Teaching SightReading to Young Pianists

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Teaching Sight-Reading to Young Pianists

• Julia M. Wilcox
• Music Technology
• Fall 2005

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What is Sight Reading?

• Pattern recognition
• Rhythms
• Scales
• Frequent chord progressions
• Frequent melodic progressions

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Why is sight reading important?

• The average music student is not going to become
  a widely recognized musician
• Sight reading skills give every student the
  ability to play music for fun
• Musicians who make it to the professional level
  need to have proficient sight reading skills.
• Learning these skills from a young age will allow
  musicians to focus on things besides notes and
  rhythms.

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What is the problem?

• Despite researchers and teachers agreeing that
  sight reading skills are one of the top three
  most important music skills to develop

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• Many advanced musicians were never taught how
  to sight read!!!

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Why is there a problem?

• Sight reading is not emphasized in the first
  years of lessons.
• Students who never practice this skill will never
  develop this skill.
• Just like anything, sight reading skills take
  time to learn.

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Who is the problem?

• Teachers
• Are teachers not effectively teaching sight
  reading to their students?
• Students
• Are students defying their teachers and not
  practicing what their teachers are assigning
  them?
• Could it be a little bit of both?

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Teachers

• It is the responsibility of the teacher to give
  their students the necessary training to be good
  sight readers.
• But often, teachers focus heavily on memorizing
  pieces for recitals.
• Though this is necessary and really valuable, it
  is not the only thing that needs to be emphasized
  with young students.

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Students

• Students, like teachers, often focus heavily on
  performance.
• Sight reading exercises get thrown to the side
  when performances are near, thus hindering their
  progress.
• Students also have bad habits when practicing
  sight reading.
• They tend to practice the piece striving for
  performance readiness - forgetting that when
  sight reading things will not be perfect.

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The Good News

• This is an easy problem to fix.
• It just takes a little time, planning and
  dedication.

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The Bad News

• The performance driven lesson will always be
  prevalent in private music teaching.
• Teachers like to look good!
• They want to showcase their students in recitals
  and competitions thus the emphasis on
  performance.

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Now how do we fix the problem?
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First

• Rhythm
• Recognizing rhythm patterns is essential in
  learning how to sight read.
• Before sight reading notes, rhythm practice
  should ensue.

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Second

• Read music that is easier than you think.
• Start small and build up confidence.
• Once you succeed, you will build confidence. Once
  you have confidence, you will learn faster and
  more efficiently.

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Third

• Group Work
• Working in groups is a great way to get students
  involved and interested.
• It will also make this process more enjoyable.

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Finally!

• Practice!!!
• Sight reading skills take time to develop. It is
  important to take your time, move slow, but be
  persistent.
• Persistence and dedication ultimately improve
  your sight reading skills!

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• THE END!!!