Reading ahead Options

[elisabethann]

Hi I am having trouble with reading piano music a bar or so ahead. I play a bar, but my eyes do not move quickly enough ahead, so my timing is out. My teacher has tried covering the notes that I have just played to make me look ahead but not successful really yet.
My teacher who is very well qualified says she is 3 bars ahead which seems to me to be impossible!
I am only grade 3/4 but in theory grade 6.
So I am not daft (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/fruitcake.gif)

[andante_in_c]

Not everyone can read very far ahead as people have different short term memory capacities. What increased practice can do is to give a musician more ways to 'chunk' the music, as short term memory treats a chunk as one item of information.

So, for example, a beginner might need to remember the notes G, B, D coming up as three separate items, whereas a more experienced player might just need to think 'G major triad'.

It's a bit like athletic prowess: we can all improve, but not all of us can become Paula Radcliffe, however much practice we do.