but you have to buy a special kit. It’s probably easier and cheaper to buy a midi enabled keyboard. Go to pianomarvel.com They have a lot of resources and tell you what equipment to buy. They have a RU-vid channel with demos too.
Really thank you for the tips! Most of the time I memorize the notes after identifying them on the clefs but I would like to enhance my sight reading skills. I think if you read and play at the same time it will not have the correct emotion. But I must be wrong! When reading and playing together there are so many information that I can't play correctly. Thx
Thank you for your comment! Yes when you are first reading a piece, it’s difficult to play with emotion. But sight reading is really about reading music for the first time. And if we continually practice reading new pieces, we will improve and be able to play increasingly more difficult pieces.
Thanks, great tutorial! I hadn't heard of those apps. I'd also recommend local libraries, they usually have lots of old sheet music of varying difficulty.
how do you approach the instrument? i.e., how far back do you sit from it, where do you position your body (belly button perpendicular to middle c), how high is your bench, how much drop from the elbows to the hands when they're resting on the keys, etc. if I play for an hour, my back hurts. So I feel I must be doing something wrong in my approach.
This would be a good video for me to make. You should be sitting on the front half of the bench and then you should be able to make a fist and stretch your arm out straight and touch the fallboard with your knuckles. Also when playing, your arms should be perpendicular to the floor or you can sit a little higher. Your bench may be a problem also.
💥 Could you apply these techniques on Scriabin prelude Op 11 # 8 ? It would be amazing watching someone sightreading it without looking at the keys. 🎉❤
Are you asking ME to sight read Scriabin’s Prelude and make a video of it? You can absolutely use the same techniques from this video for sight reading any piece. Thanks for your comment! ✨
@@BRILLANTEPianoLessons Indeed, I'm asking you to sightread it, if you can, but please, don't play it before you really record in realtime, so that we can appreciate your insights on how to better approach the difficulties of the piece. There's some difficulties, specially on large jumps, and with the rhythm. Another suggestion would be, if you please, try to sightread Scriabin prelude Op 27 no 1. This would be amazing to watch. Thank you very much and congratulations for the excellent lesson on sight reading. 🙏👍❤️
@@BRILLANTEPianoLessons Thank you very much. Yes, I love Scriabin music, specially the preludes, poems, mazurkas... Indeed, everything. But I also love Chopin, Liszt, Debussy, Ravel, and many others. 🙏👍❤️
Thank you so much! Both are Burgmuller pieces from his 25 Progressive Studies Op. 100. Action step 4 piece is “Progress” and Action step 7 piece is “Ballade.” There are a lot of fun pieces in that book. I highly recommend!
I notice that when you demonstrated the first few scales of the Bastien (which I just purchased), you didn't use the same fingering for LH and RH that is used to actually play the d flat scale (RH - 23123412; LH - 32143212). When playing the scale, we don't start with the 5th finger of the LH and the thumb of the RH. For those of us who are older beginners, won't this confuse the muscle memory we are trying to develop? Thanks for your very helpful video and recommendations.
Hi! I’m not exactly sure what you’re referring to but every scale has “universal” piano fingering. For example, pianists around the world will use the same fingering for the D Flat Major Scale. But we won’t use the same fingering for every scale and the right and left hand have different fingering. Maybe you can clarify? Thank you for your comment!
Sorry, let me try to clarify. When you said in the video that we didn't need to purchase the Bastien, you then demonstrated by quickly playing the first 5 notes of the next few scales, and started each one with the 5th finger of your left hand and thumb of the right hand, which is the same fingering taught for the C Major scale, but not what we would normally use when playing the D-flat Major scale, which is as noted in my original email. Thanks.@@BRILLANTEPianoLessons
Ahhh I understand now. I was demonstrating Major 5 finger patterns (the first 5 notes of each major scale). We use the same fingering for all 5 finger patterns but not for scales. Confusing right?!
Hello, the exercise you show at 3:07 of your video, is that an excerpt from the book you refernced "Magic Finger Technique? Thank you for this great video.
Thank you for your comment! 3:07 is showing Burgmuller’s Innocence from Op. 100. I don’t show any clips from Magic Finger Technique because of copyright issues but I do play one line of a simple piece as an example and transpose it to the 12 major hand positions.
