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What is sight reading?
Sight-reading is the ability to take a page of music you've never seen before and play it in time and with the
correct notes and expression. It is a valuable essential skill for all players - beginners and advanced.
The better your sight reading skills, the more pieces you can tackle and the more enjoyment you will get out of playing.
However sight reading can be notoriously difficult - in many cases players may even
think their difficulty with sight reading means they can't really read music, even though they have a grasp of
standard music notation.
Why is sight reading important?
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Sight reading is part of the music grade exams - improving your skills will improve your overall score or grade
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Sight reading makes playing fun - you can tackle new pieces with confidence
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Get together with other players and tackle new pieces together
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Children in particular get very frustrated and discouraged when they cannot read new music, even simple tunes, although they have worked hard and practised
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Opening up a book of music and tackling new pieces is rewarding, relaxing, and entertaining - we could all do with improving
our sight reading skills so that we can tackle a much wider repertoire
Why is sight reading so hard to learn?
Just as every child learns to read differently, and requires a range of sources to help, the same is true of sight reading.
And it is a difficult skill: let's take a look at what you have to do. If you play the
piano or keyboard, you have to learn to read to lines of music at once, in two clefs, each line will have different notes and
rhythms, and each hand must work independently. But reading the notes is not enough - there is the timing, the expression..... it sounds impossible doesn't it?
In a half hour lesson with a teacher, when you have to fit in work on new pieces, scales, aural tests, theory, it is no wonder that
there is little time to work on this skill too.
How can software help?
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Interactive - get instant feedback on whether you played the right notes with the correct timing
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Rewarding - you can improve your score over time and monitor the progress you have made
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Fun - many software packages have pieces with built-in backing tracks so you can play along with the band or orchestra while
improving your sight reading skills
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Suitable for all abilities - most software comes with a range of pieces so beginners and advanced players can all benefit
from the technology
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Practise when you choose - the software is always available and can enhance everything you learn in conventional lessons
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Invaluable if you are working for an exam and need to know if you are right - with limited lesson time this is almost as good
as having a teacher on hand to help
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Graphical representations of your keyboard or guitar fretboard will show you which note to play next if you are stuck!
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Work at your pace - you can always slow the tempo of the software down to your level
Which sight reading software?
Many of the software packages we sell can be used very effectively to improve your sight reading skills, and often have other benefits
besides: below we have summarised how each product might help - follow the links for more information. Whatever your price point, you will
find we have a product to suit.
Adventus Piano Suite Premier
 Piano Suite has been designed as a full two year piano course, but even if you are having conventional lessons, this package
is excellent for building sight reading skills. It contains over 500 piano pieces at 5 different grades so it covers a tremendous
range of abilities and tastes. The beauty of this software is you can set it up so that it will not let
you move on until you have played the notes correctly and for the correct time too (there are a range of useful settings). You can work on one hand at a time or
both hands together. Many of the pieces have backing or use different instruments to add interest. With 5 grades, it
really covers a wide ability range. The added bonus is that as well as improving sight reading there are a range of other features, such as
the theory thinker, the composers corner, the history happens section and all the games which really makes this an exciting piece of software
to supplement piano lessons, as well as an invaluable sight reading tool.
Good news - this comprehensive piano product is currently on special offer.
eMedia Piano and Keyboard Method
 Fantastic value - this software contains over 100 pieces, with interactive feedback, video instruction and variable speed backing, making it an exciting
and very useful sight reading tool. Again, the animated keyboard can help you out if you get stuck!
Ear Training Coach
 From the makers of Piano Suite, this software focuses heavily on sight reading skills, and other aural skills such as beating time,
and music dictation. Progress by getting feedback on your accuracy in note playing and timing. Currently available for Grades 1-2 and Grades 3-4.
Again, the feedback is invaluable, and helps with the aural test aspect of the exam too making this software great value for money.
Music Ace 1 and Music Ace 2 and Music Ace Deluxe
 Perfect introduction to sight reading and theory skills for kids - learn note recognition, scales, harmony, rhythm, ear training with lots of games to motivate them. All
the essential skills you need to be able to sight read.
More Sight Reading Tips:
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If you can, memorise a lot of tunes, phrases, etc. 99% of
music comprises bits and pieces of stuff you probably already know. Once your
fingers have learned a mass of material, they'll respond when
your eye spots a particular phrase, riff or chord shape.
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Scales, arpeggios, chord shapes: make sure you're totally fluent in all of
these in all the keys you have learnt. Same reason: As soon as your eye recognises a particular
scale pattern in a piece, your fingers will lock onto it without you having to
think any further.
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Play through masses of music - anything you can lay your hands on (this is where
the software can help with the range of built-in music).
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Use playalong tracks - either book and cd combinations or the software mentioned above.
They force you to keep going whatever happens!
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Try silent reading - ie take a piece of music and sit with it away from the
piano, 'read' it through and try to hear everything in your head as you go
through. You should eventually try to know what it sounds like without ever making a sound!
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When you listen to music on CD or radio, try to visualise the dots on
the page as you're listening. Imagine a sort of music score scrolling past in
your mind's eye as you hear the sounds. This is really difficult to do to begin
with, but if you keep at it you'll be amazed at what you can 'see'.
Related articles:
Do I really need to buy a keyboard?
What kind of keyboard should I get?
What exactly is MIDI?
What have computers got to do with music?
Which guitar software tutor?
Which learn to play piano or keyboard software?
Glossary of Music Technology Terms
How Ear training software can help you improve your aural test exam score.
Composition - choosing between notation, sequencer and auto-accompaniment software.
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