I have asked Kevin Costley, and exclusive FJH composer, to write a guest post for this blog. He has graciously agreed and chose to write about this important topic:
Composing Made Me a Faster Sight-reader
Sight-reading has always been very difficult for me. I didn’t have the opportunity to take piano lessons until the summer after sixth grade. Teachers would turn me down because I played by ear. Therefore, I missed that earlier ‘window of time’ where students usually learn to sight-read. I eventually worked on advanced piano works and earned a graduate degree in music; however, I was still a slow sight-reader.
I made a startling discovery. Once I began to write music and write it on a regular basis, my sight-reading skills began to slowly get better. I even learned to locate ledger line notes much more quickly.
As an educator and university professor in the field of education, I have always been fascinated with the subject of “information processing.” There are many ways people process information. In my classes, I often talk about various subjects that other professors have already covered. I do this for a reason. There are vital subjects and topics that students need to know well before becoming a licensed teacher. All of our professors present the topic with accurate information; however, we all individually process the topic differently and have a different slant on the topic. Therefore, after hearing several different angles on the same topic, students are able to process the information better and store that information in their long-term memory.
This is all to say that there are several ways to process information to become a faster sight reader. Writing music is another information processing process in learning how to read more quickly, in that you as the writer have to find the notes you hear and notate those notes on staff paper. The next time you read and play these very same notes in a published piano piece, you should be able to sight-read through a piece on your level much more quickly. However, this skill takes much practice and time to develop.
Write more. Try to write 8 to 16 measures of music every day and then go to the piano and play what you wrote. Little by little, I think you will see that you will become a much faster sight-reader with new piano music.
Kevin Costley
See the Interview with Kevin Costley about composing on this blog!
Kevin, you have made a good point. I, too, am fascinated by how children process information and how it relates to learning to read music. Even when children start early, it seems to be so easy for some and so hard for others. I can pick out the ones who will have trouble in the very first lessons.
Thanks for the guest post.
-Susan Paradis
Susan,
Thank you for your very nice and affirming comments. I think some students are naturally gifted in sightrading and others do not have this gift, yet work hard to be proficient and reasonably fast sightreaders. I think it is interesting that you say you can see those students who will be fast sightreaders and slower readers during their first few lessons. I see your point fully. Your thought was valid and new to me. Learning from other teachers never gets old! THANKS for sharing. Kevin Costley
I play cello, but I have the problem of slow sight reading. I think I had this problem with violin too as I had the tendency to write the notes out before a recital so that I could be sure I wouldn’t miss something. I play much better by ear and after I have labored through a piece once or twice I can go with the music faster, but I think that’s because I’m playing by ear and not by sight. So, I am going to try this technique as I already write a little music here and there. I hope it works for me.
Thanks for your reply, Kevin.
On another note, I played through your new book “Spring Portraits” and it is just beautiful. The pieces are very appealing/expressive and fit great under the hands. I have a teen student who this book is just perfect for.
I do hope this will be a good technique for you! Do keep me posted on how it works for you.
Tay,
I sympathize with your slow sightreading problems with a different instrument. I think this problem is more common with ear players in general. We can always fall back on our ears and what a wonderful gift it is to have “a good ear” for wonderful musicality. I think if you use my strategy, in time you will learn more notes and play them more quickly without having to write as many in the score. Hange in there. You’ll get faster at reading! Thank you for your thoughts.
Susan,
Once again, thank you for the compliment on my piano publications, specifically “Spring Portraits.” Actually, I submitted this publication several years ago as another Romantic Portraits collection (I have two other published romantic portrait publications). Ed McLean, my brilliant editor said one day on the phone, “Kevin, actually this collection is all about spring pieces. Why don’t we call this book, “Spring Portraits” and then you can write three other seasonal portrait books to complete the set.” Thus, the ‘seasonal portrait collection’ idea was born. “Winter Portraits and “Summer Portraits” have already been released. “Autumn Portraits” is to be released in the FJH May/June release. I enjoyed greatly writing all four intermediate seasonal books. And of course, I love romantic, tender, and lyrical sounds. I hope your students do too. Thank you again for sharing!