Morning all,
Ok, I've done a search and I know this topic has come up before but I was hoping for some really specific advice on how to improve my sightreading skills.

I am an adult returning to music after 20+ years. I got to Gr 6 piano as a teenager so I must have been some way proficient at sightreading, yet now I'm doing Gr 2 violin and I go completely blank when my teacher asks me to play something. Actually, its more correct to say I freeze and just cannot think straight.

My pieces are coming along really well, everything else is just fine but this sightreading mularkey is the bane of my musical life!

I see that someone else was recommended to use the Paul Harris series on the viola, so I'll try that for violin as well. Right now, I'm borrowing books from my teacher to use as practice on my own at home.

Is there anything else that would help?
thanks, Marie

Learn your scales, play as many varied pieces as you can and play with other people. Good luck with learning the violin It's worth the effort.

Yes, Paul Harris does a series called Improve Your Sightreading, which covers all the grades. In view of the difficulties you are experiencing, I would suggest starting from the first book (G1) or even simpler pieces to get your sight-reading going.

I wonder if it is a difficulty with learning a different instrument after years of playing piano in your younger years? Just a thought, but I have experienced this (ie learnt violin as a child / teenager, and still try to do violin fingering on the flute!)

But whatever the problem, just start at as basic a level as necessary and build up slowly. Be prepared for it to take time. With practice and patience, you will get there.

Good luck!

You might also be interested in the Right@Sight series by Caroline Lumsden. This is designed to be used to teach sightreading as a set of skills - each example has questions to answer and activities to do before you attempt the sightreading itself. There are also duets to play and a CD with backing tracks is included (both really useful for practising 'keeping going') The first book goes from open strings through to examples in G,D,A and C major and includes syncopation, compound time signatures and semiquaver rhythms.

With my own pupils, before playing a sightreading I ask for the key sig, play the scale in that key, look at the piece for scale/ arpeggio patterns, look at the time sig, play the rhythm only on open strings, check tempo/dynamics then put it all together. Then in a exam you use a quicker version of that list to make good use of the preparation time - hopefully something like that might help with the 'freezing' problem.

Good luck!

Thank you all for the wonderful tips. I'll definitely put them into practice.