Sight Reading, Yet again.....! Too old to learn? Options

[cressida]

Sorry to bring this up again, but I'm just sooo despondent about my sight reading ability. I'll be doing the G6 practical in Autumn, but my sight reading level is about G2. I got the Paul Harris books (Grades 1-5) about a month ago and am working through them, but when I tried to read a simple duet in the lesson tonight, I was hopeless, and felt utterly humiliated. I then went on to play the Mozart G6 piece from memory, and I'm left feeling that 'well! a chimpanzee could do this, but it's a pianist who can sight read, and I'm NOT one and never will be!'.

My teacher (whom I've had for 8 years, and whom I think is brilliant...) says that there's no point in trying to learn to sight read in the lesson - I'm wasting my money. I've just got to practice every day with any bit of music and it'll come. He's told me the basics over the years - look at the time and key sigs, look at the end etc etc - and I think he's getting fed up with me angst-ing about it, instead of improving.

I just don't think I'll ever have the agility (I'm 51) to look at the notes and play convincingly. I just don't seem to have the geography of the keyboard in my fingers, and my brain can't transfer what I'm seeing fast enough. Is this because I discard the copy as quickly as possible when I'm learning exam pieces? I do have a good memory. I also love the theory - Have got distinctions in theory exams G1-5. ..but what use is this if I can't read the music to play?!

Feeling quite down about this and need some support/tips from you guys. :(

(Perhaps I should be practicing the sight-reading instead of writing this moaning missive. I'll do some now. Sigh... )

[Lucia]

How much practice do you put in on your sight reading. I was having a discussion on sight reading the other day with my teacher and she said I should be doing about 15 minutes practice a day on it.

[cressida]

I'm a bit sporadic (life, work etc...). Some days I can do an hour..then others nothing. I should be more consisent with my practice, I suppose, but I just don't seem to improve at all....ever.

(sorry - bit depressed tonight)

[maggiemay]

Don't be depressed !

My students have good and bad days with sight-reading.

Do you have a system of tackling it? It's possible that you're not going about it in the way that will best help you.

Can you hear what it's going to sound like before you start playing? If not, that might be worth working on.

Don't be hard on yourself - it might sound obvious but you need to try to stay positive about it if you are going to improve!

Maggie

[StuMac]

I'm the same, slowly getting better but very, very slowly.

No answer but here are a couple of observations!

Tell people that you are a pianist but you can't play anything at present 'cos hav't got your music with you. Say the same thing to the same people and sit down and play a grade 6 Mozart piece from memory, then tell them you can't sight read. What would create the best impression??

Being able to play from memory is a real musical ability. Trinity Board will let you play a piece from memory in the exam, and give you credit you for it!! (Check out their web site)

[Silver pianist]

Cressida

How often have we both said on this forum that we are the same in so many aspects. Reading your post was like my own thoughts about me. How many times have I felt the same as you. It's a problem with memorisers because we actually do not READ music as often as the non memorisers and therefore are not getting as much practice. Believe you me, if you do it every day (and what Maggie says is true) you will improve. I went at it ###### for leather before grade 6 and actually passed the sight reding bit so I was really happy. You can do it too.

Stumac is right. A lot of sight readers would like to play from memory as well as you can. On another thread on sightreading a while back someone said that we should be looking at the music even though we have memorised it as by sheer dint of looking at the score we are reinforcing the link between the mind and the fingers and where the note and chord is on the piano.

Rest assured that you are not alone. We are all in the same boat we old'ns but we refuse to give up. As someone else has said, it just takes us longer to get to the top of the mountain but we do in the end.

Please do not get despondent. "Been there, done it" I felt the same, still do at times when I look at how fast my children are but I HAVE improved my sight reading with daily practice and so will you! I guarantee it!!

Turn you depression into a positive attempt to do it every day. And start with easy bits!!

[Jen W]

Cressida

I empathise totally!! As Silver Pianist says, we've all felt the same, and I still do! I also have about grade 2 sight reading ability but play pieces grade 4 - 5 and scales grade 6 - 7. I had another moan to my teacher about it today but there's nothing she can say except, "practise, practise, practise". (Incidentally, we played an easy duet too, and I messed it up completely!!)

