I am a fairly decent sight reader. It is usually one of the highest scores of my exam and I enjoy picking up music and seeing how far I can get through it. As my pieces are getting more complex, however I notice a problem popping up.

Usually I can look at the key signature and then have my brain programmed to automatically plug in the right sharps and flats as I read and play. If there is an accidental in a given measure that goes well too. BUT, if the accidental note crops up again in the same measure, I often play it as if from the key signature instead of the accidental. In the space of a few seconds I have completely forgotten about the accidental.

Has anyone else experienced this problem?
How did you train yourself to correctly process not only the first marked accidental but those unmarked ones remaining in the same bar?

Any tips ?

Hm, I hope somebody clever answers this because I have exactly the same problem. Worse still, when more than one accidental occurs, and worst of all if the accidental is, say, B-flat with a natural sign and the next note should be E-flat. I find myself stumbling over the E-flat , because my brain insists B-natural and E-flat can't co-exist.

The only thing which has helped me here is to try and remember to scan ahead - both before starting sight reading to spot any troublesome accidentals and notice which bars they affect - and while playing, when I hit an accidental, to scan the rest of the bar ahead and see if it will come up again. Hard to remember in the heat of the moment, though!

I'm with you on that one...... One downside to actually having an awareness of keys.