Paul Harris sight reading books.

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Paul Harris sight reading books., Question regarding the grading of the books

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mrpolaroid123	Jul 15 2012, 10:44 AM Post #1
Newbie Group: Members Posts: 15 Joined: 1-April 12 Member No.: 432970	Due to my atrocious sight reading I have given these books ago, working up from grade 3 - 5 over the course of 6 weeks. Just about to finish the grade 5 book and was wondering if the excerpts from it are actually to the same difficulty/level of grade 5 rep. For instance, should I be able to go away and sight read through grade 5 exam pieces? Anyone used the books or have any views on this?

BadStrad	Jul 15 2012, 10:52 AM Post #2
Prodigy Group: Members Posts: 1514 Joined: 28-January 10 Member No.: 88756	From what I've read on here. Sight reading level is generally set at two grades below the exam grade. So if you were taking grade five, the sight reading pieces would be grade three standard.

dolce@piano	Jul 15 2012, 10:59 AM Post #3
Prodigy Group: Members Posts: 1575 Joined: 26-November 08 Member No.: 46163	The grade level of the Paul Harris books refers to the grade level of the relevant sight-reading test i.e. Grade 3 Paul Harris prepares you for the sight-reading test of the Grade 3 exam. It does not prepare you to sight-read Grade 3 pieces. I agree with BadStrad - the sight-reading level usually is about 2 grades below the pieces level. However, given that the sight-reading extracts are pretty short and, following the change of syllabus, often now quite 'accessible', a Grade 4 pianist who passes their G4 sight-reading with ease may well still have quite a lot of problems sight-reading a full G2 piece.

bassoonista	Jul 15 2012, 03:24 PM Post #4
Advanced Member Group: Members Posts: 343 Joined: 4-May 10 From: Leeds Member No.: 100709	QUOTE(dolce@piano @ Jul 15 2012, 11:59 AM) The grade level of the Paul Harris books refers to the grade level of the relevant sight-reading test i.e. Grade 3 Paul Harris prepares you for the sight-reading test of the Grade 3 exam. It does not prepare you to sight-read Grade 3 pieces. I agree with BadStrad - the sight-reading level usually is about 2 grades below the pieces level. However, given that the sight-reading extracts are pretty short and, following the change of syllabus, often now quite 'accessible', a Grade 4 pianist who passes their G4 sight-reading with ease may well still have quite a lot of problems sight-reading a full G2 piece. I'd agree with the above. For me, although I've used this book for all my grade exams, and they've been very useful, the fastest way to improve sight reading has been to join an ensemble. It forces you to sight read at speed, and equally important, how to find your way when you get lost (as I inevitably do) Just to put it in perspective for you, I was recently at a concert in which my teacher was playing 2nd bassoon. It was being recorded to go out on classic FM. The 1st bassoon had a dodgy curry at lunch, and had to run off the platform half way through a piece. My teacher had to move up to first and sight read the part. He said that in honour of the 1st bassoons problem, he's now renamed the skill as s(h)ight reading (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) !!!!!

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