Teaching sight-reading

[BuyBuy]

I have several intermediate students who are very poor sight readers (some of them beg me to help them improve their reading skill).

Could you give me teaching ideas on helping them to improve their sight reading ability ? Can you recommand any book or method that usually works well to learn that ? Thanks.

[janice]

I think that the best way to learn to sightread is to JUST DO IT!  (like the Nike commercial!).  Don't nececessarily go out and buy extra books or have your students buy books. I would pull out some of the music that YOU play (I assume that your music is more advanced than theirs) and have them sight read it right there at the lesson. Assure them that you are not listening for mistakes.  It would be a good idea to go in the other room even.  Go get some tea!  (Better yet, get yourself a bowl of chili! ).  You could let the student borrow the book, and tell them to just leisurely play thru it that week.  The best way to learn to sight-read is to JUST DO IT!

[bernhard]

Janice is right.

However her approach is like teaching someone to swim  by throwing them at the deep end of the pool. It certainly works.

For a more gentle approach, the best book on sight reading I came accorss is Howard Richmann’s “Supersight reading secrets”. You can read about it in several of the threads below, as well as many suggestions on how to teach sight reading.

http://www.pianoforum.net/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=teac;action=display;num=1048235978
(teaching very small children – pros and cons of sight reading – good thread)

http://www.pianoforum.net/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=teac;action=display;num=1081187434
(How to teach bass clef)

http://www.pianoforum.net/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=stud;action=display;num=1081624578
(detailed explanation of the sight-reading process)

http://www.pianoforum.net/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=stud;action=display;num=1073131731
(discussion of Richman’s book)

http://www.pianoforum.net/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=stud;action=display;num=1087022500
(more discussion on Richmann’s book)

http://www.pianoforum.net/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=stud;action=display;num=1071914342
(Cambridge word scramble example)

http://www.pianoforum.net/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=stud;action=display;num=1085793013
(tips for not looking at the keyboard, answers to critical reviews of Richman)

Best wishes,
Bernhard

[pianoannie]

I agree with most of what Janice said.  Certainly the "just do it part."
However, I don't think they should try to sightread music that is more difficult than what they are currently studying.
I have a lending library for my students, particularly for the purpose of sightreading material.  Each student is to take home 1 or 2 books each week, at 1 to 2 levels below his/her current level of study.  If a student struggles to sightread below his current level, then I know I need to fill in some gaps.

[BuyBuy]

I have been using Bartok's Microkosmos to have my students sight-read for several reasons : because the tunes of the pieces are not easily recognizable, it stops them from guessing the next note ; then both hands are given the same importance, and the pieces are well graded.

Do you think it is a wise choice ?

[xvimbi]

Do you think it is a wise choice ?

Excellent choice!

[janice]

Do you think it is a wise choice ?

Very!!

[bernhard]

Personally I don’t like Bartok’s Mikrokosmos, so I do not use it.

For total beginner’s my favourite is Edna Mae Burne “A dozen a day”, which are nie exercises besides being excellent sight-reading material.

However, as soon as I can I will get away from this, since it is not real music.

What I use next is accompaniments.

Since I play the recorder, I will give my students the piano part (there is a variety of difficulty levels available). There are huge advantages to using this sort of material:

1.      It develops musicality.

2.      It is incredibly motivating, since making music together is a great pleasure.

3.      The student learns that mistakes are of no consequence, the only thing that matters is to keep going.

4.      The student starts to learn several tricks of the trade: Simplifying chords, waiting to catch up the soloist later on, understanding harmonic structure.

5.      Since the melody is usually the responsibility of the soloist, the accompaniments are difficult to play simply by ear, so the student has actually to read the music.

6.      The student will have to cope with 3 staves (two for the piano and one for the recorder), so his skill in sight reading will improve tremendously.

7.      It develops everything: ear training, sight-reading, being in time, musicality.

I am surprised it in not used more often.

If you do not play another instrument, you can still do it by using the 4-hand repertory.

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[Spatula]

 Bernhard-sempai (note the honorifics man!   )

 Where can I get hooked on this book mon! (the richman dude)

[jlh]

I certainly agree with the "just do it" post.  The students need to know that it's ok to make mistakes when sightreading -- the most important part is to keep reading in tempo.  If they're really struggling, try an easier piece.  

What really helped my sightreading several years ago (and I know this won't work for less advanced students) were the Scott Joplin rags and a few other books of well-known classical solos.  I'd just go piece by piece and read through them the best I could, then go on to the next piece, not worrying about mistakes made.

Good sightreading is something that will come with experience in sightreading, so the more you do, the easier it will become.

[bernhard]

 Bernhard-sempai (note the honorifics man!   )

 Where can I get hooked on this book mon! (the richman dude)

Spatula-kohai, have a look here:

http://www.soundfeelings.com/products/music_instruction/sight-reading.htm

Best wishes,
Bernhard.