Why is sight reading important

But I couldn't find the answer to my question whether it is even that important to practise sight reading. What I mean by practising sight reading is for example picking a random piece that you haven't played before which is below your level and practise sight reading everyday with random pieces like that.

But is it even necessary? Yes it is really important to practise sightreading. Being able to sightread well makes it much quicker to learn new pieces and eventually possible to play pieces reasonably well without having practised them at all. Sightreading does improve simply by learning repertoire, but not that quickly.

This is because you are only truly sightreading a piece the first time play through it. After that, you will have memorised at least some of the material, and are no longer sightreading in the strictest sense. This is often a problem for pupils studying for instrumental music exams. For this reason I find it really important to ensure that pupils read and play a wide variety of new music alongside pieces they may be learning in detail for exams or performances.

I'm a guitarist, and you probably know the joke, "How do you get a guitarist to stop playing? Put sheet music in front of him! My answer now is not that practicing sight-reading will make you better at That's obviously true. My answer is that it will make you a better musician.

There is almost no other way to compel yourself to work out fingerings for music you would never have imagined, or to connect these fingerings to music theory i. If you want some insight into how a Charlie Parker solo, or a Bach cello suite, is put together, get the sheet music and struggle with it. As you get better at sight-reading, you'll begin to be able to play notes you've already scanned visually, while your eyes are already on the next measure.

You will necessary internalize scales, arpeggios, etc. You will necessarily learn to shift positions, which you'd otherwise avoid. I could have chosen to noodle on the blues scale from now into my golden years, but I realized I was getting bored. There's plenty of interesting music out there Learn to read it. Reading in general, and sight reading specifically may never be used by some players.

If you are playing in a band where you are writing all the parts and don't plan to play in another setting then maybe reading isn't going to be on the top of your list of things to practice. But if you want to be good at sight reading the only way to practice is to read stuff you have never seen before, or haven't played to the point of memorization.

Think of this, when you were first learning how to read books not music you had to sound out each word. Once you learn a word well enough you can just look at it and know what it is. Now when you read for the most part you just know most words. However, sometimes you come across a word you have never seen and you will need to sound it out. If you do this enough times you no longer need to sound the word out, you can just see that it is the word. Sight reading is sounding out the words in real time.

If you do it enough you learn that word. This is different that memorizing a speech or a poem. It is learning the ability to recognize that word at first glance. If you ever want to be a studio musician, or sub for an orchestra player, or countless other settings, it will be very beneficial to learn how to sight read. This indicates to me that your sight reading level is below your playing level. I think each player may have different levels in different areas. Some players can't read but are great at improvising.

Some can sight read very well, but can't improvise. Sounds to me that your sight reading level is below your playing level. If you want to improve your sight reading to catch up to your playing, then you need to practice sight reading.

If you are weak in reading in general, sight reading will help with that BUT reading the same piece over and over might not necessarily help your sight reading beyond a very basic point because you have memorized the "works" only in that very setting. To sight read you need to test those words out come at you in a setting you have never seen before.

One thing that may not be obvious at first is that you will need to use sight reading skills at random times. You'll sometimes be the only musician in the room and there will be a call to play some hymn, or national anthem, or locally-important-piece-of-music, you will be chosen. Once, my mother had to fill in for a concert pianist who suddenly took ill on the day of a performance. She got to sight read a concerto without the benefit of rehearsal with the orchestra; the bragging rights still linger.

Sight reading only takes practice; it's no worse that learning a piece from memory; it's just a different skill. You will use it. It is my opinion that sight reading is a byproduct of a knowledge of music theory, having a trained ear that knows where the music is going and a solid technique so you don't have to think about how to play what you are trying to play. Our brains can fill in the gaps when we combine theory and ear training. For instance, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae.

The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. So no, you don't need to practice sight reading. It will happen when everything else falls into place. Although, some people have a fear of making mistakes and are obsessed with reading every note. Those who are a slave to notation never become good sight readers. You can improve your sight reading by laying by the pool, transcribing music in your head.

But, if you are like me, you'll fall asleep in two minutezzzzzzz. If you want to get good at sight reading, practice sight reading. Preferably get yourself in a situation where you HAVE to sight read, like playing the song for morning assembly in a school, or the hymns at a church. Practising sight reading alone isn't that satisfactory in the progress department. Certainly read through stuff below your level of playing, both with just rhythm, l.

Problem with doing it alone is that you won't know if you're getting it right. With someone to guide you, it's a very different situation. Who knows? To get full marks in the sight-reading section of exams, of course. To be able to hear something and play it back?

No help. To be able, eventually, to play anything in any style, with the dots in front of you? Way too obvious an answer!. It's up to you. Want to become a fully rounded player and musician?

Better buckle down to it. You probably learned to read words so long ago, you can hardly remember doing it. Ask the simple question, do you regret learning how to? While I can't answer for the piano, I can say that as a classically trained vocalist, the ability to sight-read music is invaluable. Students should learn all of the necessary concepts and skills to become good sight readers and well-rounded musicians. So why is sight reading so important?

Here is a list I came up with:. It is one thing if our students can study a piece for weeks, months or years and then play it amazingly well and this is definitely good!

But if they cannot sit down and play a new piece of music placed in front of them, are they truly good, well-rounded musicians? Jenny Boster sight reading teaching philosophy. Next Post four steps of sight reading Uncategorized. Related Posts. If you can read music, you have the ability to look at and understand the symbols that are used in written music to represent musical sounds.

It is important to read music because it will help you understand music better. All forms of music, from childrens songs to complicated classical pieces, can be interpreted if you know how to read music. The musical symbols you learn are universal, and they can be applied to all types of instruments. Reading Skills — Reading music helps strengthen your ability to process information by creating new connections between the synapses in your brain.

Music Lessons can have an even bigger impact! Studies have shown that music training can speed up growth in the areas of our brains that process language, sound, speech, and reading skills! Practicing Music builds the skills to Achieve Goals Music lessons also teach students that you must practice to achieve results. Practice and consistency is an important life skill when learning music because they will see and hear the results of their practice week after week.

This episode is closed in ch. Reasons for creating music include ceremonial purposes, recreational purposes, and artistic expression. The Bible mentions many uses of music including songs of praise, songs of victory, songs of mourning, and above all the Psalms.

Dances were also a common music expression along with the combination of singing with instrumental music. During later times there was also a purely vocal music which prevailed for a period. Music, art concerned with combining vocal or instrumental sounds for beauty of form or emotional expression, usually according to cultural standards of rhythm, melody, and, in most Western music, harmony.

Both the simple folk song and the complex electronic composition belong to the same activity, music. Begin typing your search term above and press enter to search. Press ESC to cancel. Skip to content Home Why is sight reading important? Ben Davis May 31,