Hi

If you have read any of my earlier posts you will know that I not too good at sightreading. Well I was wondering everyone says that the key to passing the sightreading exam is to keep going well here are 2 sinarios. What do you think would get the highest mark (and what mark do you think they would get):

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S1

You try to play everything at quite a slow, uneven tempo with common breaks in the pulse

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S2

You begin to play everything at quite a slow tempo: when, you sense that if you continue this way you will loose it. So you decide to drop one hand for a couple of bars until you can pick it up again.


I just thought of an other sinario :


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S3

If you play correct rythm at a steady tempo with only, say, 3 correct notes

I think 2 is better because keeping the pulse going is important.
I did that in my grade 8 sight reading (but playing at something like the correct tempo which was andante).
Got 14 for it.

I agree with sbhoa

Number two for sure.
As long as you keep it going, you won't do too badly, as that's the most important thing and what the examiner is looking for. I am awful at sight-reading, therefore in grade 2 I only got 15 points for it, but the examiner wrote (after he'd mentioned the mistakes and the very slow tempo - I take things slowly when I'm unsure ) 'you bravely did your best to keep it going.'

This is an interesting one: I changed strategies between grades 4 & 5 sightreading. I always used to go for accuracy and was a lot more prone to correcting myself on the odd note. Having been told that the most important thing to do was to keep going I changed my strategy to the keeping the pulse above everything else, and got lower marks in the next exam, despite being a better sightreader than I used to be. It could have been a fluke on the day but I suspect the change in strategy was reflected by the change in marks. Needless to say I have now changed my strategy back . Keeping the pulse is important but some breaks are better if accuracy is dramatically improved, it's a balancing act.

In your scenarios, somewhere between 1 and 2 but certainly not 3 .

You didn't mention tonality. I think it's pretty important to get the key signature right! For instance, if it's in G Major, then don't worry too much about the odd wrong note; just make sure you don't hit an F Natural! Aside from that, it's a balancing act between maintaining an even tempo and being semi-accurate. I tell my piano pupils to imagine they're accompanying a singer; if you get some notes wrong it doesn't really matter too much - but if you go back and fix your mistakes, the whole performance will flounder!

I would go with scenario 2.