Improving Sight Reading Options

[Blossoms]

I'm doing my grade6 exam this november and i'm terrible sight reader.I sight read like a blind chipmunk. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)
I tried going over some grade 3 sight reading and i could'nt get them right.I escaped sight reading tests because I took TG and sight reading wasn't cumpulosoury until grade 6
Any suggestions?
Thanks

[Sunrise]

I'm doing my grade6 exam this november and i'm terrible sight reader.I sight read like a blind chipmunk. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)
I tried going over some grade 3 sight reading and i could'nt get them right.I escaped sight reading tests because I took TG and sight reading wasn't cumpulosoury until grade 6
Any suggestions?
Thanks

Just keep practicing. It's the only way. Make sure you do some every day. Keep plugging at grade 3 and then work up. Aim at keeping the pulse, and keep going no matter what happens! Which instrument are you playing?

[Juan Carlos]

Every day ... that is the key and one should try to find some peace of mind before tackling this very trying (for some) section of practice.
I've always done fairly well in sight reading in my exams but examiners never noticed the state of panic I get into when faced with the piece but sight-reading has always been (and continues to be) a sort of nightmare with me (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blush.gif) and having got to Grade 6 (with Grade 7 looming ahead in June next year) I know they demand a lot at these heights ... which makes it all the more stress-inducing.
the bought lots of sight reading books in the last years and can recommend the following:
- Paul Harris "Improve your Sight Reading" (various levels). An excellent series, very well-graded as far as I can judge.
- Sight-reading for Today (various levels) by Joan Last. An excellent series with pieces that reflect quite realistically the type you get in the exam.
- ABRSM sample tests. The pieces are exactly like the ones you get in the exam, that's their great advantage and they're musical.
- "Four star series" by Boris Berlin and Andrew Markow (Scott Mc Bride Smith editions). Each book seems rather easy for its level but just because of that, it's encouraging.
- Sight-reading for Fun (various levels) by Peter Lawson.
- Practical sight-reading exercises (by Boris Berlin and Claude Champagne). A very good series.
- Sound at sight (Trinity) relaxing because the pieces are short but not very similar to what you get in ABRSM exams.
- Right at Sight (Edition Peters). Excellent but the pieces are rather hard for the level they say they're in.
A wide selection and there are lots of others that I know about but that I have never got round to buying because each book takes me ages to complete (difficulty in sight-reading makes the process a little painful and discouraging so I tend to neglect it in favour of scales/arpeggios and pieces, which boost my morale although bad sight-reading makes learning the pieces slow and laborious.

[Arundodonuts]

With Grade 6 looming and blind panic setting in, last week I bought "Oboe Sight-Reading 2" by John Kember. It looks pretty good - lots of material which is what you need in order to make each effort a true sight reading test. There are books for other instruments which I couldn't comment on.
http://www.johnkember.com/sdxsig.htm

[celloml]

-Paul Harris "Improve your Sight Reading" (various levels). An excellent series, very well-graded as far as I can judge.
- ABRSM sample tests. The pieces are exactly like the ones you get in the exam, that's their great advantage and they're musical.

These are the only 2 books I've encountered so far...

The Paul Harris series is pretty good for learning different rhythmic patterns in set keys. Quite a steady buildup, I must say, ... although I struggled with the grade 4-5 book ... right up to my grade 4 exam... Perhaps it was because I have difficulty "sounding out" or finding "musicial sense" in a piece if it doesn't seem to "make sense" right off (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) ... which I found was the case with many of the exercises

Fortunately, the sightreading piece the kind examiner gave me was short, nice, and made perfect sense (musically! It had a proper tune!) so I came out with 17/18 for the sightreading section (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

The best way to start off, before plunging in, is to look at the key signature, time signature, and check for tricky spots (hard shifts, unusual rests/tied notes, etc.)
If you have time, try it out at least once... or just try the difficult bars.
Just at the end, take a quick peak at the dynamics and articulations.
I think using the prescribed fingering/bowing is not required? If that is so, it leaves you with fewer things to think about! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

All the best for that grade 6 exam!!!

[aesir22]

It really is just a case of regular practice. I should probably heed my own advice with this! The solution is not to pratice one sight reading test after another (for example, the ABRSM sight reading specimen tests). You should practice actual pieces of music, something new every time, and use such specimen tests only to test your progress every now and then.

Pick music that isn't wildly out of your capabilites, but not too easy either. You found grade 3 stuff tough? Try grade 2 material for a while then move on. There's no shame in it. I still sight read grade 1 stuff, and sometimes pre-grade one lol!

Just get music and play it. DO NOT correct your mistakes. Try to play as close to the rhythm as you can and within the dynamic markers.

Which instrument are you learning? I find sight reading with the piano terribly difficult, but a piece of cake with violin lol.

Its good that you have posted this now. I have seen quite a few threads here that say 'exam in 2 weeks and I can't sight read - help!' Well by this time its probably too late to make more than minor progress, but at least here you have 5 months or so. Thats a lot of practice. Say 10 minutes 5 times a week...you can get in a good 1000minutes practice before the exam!

[MarkP]

Apparently I'm a very good sight reader... (I find the grade 7 pieces are challenging my musicality, but the mechanics of grade 7 specimen sight reading is quite easy)

The only reason I can think of for developing this skill was that I played piano for a few years for an amateur operatic society. The pace at which you need to learn an entire score (Oliver, Fiddler on the Roof, etc) is quite alarming and while I could never play those scores perfectly by any means (still can't!), the fact that I had to bang out an accurate rythym at a speed dictated by the MD, and most importantly with an accurate melody line, must have meant that my ability to sight read came on without me noticing.

But basically, this all boils down to practice in reading fresh music so that you become fluent in reading the dots so much so that your fingers instinctively follow the dots.

[celloml]

Just thought to add that if you're doing grade 6, your sightreading will only be approx grade-4 difficulty. However if you can work up your sight-reading to a higher level (grade 5+), it will definitely make your life easier when the exam nerves kick in!
Cheers!