Sight Reading Solutions for Pianists

                                        After reading my first post, you may be wondering what qualifies me to give expert advice on sight-reading. Excellent question! Everything I know about sight-reading has been gained through experience. I was once where you are now: frustrated with my sight-reading abilities.        Starting at age seven, I had no natural inclination or prodigious talent at the piano. For the most part, the pieces in the piano lesson books my teacher assigned me bored me so I felt little motivation to practice. As a teenager, I bought a sheet music book book with my own money for the first time. This book, Easy Piano Classics by James Bastein, did not feel so "easy" for me. Unlike the method books, Easy Piano Classics contained pieces that I wanted to play. Because my teacher had not assigned this book, I played this music o...

  Welcome to Sight Reading Solutions for Pianists! Have you ever seen someone pick up a piece of sheet music without having practiced it first and play it accurately? This process is known as sightreading and is the most coveted skill among pianists. To a person who is unable to sightread, such a feat borders on the miraculous and appears impossible. If you have ever wanted to sightread or if you have tried to sight read, but felt you were unable to improve by your own efforts, this blog is for you! Even the most experienced pianists experience difficulty with sightreading. Those lucky pianists who sightread well often do not know how to break it down and explain the process. Many piano instructors do not teach sightreading and many people believe that it is just an inborn talent that they lack. Nothing could be further from the truth! The first solution to sightreading is becoming aware that this skill can be learned sequentially. No matter what your current skill level is, this ...