How to increase your sight-reading ability

Sight reading can be very frustrating for the beginner. Learning to do several things at once - read the notes, move your fingers, count, etc. - and do it quickly is no easy task. Luckily, it is a skill that can be easily learned provided you have the determination to do it. You see, the brain needs to be trained to do all these things quickly and accurately.


So how do you improve on your sight reading besides practice, practice, and practice? Well, here are a few tips that will hopefully help you:

• Check the Key-Signature - Always check the key signature and make a mental note of them before you begin. A piece can sound totally wrong because you didn't observe the sharps and flats.
• Look ahead - When your fingers are playing a note/group of notes/chord at a specific point in time/beat, your eyes and brain should already be reading AT LEAST the next note/group of notes/chord if not 3-5 ahead of it. Think of it this way - how can you expect your brain to read, decipher, and tell which muscle to move, at what speed in the same instant you have to play it? No matter how good you are, there will be some lag. Less for the more experienced, and more for the less experienced.
• Count - Always count, whether aloud or in your mind (I would suggest counting out loud for beginners). If your timing is incorrect, the music wouldn't sound right and it would be that much harder to make sense of what you are playing.
• Start Slowly - No one is going to boo you for playing it slowly, but if you play a whole bunch of wrong notes in wrong timing.... well, you're up for a chance for more criticisms. If you play it slow, but get the notes and rhythm/timing right, then all they can say is "it should have been faster," but if you play a bunch of gibberish made up of wrong notes, wronte timing, and/or rhythm, then your audience may not know what it is you are trying to play at all.
• Don't make faces - Come one, no one expects you to play a sight readed piece perfectly. Don't be hard on yourself. Sometimes, slight mistakes aren't noticed. However, when you make faces (i.e. grimace) when you accidentally hit the wrong note, you call out the mistake. Can you imagine your audience watching you make weird looking faces throughout your performance? Not a good idea. Don't call them (your mistakes) out. Be confident.

When you have a feel for it, then try to add dynamics (the loud and soft). Start with just observing the forte/piano, etc. and then the crescendo/decrescendos. At this time, you can also try the tempo changes (accelerando/ritartando, etc.)

Sight reading is a lot of fun. Don't beat yourself over mistakes that you make. Laugh it off! No one is perfect.

I would love to hear from you about what you think about sight-reading, or to share some of your ideas on how you can help make sight-reading easier or fun! Tell me what you think.