Improving sight reading when you've been Doing It Wrong...
October 4, 2017 1:49 PM   Subscribe

I've played one instrument or another since I was in elementary school. I've always been a lousy sight reader and I'm wondering if there's any way to fix it now, in middle age.

When I played stringed instruments, I just knew which space on the staff was which finger on which string. On piano (which is what I am working on now, so very slowly) I basically have to Every-Good-Boy my way up to the note, so sight reading is clunky to the point I think you'd say I can't sight read (piano) music even though I have zero confusion about what means what on the page.

I'm wondering if I can rewire this at all. It's been a very long time of Every-Good-Boying. Possibly it is to some extent an innate thing that you have or don't have, but I suspect only partly so. I know I'll never sit at an orchestral score and read it on the piano (I know people who can do this!!) but I'd like to be able to read simple stuff without having to do it note by note.

Pointers?
posted by Smearcase to Media & Arts (13 answers total) 15 users marked this as a favorite
 
So your issue is, you don't immediately see a note on the staff and know what note it is?

Maybe do some drills for a few minutes every day with a tool like this. Don't forget to explore the options/tools menu, where you can change to the grand staff (for piano), specify range, key signatures to use, etc.

Possibly it is to some extent an innate thing that you have or don't have
Not at all, but I suppose aptitude for learning varies., and it's probably easier for kids to learn fast.
posted by thelonius at 2:05 PM on October 4, 2017 [6 favorites]


I played oboe exclusively for 10 years (starting at age 9) and then started learning piano as an adult. Thinking "vertically" over 2 staves is rough when you've been exclusively a "horizontal" player. I still have difficulties with it 20 years later. (Why I just stick to playing oboe professionally.)

I suggest:

1) Drilling the clef you're less familiar with. No chords, just a single line. You can do this on your stringed instrument, if you still have it. Then drill going back and forth between clefs. I do this a lot with 4-part choral harmonies - jumping across staves between soprano and tenor parts.

2) Drill chords. Your brain needs to recognize the shapes of different chords. That'll make reading sheet music a LOT easier.

It's frustrating, but even as little as 15 minutes a day is enough to have significant gains in motor memory.
posted by Wossname at 2:31 PM on October 4, 2017 [2 favorites]


Advanced: Another method to improving reading skills is to learn how to transpose on the fly -- because that forces you to pay attention to *intervals* vs specific notes on the staff. Once you start thinking in terms of notes' relationships to one another, it's another method towards sight-reading quickly.
posted by Wossname at 2:36 PM on October 4, 2017 [2 favorites]


I had flash cards for my kids to learn sight reading, but I just did a google search for sight reading apps, and they do exist. Maybe look into those. Or flash cards if you prefer the old-fashioned way.
posted by FencingGal at 3:16 PM on October 4, 2017


You can definitely get better at this! The main thing you need to do is sight-read a lot.

I agree with the flash card suggestion. Just try to learn/memorize one or two additional notes per day. Two more suggestions:

1. Find stuff to sight-read that's just a smidgen too hard to read, but not super hard. Find or buy some new music... get beginner books for kids if that's what you need right now. Read a page every single day.

2. Play some duets! Playing with others is GREAT for your sight reading because you have to maintain a strict tempo. If you don't have an obliging friend, play with a metronome. Set the tempo slower than you think you need, but stick to it religiously.

Good luck! You'll be better in no time!
posted by MangoNews at 3:16 PM on October 4, 2017 [1 favorite]


It's just like the old Carnegie Hall joke: Practice, practice!

(For piano, I used to use a hymnal.)
posted by The Underpants Monster at 7:23 PM on October 4, 2017


Adding my own request to this question: is there an app or web site that does the following:

1. Shows an unlabeled or labeled note (configurable, ideally)
2. Listens for you to sing or play the note on an instrument in any octave
3. Tells you when you get it right and goes on to another note
posted by davejay at 7:30 PM on October 4, 2017 [1 favorite]


Do it for ten minutes a day. Every day.

Use the A Dozen a Day graded set of books.

This is how it works. It's the only way it works.

It will work, even if you can't see it day to day.
posted by metaseeker at 7:46 PM on October 4, 2017 [2 favorites]


I got better at sight singing (which is a slightly different beast) when I had to learn 7 new pieces and perform them every week. Enforced practice with a deadline!
posted by kadia_a at 12:18 AM on October 5, 2017


Another thing that helps is to get some staff paper and write out little ideas from the keyboard. Keep that up and hey, you're a composer!
posted by thelonius at 6:00 AM on October 5, 2017


Flute player here. I saw this video some time ago. JustAnotherFlutist is a well-trained musician and what she describes is way beyond my ability, but I think her approach does underscore a key point: reading music is all about pattern recognition. When I see a note above the staff, it's as totally, instantly, recognizable as if it were a number, letter of the alphabet or other familiar symbol. No counting required.

The previous answers suggest practice. I agree, but as an older player I had an insight that escaped me back in high school. Back then, I assumed that practicing the pieces I had to play in band automatically made me a better player. Now I see that practice time should be divided between learning new music, and working on things that will help you play your instrument better. For example, playing a rotation of scales has made me much quicker to recognize accidentals.

Also, make sure you can see the music clearly. Have good light. If you wear glasses, is the music really in focus? I have an additional pair of glasses that I wear for the computer and for playing. Astigmatism and other visual difficulties could have more effect here than it other parts of your life.
posted by SemiSalt at 8:28 AM on October 5, 2017 [1 favorite]


My wife is an excellent piano player but couldn't sight read even a little bit because of the way she learned. Then she joined my handbell choir and her sight reading immediately improved to the point where she said "Hey, I can sight read suddenly!"

