I am afraid that I might not pass.


It was 6:50 and I had just played my scales and three pieces brilliantly and then it came.... SIGHTREADING!!!!

Does anyboby else hate sightreading for the piano? How do you get better at it? Please can somebody help me!!!!!

Hi micky-d,

Some of the important things for sight-reading is to make sure you know the key signature, and to make sure you don't repeat any notes that you don't need to. Also, try and play using dynamics the best you can. I personally hate sight-reading as well.

Hope that helps a bit.

Car Expert

There are many people who hate sight-reading for the piano. You're not alone!!!

In what aspect did you do badly? What did you do in the 30 seconds you were given to look at it?

If your scales and pieces went OK then I'm sure you'll have passed. How did your aurals go?

I think I did ok at the aural.

In 30s I looked at bass, key, time. but mainly bass as bass is not my strong point.

You sound like you did fine in everything apart from sight reading so I don't think you'll have failed. Did you keep going in the sight reading? That is the main thing.

Yes, keep going, and try and keep the rhythm correct even if you make a few wrong notes.

Good sight reading is such an asset for accompanying, and when someone is singing or playing another instrument, you can't keep stopping or restarting the piece can you. It also helps to be in the same key as the singer or instrumentalist!

What grade did you do?

It sounds as if you did really well anyway, even if the sightreading was a bit dodgy.

The best thing to do with sightreading is to just keep going & don't correct yourself when you make mistakes. I find it extremely hard not to correct my mistakes as I'm such a perfectionist but if you do then you mess up the rhythm so it's best if you just move on. The only other advice I can give you (for your next exam obviously!) is to try to read ahead if you can as then you know what's coming.

The sightreading is only one part of the exam & considering you did so brilliantly in the other parts I'm sure you've done really well. People get so nervous when they've done an exam & every mistake seems so much worse than it actually is. Remember the examiner is looking at things as a whole so they won't be knocking off marks for every mistake you make.

When I did my grade 4, the rhythm was really tricky & even though I didn't get it quite right I got all of the notes right & I got 17/21 which wasn't too bad.

Good luck with your results.

Lisa xx

Hey don't worry about sightreading! Buy some sightreading practice books, and just try them, and even if you do badly, then you'll have the rest of your exam to back you up!

Don't get stressed about sight reading - you're not expected to get it right! Often, sight reading exercises will test the skills you have spent months practising and learning. What examiners look for is that you have the right idea: look through the music before you start playing, try any bits that look dodgy, know what key it's in, set yourself a pulse. When you are playing the piece don't worry if you play the wrong note - just forget about it and concentrate on what you are playing and trying to read ahead. No matter what happens keep going and don't look back, no matter what!

To improve your sight reading it's good to sight read music you know, sight read music a grade or even two below your current one, and practise accompanying if you can. It's good fun if both of you practise sight reading at the same time: see if you can finish together and I'm sure you'll make some 'interesting' music. Also, sight read with a metronome sometimes to put yourself under a bit of pressure.

Also, remember that even very skilled sight readers sometimes get their fingers tangled up: getting yourself out of trouble is part of the skill of sight reading so every time you make a mess of it don't stop and wonder why but see if you can get back into the piece.

I was a hopeless sightreader, still not much good at it, but in my exam I managed to keep going and not repeat anything - I hit a couple of wrong notes but it still sounded ok - and I played more slowly than the performance direction indicated to give myself time to think(!) - I still passed with 18/21 for that, so you don't have to be perfect !

I hate signtreading with all my heart
I always pass with one mark or fall in it

You could technically refuse to attempt the sight-reading and still get the highest merit mark. And if you attempted it they will give you some marks at least. I always fail it and come out thinking about the negatives but I bet there was loads of stuff which went fine in your exam but you just aren't thinking about it!
Best of luck with the result though, fingers crossed for you!