Questions tagged [sight-reading]
Playing or singing a piece directly from sheet music, without prior rehearsing or studying.
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What is good software for learning how to sight-read?
I'd like to learn how to sight-read on my own, but practicing the same song over and over again just causes me to memorize it, and filling out worksheets is boring.
Is there any good software for ...
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How can I improve my piano sight reading?
I am 25 years old, and I started learning piano about 6 months ago. I really want to play the piano well, but it takes me so long to be able to play any piece of music. In the meantime, I'm using a ...
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As a guitarist, how can I learn to sight-read music?
I'm learning guitar right now, mostly from Justin Sandercoe's free online lessons, starting from the beginner's course. He has a lot of good tips for how to practice and drill chords, and scales, but ...
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Can people really sight-read advanced pieces?
I find it hard to read a staff and play it on the keyboard fluently.
The most common scene for me is that I read one note on the paper and then lower my head and find out the location of that note ...
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Unknown notation - thick horizontal bars between notes
I haven't the faintest idea of what these bars could mean. They're thick and mostly horizontal with a slight tilt. Some sort of run perhaps? How do you effect the dynamics/notes these bars are ...
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How do experienced pianists sight-read chords? [duplicate]
I enjoy sight reading, since it lets me "play" the piano without having to spend hours going over the same passage to get it right. However, I'm still progressing and have difficulty ...
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Fast Chord Identification
How would someone go about identifying chords quickly and efficiently? While sight reading, I would often come up to some strange chord and try to decipher it. It normally takes me (what feels like) ...
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I sight read at 20 bpm, and not getting any faster
I'm working through Berklee Press' Modern Method for Guitar 1. I start every new piece at 40 1/8th notes per minute, so 20 bpm. 40 bpm (1/4 notes per minute) is the lowest my metronome goes, so I ...
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Is it really mandatory to practise sight reading at the piano?
I have seen many questions & answers regarding practising sight reading the right way etc. But I couldn't find the answer to my question whether it is even that important to practise sight reading....
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Is there any midi software that can display in real-time the notes I play next to the "real" score?
I'm pretty new to the Piano, and pretty bad at sight-reading (but getting better:))
Still, sight-reading a new score takes me an awfull lot of time, especially when I don't "hear" the thing I'm ...
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Why don’t piano teachers teach the chord method of playing to young children and adults?
I have been playing piano since I was 10 and now I am 43. I have never really been good at sight reading sheet music. I have recently been researching alternative methods of learning songs fast as ...
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C in Treble or Bass Clef
I see a 'C' like sign in the beginning of the staff. What does it mean?
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Is it ok for a choir to learn by listening? [closed]
I'm in a high school choir and we just got a new teacher. He is adamant that we don't listen to rehearsal tracks or recordings, because "real musicians don't." Is there merit to this? Is it better to ...
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Should sight-reading be emphasized less for piano instruction with new developments in technology [closed]
I realize this post may be controversial. I've been playing for about eleven years. I'm somewhere at the amateur/intermediate level. When I started sheet music was the only medium available. Since ...
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What is a Fake Book?
The question was asked here as to why there are no Fake Books for Blues. But what is a Fake Book in the first place? What genres is it used in?
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Should I think of the note's letter designation when I sight-read?
After I know the letters for the note designations and the pitches, when I am reading them, I implement the music this way:
I see the note on the staff.
I know that is a G. I think "G" when I read ...
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Importance of sight reading for non-professional jazz guitarists?
As a non-professional, intermediate-level guitarist interested in playing jazz, I wonder how important it is for me to be able to sight read music (and I mean standard music notation, not guitar ...
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Music Theory for a Beginning Drummer
I've been learning Drums for the past few months (lifelong dream, and I should have my very own kit in 36 hours or so! \o/) and my teacher has been teaching me how to sight-read. I'm doing quite well (...
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Is it better practice to read straight from sheet music rather than memorize it?
My music teacher sometimes tells me too memorize a song, but sometimes also tells me to read straight from sheet music. This confuses me as I am unsure which one is better practice. Is it better ...
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When you read sheet music do you read the notes or the intervals?
I have found myself doing both but not sure which is the right way. Sometimes I see a note then I can see the next note is a 4th above it so I play it but I actually don't know what note I just played ...
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Is it possible to learn theory without sight reading?
I'm learning music theory by myself with online books and video lessons. I don't have much trouble understanding the basics of theory, such as intervals, basic scales and modes, but I have a huge ...
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What do the letters above the piano staff represent?
I am a beginner trying to understand the music notation for a song I want to try. Can someone kindly tell me what are the letters above the treble clef in the following figure:
I've read that they ...
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When did keyboard partitions start to use the G-clef for the upper staff ?
When you look at very old sheetmusic (for harpsichord or organ), you see that the upper staff has a C-clef, first line. The lower one is the familiar bass F-clef, fourth line.
Why and when did the ...
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Most efficient way to silent read 2 or more voices (audiation)
I would like to become able to silent read music. I am interested in renaissance and early baroque organ composition, which usually means two to four voices.
As now I can recognize intervals (melodic ...
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How can I help a piano student who doesn't slow down to read the notes
I have a student who, when he tries, can figure out what notes he's looking at on the score at a decent pace. He couldn't sit down and sight-read something fluidly, but the foundation is there.
The ...