My guess is this is due to a combination of things you can replicate even if you don't join a handbell choir (though you should because it's fun):

1. Playing with multiple other people at varying skill levels. You have to hit your notes whether the people on either side of you are in time or even playing at all. When you miss a note or lose your place, you have to get back on track with everyone else. This is likely best accomplished in an actual group, but there are probably software or study book solutions for this kind of practice.

2. Watching the score but only cherry picking notes to play is a different way to read music than most instruments. Handbell music is like piano music (sometimes with other parts as well), but you're only responsible for 2-4 (generally speaking) notes on the staff. If you're paying attention you'll get good at reading the music you're not playing too. I'm not sure how you'd replicate this on most instruments. Maybe someone with more string or piano experience has an idea.

3. I am the kind of director who believes people are better than they think they are so I just plow ahead even if we're falling apart in practice. If I want a piece to go faster or slower, I'm sticking to my time and the rest need to follow. People usually get better at sight reading and watching the director out of necessity and pieces come together quite well. You could replicate this on piano by playing along with a recording of a piece that's out of your skill or comfort level, but sticking with it and playing as much as you can to the end, then repeat.
posted by Clinging to the Wreckage at 1:42 PM on October 5, 2017 [1 favorite]


Imagine reading the first sentence of your question, as someone completely new to the English alphabet. Trying to recognise these strange letters. One letter at a time:

I.

'.

v.

e.

...

Imagine how hard that is. Was — it must've been that hard for us too when we learned to read! But it's effortless now, right? You can do this.

Start by focusing on two or three adjacent notes in the treble clef (say, the A, B and C above middle C), and learn to read and play short pieces made up of only those notes (I know Michael Aaron Adult Piano Course Book One has exercises like this, and other beginner books should have them too.) If possible, switch between several exercises during practice rather than focusing too long on one, so that you are practising and learning reading more than playing from memory (and also because it keeps things fresh and interesting!).

When you feel confident with those two or three notes, add another two or three above or under, and read and play pieces that are made up of only those five or six notes (again, I remember the Michael Aaron book does this, and other beginner courses should too.) There is no need for drills — there is so much good music that can be made with just a few notes. You just want to read as much music as possible within and just outside your range, expanding it a few notes at a time.

If you don't have access to books, here is how I would do it:

As you know, once you know what one line or space on the stave is, you can figure out the rest by counting. So start with one note: the B above middle C. This divides the stave with the treble clef into two, so you can figure out any note within the five lines and four spaces by counting at most four steps (e.g. top line: B, C, D, E, F.)

Y'know when we take stairs two steps at a time? So we don't even need to count one step at a time: top line in the stave is B, D, F. Bottom line is B, G, E. First space from the top: B, D, E. So if you learn just one note, the B, it is not that much counting to figure out the rest. You are not Every-Good-Boying from the bottom any more: learn B, and it can be your first marker.

Once you can do this, and you find you no longer have to think to know that the middle line is the B, pick another marker to learn that would reduce your counting. Learn, say, the bottom E (if you've been Every-Good-Boy-ing, you probably know that one already). Learn that the top line is an F. This is just two more notes, but it means that nothing within those five lines is more than one jump away (you can take two steps at a time, remember) from the markers you already know.

Read more pieces. Every time you see a note on the top line, think of it as an F (if you find you've forgotten, write it down on a piece of paper and remind yourself with it whenever necessary.) Don't count from the E any more. And don't write the letters on the stave to make it easier for yourself, as tempting as that may be! The struggle is the learning, and will pay off for you later. Keep reading different pieces, and keep reminding yourself of those marker notes E, B and F, until you know them.

After that, it is just a matter of filling in the blanks and learning more notes, one or two at a time. Learn the G, then the D. Learn the spaces. Learn that the first line below the stave is middle C. Learn that the first line above the stave is A. One or two at a time, leaving fewer and fewer notes that you need to count to figure out, until there are no more. It is the same process with the bass clef, and with the notes that are three or four ledger lines above or below the staves. That is how I learned anyway.



The other thing that may help is that, for example when I see a stack of three notes on three lines, starting from the second-bottom line in the treble clef upwards, I do not think:

This is a G.
This is a B.
This is a D.

I think: this is a G, skip one, next note, skip one, next note. And if/when you know what a G chord is, you just see a G chord. You read notes as groups and patterns — you start chunking. You recognise intervals, such that you can see distances like fifths and octaves at a glance, so that you are not reading the names of the individual notes, just the bottom (or top) note, and then whatever the interval is to the other note. You see scales and patterns: "Okay, this is a D minor scale heading downwards for the next few notes." You read notes in clusters and arpeggios: "These three notes are part of a D7 chord, without the fifth". Much in the same way as how you don't read a piece of English writing letter by letter, but by words and phrases; and sometimes guessing certain words just by context, knowing they would be there because you've read so many sentences like this one before.

It's the same process: read a lot, read things that are interesting to you (music that you like and sounds good to you), see patterns over time until they become familiar and eventually second nature to you. The practising is barely work if you practise with pieces you like; and being able to reproduce something you know and love just from reading, even if very slowly at first, is magical. The rest is just time. You can do this!
posted by catchingsignals at 8:24 PM on October 5, 2017 [3 favorites]


« Older Munich art identification   |   How much should I charge to manage social media? Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.