I'm going to start the sight reading practice at the beginning in future, before I do the pieces, to make sure I don't 'forget'(!) about it. My teacher says I should do about 15 minutes a day on it. Like you, I have a good memory, but just recently have made a point of not memorising pieces. They took longer to learn as a consequence, but it's encouraged me not to keep looking down at the keys, so I play more securely and fluently. I'm hoping this will help improve my sight reading ability.

Anyway, it's brilliant that you're taking grade 6 - good luck.

Jen

[Silver pianist]

Another thought. Judging your sightreading ability on how well you have played a duet is also a bit hard on yourself as there are all sorts of extra pressures when you are playing with someone else.

Of course doing duets is a marvellous way of improving your sightreading (staying in time, not going back etc) but please do not consider it on a par with the actual test in the exam.

[cressida]

Thank you all so much for your replies which are very helpful.

I'm determined to be more consistent in my practice - and I've started to try and hear the music before I attempt it.

I was on a real downer last Sun about it, but feeling more positive now - especially realising it's not just me...

Big hugs :)

[AmandaL]

I'm a professional violinist and my sight reading has never been particularly brilliant, but it does improve when I'm forced to do more of it. In an orchestral situation it's not always so bad, lots of us miss out the odd bar or two especially in a Presto movement. Having a good geography of whatever instrument you play is also a great asset - especially string players where there are a wide variety of fingerings or positions to choose from!

However, I'm brilliant at memorising whole movements of sonatas or solo works within a couple of days - a skill envied by a lot of my colleagues, many of whom stuggle to remember one line let alone a complete page.

I think we should all be grateful of the skills we are good at. Sight reading is a great asset, but playing music from memory lets you put your entire soul into your playing rather than just reading the dots on the page.

Amanda

[Silver pianist]

Hear, hear!

And well put.

[Pui]

I have similar problems. (not only in sight reading but also aural). I am goint to sit the Grade 7 violin this autumn. But my teacher is still training me on pieces and scales. I want to try to practice sight reading by myself, but the problem is no one at home can tell me if I play it right. Any suggestion?

[dacapo]

QUOTE (Pui @ Aug 13 2004, 11:29 AM)

I want to try to practice sight reading by myself, but the problem is no one at home can tell me if I play it right. Any suggestion?

I do a lot of exam accompanying, and I always include some sight-reading in my rehearsals with exam candidates. I find that often the people who are worst at it have teachers who play all their new pieces to them before making them read "the dots" for themselves. Some teachers don't seem to realise how much a pupil with a quick ear picks up from a single hearing, so that they never learn to understand the details of what they are looking at. A lot of teachers also don't seem to check that their pupils really understand rhythm reading.

Sight-reading will improve if you just get hold of lots of music and decide that you will play a few lines of something new, without stopping or going back, at the beginning of every session with your instrument. Before you start, allow yourself a maximum of 30 seconds (the suggested time you are allowed in any exam) to look at the key signature and any instruction about speed, so that if it's supposed to be slow and miserable you don't try to play it too fast, and to look quickly at anything else you think might be useful in the time remaining, then choose a speed for the beat that you think you can keep steady, and off you go.

It's the keeping going that lots of people find really hard (especially the perfectionists among us!), and I constantly see mark sheets with variations on "...but it kept going" in the sight-reading section.

By all means go back AFTER you have played straight through the passage, and take a bit of time to think about whether you played it correctly (but don't worry too much if you can't decide whether you did or not). Check which notes should have had sharps or flats because of the key signature. See if there are any accidentals that you should have added to another note later in the same bar. Count your way up any leger lines that you may have misread. See if you missed the dynamics, or any staccato markings or pauses. What about the rhythm? Most people find that much harder than playing the right notes, and it is more complicated.

I hope this helps.

[sbhoa]

QUOTE

I want to try to practice sight reading by myself, but the problem is no one at home can tell me if I play it right.

Sorry if this is an odd question, but if you are about to take grade 7 then how come you can't tell if you are palying correctly or not yet?

[Rhapsodin]

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