Sight-reading means playing a piece of music for the first time.
In an exam situation, your sight-reading test is meant to be a performance: don’t stop, don’t go back, get from start to finish in one go, and if you can, add dynamics and play musically!
In real life, sight-reading isn’t a test at all. It’s the beginning stage of learning to play something new, so of course you’ll take it steadily, maybe one hand at a time, just the first line, or the first couple of bars… and to hell with the dynamics!
But here’s the thing. You can read music. You can make the transition from reading to playing. You understand how the code on the page becomes sound. However easy or complex the music is, you have gained the ability to move from seeing it on a page to playing it.
Have you any idea how big a deal this is?
In your lessons with me, I help you and guide you from stage to stage in your learning. I teach you the nuts and bolts of music, and I give you fingering, pedalling and other advice. I correct your mistakes and help you progress. Regular lessons keep you on track and ensure the three Ps happen. Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten the three Ps! Oh, all right. They are: Progress, Pleasure and Performance. When you make Progress, it gives you Pleasure. When you Perform, it gives others Pleasure, and this gives a big boost to your Progress. And round and round we go…
So lessons are vital for the 3 Ps.
But sight-reading skills mean you work things out on your own. You play from the music, not by being told what to do, but by reading and interpreting it yourself. The skill of sight-reading can be taught, and should be, but the practice of sight-reading is the pursuit of musical independence.
A colleague of mine was bemoaning the fact people don’t know “how to learn a piece of music”. It takes them too long, it’s inefficient, it’s frustrating… My answer is, learn to sight-read and then get good at it. This is the key to being able to play.
So if you’re not already doing sight-reading with me and you’d like to, just ask!