How to Improve Sight-Reading

When asked what they want to accomplish on piano or on flute, almost every student of mine says, “I want to pick up a song and be able to play it!”  You probably want to know what this has to do with sight-reading.  That’s actually what sight-reading is.  It is playing through a song you have never seen before.  And the only way to improve anything is with practice!  

Here are a few tips on how to practice this skill:

1. If possible, practice sight-reading daily.  Every time you pick up your instrument to practice, take a few minutes to play through a short song that you have never played before.  In lessons, I can recommend books to practice your sight-reading.
2. Before you begin reading the song, take a moment to look over it.  The things you would look at would be the time signature(s), key signature(s), accidentals, repeats, or any clef changes. If you do not have very much experience with sight-reading, I wouldn’t worry about things such as dynamic markings.  On the other hand, if you have been playing for a year or so, take a look at the dynamics as well.  
3. Before playing the song, look at the most difficult spot in the song.  You can take a moment to check out the fingerings.  This spot of the song is where you should decide the tempo that you need to play the song.  If you can play this section at a certain tempo, then you should be able to play the easier parts of the song at that tempo as well.
4. Look for patterns.  A lot of times, melodies or just rhythms are repeated in the same song.  If you recognize this right away, it will make it a lot easier every time you come across that pattern.
5. Once you are ready to begin, make sure you continue to look ahead.  If you look ahead, there won’t be any surprises.  You will always be prepared for what your hands are about to do.
6. Whatever you do, KEEP GOING!  Do not stop and do not go back to fix anything that you messed up on.  The key here is to keep the rhythm.  Rhythm is very important in music.  If you messed up on a few notes, then that’s what you did.  But if you messed up on a few notes and then stopped, then you missed the notes and you missed the rhythm.  If you were performing a song, you wouldn’t stop or go back to fix any mistakes.  Instead, you keep going and most likely no one even noticed!

I hope you find these tips useful.  Most musicians find sight-reading difficult.  It will get easier the more you do it.  As you practice these techniques, they will become second nature.  You will be on your way to “picking up a song and playing it!”