@@BRILLANTEPianoLessons please learn me Sight Reading its very hard. 1 Concentration. 2 Reading. 3 Playing. Hère your are ? 💐 Have a good day Thanks for your smile See you soon....😃
Sight reading is difficult for many people. It takes a lot of time, practice and patience. The best thing you can do is master a lot of music. So choose pieces on the easier side. Your skills will gradually increase.
This video is jam-packed with helpful information. This is awesome! I've been trying to find different ways of teaching piano students and this video helps me tremendously. *THANK YOU SO MUCH!*
Awesome presentation. I struggle with sight reading, I'm self teaching myself so Its really hard to focus on both clefs at the same time and keep right and left hand coordination but I guess practice, practice, practice is the key to success.
Thank you for the nice comment! Yes practice is the key and learning a lot of music. We can all improve on sight reading. I’m still working at it after 40 years of playing the piano!
If you have a good ear, it can be a blessing and a curse! I recommend practicing pieces that you enjoy but have never heard before to work on reading the music. Also make sure you’re not practicing too difficult of pieces (that you find yourself memorizing as you learn). You’ll want to keep your eyes on the music every day until you’ve got ALL of the details learned like dynamics, articulations and pedaling. Thanks for your comment 💖
If I read an interval of 4 or higher, how do I instantly play the note without looking at the keys to see or count the distance? If the key signature has sharps or flats or I start at a black key, my brain does not know what that distance looks or feels like playing. I practice reading intervals with an app but I can't play it.
Thank you for your comment. The black keys definitely make intervals more complicated. You will get better at feeling intervals (even with black keys) as you learn more pieces. Make sure to practice scales, chords and arpeggios as part of your daily practice routine. That will really help you to navigate the keys better. I recommend using Keith Snell’s Scale Skills series that I linked in the description because they gradually progress and include all of these elements. It takes time and practice. Hang in there! 💫
Hello Thank you so much for this video. I'm an adult beginner, I've been playing for a year and a half now. So six pieces at a time. What is the best way to pick out pieces that will take 3 -4 weeks or 1-2 pieces that will take months? thanks so much for all of the resources I've purchased the books and downloaded the apps 🙂. Is that Magic fingers book for kids? or can an older Adult use it?
Thank you so much for your comment. It sounds like you’re on the right track! Everyone learns at a different pace. You’ll have to experiment with different levels of songs to see how long it takes you to master them. If you use Piano Marvel or the Piano Adventures method books, they gradually progress.
Thanks for your comment! I linked some books in the description of this video. Do you see those? The Piano Adventures series by Faber is great and they also have an accelerated series for adults. If you’re primarily interested in classical pieces, I like Keith Snell’s Piano Repertoire series and also The Festival Collection series by Helen Marlais which starts with the preparatory level.
I only find sightreading videos playing childish music. Well, I need to sight reading Scriabin, Bartok, Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff music. How to do that ? 😮😮😮
You can absolutely sight read classical works from the great composers! You just need to gradually work up your sight reading level. You should be able to play hands together on the first day and count when you sight read. Gradually work up your level of difficulty by practicing a lot and learning a lot of pieces.
Ah it all depends on how gifted you are! I do find that a lot of piano teachers give their students waaay too difficult of material. That can be so demotivating. I believe it’s best to learn a lot of pieces that you can master fairly quickly. It’s also important to challenge yourself with 1 or 2 pieces at a time that take you a little longer to learn.
Hmmm this isn’t about advertising. These are the books and apps that I personally use to teach with and I see great success with my students. I’ve tried many different method books and various technology over the years of teaching.
@@BRILLANTEPianoLessons Hello Brillante, I am a mature person, and can tell how it works nowadays. Kids and some Olders think that there is no life without apps and electronics and because they do not have any knowledge about "how" they are taking your advise to go by it. This is like a toy to attract learners. There is nothing better than the teacher explains, presents it and the student practice it. I learned piano for 11 years straight so I know exactly what it takes. Going by some app on the phone would be silly wasting time.... and whoever wants to learn the instrument do not know about it.
I learned to play the piano without apps and technology. I’ve also taught for many years without technology. I now use it regularly in my teaching and I see students progress so much faster with these new tools! They really make learning fun and enjoyable. But people can still learn the old school way.
@@BRILLANTEPianoLessons I remember "cracking the code" at the age of ten. It's the same as with reading language. It helps if, like both of us, one "loves to play"!
Yes that definitely can be difficult if the piece doesn’t have fingering. When you practice scales and learn a lot of music, you will naturally get better at fingering and it will become more intuitive.
