Piano players: Need some advice

[Triumph]

I need some way to improve my sight reading skills. People always say, learn the left hand, then learn the right hand, then put them together. Well I'm pretty good with each hand on its own, but put them together and it's a disaster! It's so slow, I really don't know how to go about reading two lines at once. How the heck do you do that? I need some tips. Are there any books or websites that have exercises I could practice to improve this? I can't get a teacher right now, because I'm moving in a month or two.

Also, I guess some people will say the best way to improve is to just practice it. The problem is if I practice a piece for too long, I'm no longer sight reading it, but rather playing it from memory. What can I do to avoid this?

 

[Harvey]

"Hey, buddy. How do you get to Carnegie Hall?"

"Practice, practice, practice." 😉

Sight reading is a learned skill. Mine is way down because I haven't had to do it in far too long. 😱

Sooner or later, you memorize the parts you're reading, at least to the point where you can play a couple of bars ahead of where you're at in the music, so you can jump between lines to remind yourself what's coming up in the next few bars. As you get more experience you'll get faster at it.

I found something similar when I first tried to play some of my finger picking guitar parts on piano and some piano parts on guitar. I started by playing them very slowly, note by note, until I got the feel and rhythm of them. Eventually, I was able to start thinking across the two instruments and playing the same parts on either.

 

[IgorFL]

I agree.... the only way to improve sight reading is by doing lots and lots of it.... every day. Bach Chorales are a great way to get into sight reading 4 part music. You can pretty much choose a tempo, and technique isn't much of an issue.

I will say one thing, though. It's not commonly accepted among music circles, but some pianists never become tremendous sight readers, yet are exceptional virtuosos. Why? Well, if you find after a few years that your sight reading really isn't improving, you may have a slight form of dyslexia 😉

 

[melly]

i always learn the right hand first--the melody...the left hand is just chords and stuff. try it and see if it works for you!

 

[Triumph]

<< Sooner or later, you memorize the parts you're reading, at least to the point where you can play a couple of bars ahead of where you're at in the music, so you can jump between lines to remind yourself what's coming up in the next few bars. As you get more experience you'll get faster at it. >>


That's what I'm trying to avoid, to me that doesn't seem like real sight reading. I would like to set a new piece down in front of me and be able to play it with some degree of competency. No, maybe not play it perfect the first time. But memorizing it isn't what I want to do.



<< i always learn the right hand first--the melody...the left hand is just chords and stuff. try it and see if it works for you! >>


Well ideally, you should be equally competent between the two hands, and this wouldn't exactly help in that regard.

What I need are hints or tips for actually reading two things at once. I mean, I can't read two lines of text at the same time. There are drills you can do to improve dexterity, dynamics, speed, accuracy, etc. What exercises can I do to improve sight reading? Any books or websites with some hints?

 

[Triumph]

bump.