Sight-reading materials

[knucmo]

Dear all,

Recently I have taken up the piano. I say recently, I begun 2 years
ago. I am a musician by trade, but I wanted a greater understanding of
the piano so as to help me with harmony and virtually everything else!

I have made fairly good progress - I got Grade 3 and Grade 5 in the
last two years (Merit), and am making solid progress towards Grade 6.
I would like to improve my sight-reading though. Can anyone suggest
any materials? I know the principles, that is, avoid looking at your
hands as much as possible, practice daily, etc.

[A***@ramin.com]

Post by knucmo
Dear all,
Recently I have taken up the piano. I say recently, I begun 2 years
ago. I am a musician by trade, but I wanted a greater understanding of
the piano so as to help me with harmony and virtually everything else!
I have made fairly good progress - I got Grade 3 and Grade 5 in the
last two years (Merit), and am making solid progress towards Grade 6.
I would like to improve my sight-reading though. Can anyone suggest
any materials? I know the principles, that is, avoid looking at your
hands as much as possible, practice daily, etc.

I practise the pieces I downloaded at http://pianostudies.angelfire.com/
(for free). There are 48 pieces - 2 in each major and minor key - so I can
practise reading in each key.

[J.B. Wood]

Post by knucmo
Dear all,
Recently I have taken up the piano. I say recently, I begun 2 years
ago. I am a musician by trade, but I wanted a greater understanding of
the piano so as to help me with harmony and virtually everything else!
I have made fairly good progress - I got Grade 3 and Grade 5 in the
last two years (Merit), and am making solid progress towards Grade 6.
I would like to improve my sight-reading though. Can anyone suggest
any materials? I know the principles, that is, avoid looking at your
hands as much as possible, practice daily, etc.

Hello, and have you discussed this with your piano teacher? If you're
teaching yourself that's OK, but there's no substitute for a good piano
teacher IMHO, especially when it comes to getting better on that
instrument. Most of us just can't catch all those bad/inefficient
keyboard and fingering techniques, among other things, by ourselves.
Sincerely,

[Jarrett Gonsalves, Jr.]

Post by knucmo
Dear all,
Recently I have taken up the piano. I say recently, I begun 2 years
ago. I am a musician by trade, but I wanted a greater understanding of
the piano so as to help me with harmony and virtually everything else!
I have made fairly good progress - I got Grade 3 and Grade 5 in the
last two years (Merit), and am making solid progress towards Grade 6.
I would like to improve my sight-reading though. Can anyone suggest
any materials? I know the principles, that is, avoid looking at your
hands as much as possible, practice daily, etc.

Depending on how well you play and what music you enjoy, the
possibilities vary. Their is a website called www.classpiano.com which
has plently of easy music and tutorials. As for me, I'm a 4 year
pianist and I still can't read music. Though my advice might not mean
anything to you because of the fact that I can't read music, there is
something that you must remember...always play from your heart. Once
you do that, you'll find yourself no longer looking at your fingers/
hands. There's nothing wrong with playing by the music, but how I
enjoy playing is by learning to play the music the right way and then
play it my heart and make it my own. I wish I could attach a piece of
my music so you can see what I mean by playing from your heart.
Nevertheless, I wish you the best and keep on playing. -JG

[laraine]

Post by knucmo
Dear all,
Recently I have taken up the piano. I say recently, I begun 2 years
ago. I am a musician by trade, but I wanted a greater understanding of
the piano so as to help me with harmony and virtually everything else!
I have made fairly good progress - I got Grade 3 and Grade 5 in the
last two years (Merit), and am making solid progress towards Grade 6.
I would like to improve my sight-reading though. Can anyone suggest
any materials? I know the principles, that is, avoid looking at your
hands as much as possible, practice daily, etc.

I think one ought to look forward to sightreading.

What I do is try out is new music that I'm curious
about. You might find some if you've acquired
music books over the years.

I don't see why you shouldn't look at your hands.

C.

[Unclefred]

Post by laraine

Post by knucmo
Dear all,
Recently I have taken up the piano. I say recently, I begun 2 years
ago. I am a musician by trade, but I wanted a greater understanding
of the piano so as to help me with harmony and virtually everything
else!
I have made fairly good progress - I got Grade 3 and Grade 5 in the
last two years (Merit), and am making solid progress towards Grade 6.
I would like to improve my sight-reading though. Can anyone suggest
any materials? I know the principles, that is, avoid looking at your
hands as much as possible, practice daily, etc.

I think one ought to look forward to sightreading.
What I do is try out is new music that I'm curious
about. You might find some if you've acquired
music books over the years.
I don't see why you shouldn't look at your hands.
C.

You should work towards not looking at your hands because you
need your eyes to be on the music. If your sight reading, your mind has
to be on your music and you can train your hands to know where the keys
are. It makes reading go faster and it keeps you from making yourself
dizzy and getting a sore neck bobbing your head up and down all the
time. When I was learning, (well, we never stop learning,...hopefully),
I would do that and when I looked back up at the music I'd sometimes
loose my place and have to stop. Not looking at the keyboard prevents
that as well.
If students have a problem with that, the teacher can use a
cardboard sheild that goes over the keys so they can't see the keyboard
at all and have to look at the music. Of course there will be wrong
notes, and that's part of the learning process. Once your hands know
their way around then you are free to focus on the music and your
playing improves.