Sight-reading Skills: Developing Your Sense of Touch

by Kevin Costley

There are many times in life that being a fast sight-reader comes in handy. Although I believe sight-reading is a natural talent for some pianists, it is a skill that others have to work hard to achieve.

If you find that you continue to struggle with sight-reading, you might ask yourself the following questions:

“How well do I know the ‘feel’ of the piano?”

“When I shut my eyes, what can I play accurately?”

“What can I find at the keyboard without looking?”

Your answers to these questions may indicate that this is a good time to go back to the basics and get a ‘feel’ for the keyboard. Try doing the following exercises every day for several weeks before you practice your piano repertoire.

1.   Good sight-readers know to not look down at their hands while sight-reading. They play both hands by “feel.” Do the following: play all groups of three black keys and groups of two black keys up and down the piano, hand separately, with your eyes closed. Be consistent with your fingering. Be sure to not look at your hands.

2.  Now, do the same procedure for the notes CDE (in clusters) and FGABC (in clusters). Be sure to not look at your hands.

3.  Are you doing well with Steps 1 and 2? If not, make sure you are centered to the middle of the keyboard. Those who are good sight-readers make sure they are always centered before playing! Every time you sit down at the piano, check your body position!

4.  Review the groups of the lines and space notes in both the treble and bass clef. Come up with your own sentence to learn them well; a sentence made up by you will be most meaningful. An example with the treble clef for lines is “Every Good Bear Deserves Fish.” You should then come up with a sentence for the treble clef spaces as well as a bass clef treble and bass clefs. The goal is to say the FIRST LETTERS as quickly as possible (i.e. EGBDF) so that the mnemonic is not needed. When you can say the first letters of these sentences quickly and even name the note on individual lines and spaces without saying the entire set of letters, you will be able to quickly identify and find the note while sight-reading.  Mnemonics make learning the lines and spaces more fun, yet the sooner a student can say the first letter of the lines (i.e. e,g,b,d,f) QUICKLY, the better.

5.  Before emphasizing rhythms (see #6), look through the entire piece and look at the patterns in intervals, patterns, and melodies. STUDYING THE SCORE IS VITAL before sight-reading the score!

6.  Now it is time for an emphasis on rhythms. Practice clapping all rhythms hands separately is a good thing to do; however, play all rhythms hands TOGETHER playing two notes that make harmony (i.e. left hand low C with two finger; right hand E above middle C, two finger). You can use any variation of harmonies you want.

7.  Now ignore all rhythms. With both hands together, play ALL NOTES. Get the notes correctly the first time. Play very slowly; be accurate with all notes!

8.  Now, look in your piano bench and locate a very easy piece several levels lower than the level you normally work on. Play hands together slowly and evenly, up to tempo. Force yourself to keep going no matter how many notes you may miss. Do not stop even once; keep playing until you finish this very easy piece. (This can be a humbling process!) Do this with many easy pieces until you can gradually play more difficult pieces. (At this point, do not attempt to sight-read at your every day ‘working level.’

9.  When you are up to your proficiency level, play (sightread) each piece hands together very SLOWLY and evenly. This takes much concentration! Try your best to not stop or stall. If you do stall, DO NOT return to the beginning of the piece. Begin where you missed the note(s).

10.  Keep studying music theory. Theory is vital for all musicians, especially sight-readers.

Even the best sight-readers miss some notes and do not play each and every note. Because of their extensive experience in sight-reading and an overall understanding of chord structures, patterns, etc., accomplished sight-readers get an overall ‘feel’ of where music begins, how it develops and how it ends. Even the best sight-readers learn to keep going. When they know they have missed a note or notes, they never stall; they keep moving forward and put those missed notes out of their minds. Great sight-readers are popular musicians; there are many roles they can fill in the musical world! By following these simple steps on a regular basis, your sight-reading skills more assuredly will improve!

Happy Sightreading!

[Thank you Kevin, for contributing this helpful article on sight-reading!]

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


By using this Site you agree to the Privacy, Terms & Conditions, which explain how we use information you submit.

Shopping Cart
Scroll to Top