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Why are accidentals not just indicated next to the note in sheet music to make sight reading easier?
For example, in the key of G, why is the sharp not put next to every F note? I think this would make it easier to sight read quickly, especially for keys that have many sharps or flats. Is there an ...
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How do I improve in sight reading?
Preparing for my Grade 8 AMEB examination in piano but my sight reading is atrocious. For keys within the bass and treble clef staves, I can recognize and locate their positions fairly well but for ...
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How many songs to practice at a time?
I'm coming back to piano after years and years away, so I'm back at beginner level again. I know I can get a bunch of etudes together and do technical exercises, but of course, the main thing is ...
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How To Improve My Sightreading?
I've been reading music since I was five years old, but I learned how on the piano, never on the guitar. I find that when I play guitar, I think of the notes as they relate to each other spatially: "...
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What's left for musicians to learn if they can sight-read?
It seems skilled musicians can can sight-read even advanced pieces.
What's left for musicians if they can sight-read advanced pieces? It seems to me there must be something left to do - otherwise ...
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Is the purpose of sheet music to be played along to? Or a guide for learning and reference during playing?
When I'm learning new songs on piano (about to take grade 1 for an idea of where I'm at) I use the sheet music to learn what notes to play.
Once I've learnt the song, I tend to no longer be so much ...
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Are Piano Stickers for Keys good or bad?
Is it good to use Piano Stickers for Keys w/ Complete Printed Notes to memorize the notes on the sheet and their correspondence to piano keys? Does it work? Or is it better not to do that?
The main ...
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Should I always use scale fingering when sight reading?
I'm practising sight-reading using https://sightreading.training/ which randomly generates notes for practice.
If I'm practising in the key of C Major, should I stick to C Major scale fingering/hand ...
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Could a group of musicians play a new piece by sight-reading on first attempt?
Is it possible, without any rehearsal, relying solely on sight-reading?
Are there any experiments of this kind with octets, nonets, maytbe entire orchestras?
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In piano music notation how are notes distributed between the staves?
I recently stumbled across a piece of music for the piano that confused me a little.
The first image is how I found the score, the second is how I rearranged it myself.
How I usually find pieces, ...
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Should I do the repeat sign when there is a fine
I stumbled upon this piece, Lágrima by Francisco Tárrega, and I would like to know if I should do the repetition sign when doing da capo al fine or just end the piece.
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Is it recommended to practice sight reading by "feeling out the music" instead of counting
I've been learning how to sight read the traditional way, by counting. Unfortunately, if there's ever a rest that less than a eighth rest, I automatically get thrown off, mostly because I'm only ...
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When you look at (piano) sheet music, how do you "think about" which notes are being referred to?
Trying to learn to read sheet music on my own; the best way to phrase my question is with a quick example: "Canon in D Major". I look at the sheet and I see the scale from this:
I get the whole ...
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Intermediate exercises for sight reading, specifically for reading ahead
I've been practicing violin casually for about 20 years and sight reading for about 10 -- but I'm still quite slow, especially when there are a lot of 16th notes and syncopation.
The problem for me ...
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Is the beaming of this score following a vocal practice or it is just outdated and obscuring the beat?
The source is c.1770...
https://imslp.org/wiki/Scots_Songs_for_Voice_and_Harpsichord_(Bremner%2C_Robert)
...first book.
I can see that the beaming matches the words of the vocal part. But it ...
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Ledger Lines vs. 8va notation
As musicians sight reading music – are you very comfortable reading parts in ledger lines or is it more convenient having higher/lower parts notated within the staff with an 8va (or 8vb) symbol?
For ...
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How do I learn to sight read?
I started my school’s jazz band recently and I really struggle playing with them. It’s just really different to playing by myself alone, where if I make a mistake I can just go back and keep repeating ...
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Plateau while learning piano sight-reading
As a 12 year old I had piano lessons for several months until the teacher retired due to ill health and I never kept going with lessons (which I've regretted ever since). On the plus side I've always ...
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Is there a trick to learning sight read, i.e relate notes to piano keys
I am not asking for some unrealistic method by which a person can learn to site read over night. I know that practice cannot be replaced.
I merely want to know if there are any methods that can help ...
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Can a singer sing a song from its notation if he/she has not heard the song before? [duplicate]
Is it possible for a singer to sing a song just by reading its musical notation? A song which he/she has never heard before?
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I can't sight-read at intermediate level
I am a Trinity grade 5 pianist and have been playing piano for 2-3 years(earlier played keyboard).
I find very difficult to sight read. I usually play the passage once very carefully and memorize it ...
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Should these notes be played as a chord or one after another?
A fairly basic sight reading question coming up... Are these notes (highlighted) intended to be played as a single chord or one after the other? They are so close together that they could be played as ...
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Sight reading piano - How far ahead do you look?
When you are sight-reading, how far ahead in the music do you look?
Do you somehow look at the treble clef and bass clef at the same time? Or, do you even have to think about it at all? Perhaps, it's ...
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Question about reading music sheets
I started learning the piano a year ago but unfortunately back then I didn't have an excellent teacher; instead of working on reading notes which I'm really bad at, we focused on my playing skills I ...
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Knowing where to put hands without looking at the keyboard?
I've identified three main problems holding me back from better sight reading on the piano, and this is the biggest one: I need to look away to find the keys for my hands. On a computer I can type ...