I think hands separate practice should be used primarily in the first few years of study up until around the intermediate level. Once a student is able to read adequately and play decently, it should be used less and less and eventually abolished altogether once one has reached the advanced-intermediate level.
Thank you so much! I lived in Asia, as you know, English is not our daily language. But I tried to get your points and followed your instructions. I have started to practice the church hymn without pedal in the first step. I used my ears and my brain to the holy songs when I played slowly. I love it! Thank you again! May the Lord bless you and your family.
I've found ear training, particularly sight singing (or even better, 'sight hearing'), to be a most valuable tool for taking my sight reading to the next level. Even though I'm not fast enough at sight hearing yet to consciously apply it in real time to complex music such as piano concertos, I've found that it has helped my ability to sight read complex music immeasurably. I'm hoping that at some point, I'll be able to hear complex music in my head as I sight read it.
These tutorial videos have been so important to my learning. I've always wondered why my teacher has asked me if I learn hands-together or hands-seperately as it just seemed strange to seperate them. Thanks Cory for your teachings through these videos and I cannot wait until the next lesson! :-)
The best lesson on sight reading. Just got myself a hymnal. It makes real sense to start with vertical scores. Sight reading is so important and yet, most teachers don't invite or initiate their pupils to explain that it's a daily thing. Thanks so much for your tips. Sight reading has always been my "fear" so to speak but you managed to give it a brand new approach in 15 minutes. Brilliant! Thanks so much. Yoan xxx
I would say try to play all four voices at once but play only the simplest and least complex hymns. Great ones to start with are simple Christmas hymns like "Away in a Manger".
Depends a lot on which version you pick :) Some of the best choral versions aren't very easy to play at sight. Actually, I hate sight reading some of the most simple ones because they tend to run counter to my harmonic expectations (ruining all my voice leading muscle memory) but I digress
I plan on doing a tutorial sometime on pedaling. It's the most difficult aspect of piano playing and is hard to explain using just one camera. Most of the time when pedal isn't marked in a score, it doesn't mean you shouldn't use pedal. In fact, I don't know any composer who marks pedal every time it's necessary. Pianists should rely on their ears and common sense more than what's not written in the music. Chopin's E-minor Prelude needs pedal, definitely.
When I was about to finish my A.R.C.T. in piano performance, the only thing that was holding me back from receiving first class honors was my inability to sight read well. It was then I was tutored for sight playing by a very good teacher who advised me the best way to learn this aspect of musicianship was to practice reading from hymnals. Worked like magic! Now, confronted with constant blocks of notes in strict timing, my eyes were training themselves in the discipline of sight reading at a new level I had formally thought impossible for me. Of course, one usually does not play hymnals exactly as written, but instead improvises around them in singing accompaniment, yet to practice sight reading ability hymnals are indeed invaluable.
Thanks Pammi. The Schubert book in this video was an old edition by Liszt that I found somewhere in a sale. I would recommend any standard edition of the Schubert dances, preferably one with not many editorial markings.
Just wanted to thank you for taking your time and sharing your musical abilitys and knowledge with us. I play guitar, but work on piano from time to time, have absolutely no way to work on or learn proper applied technique, your videos give a good visual perspective and help quite a lot with what I can observe. Thank you Cory, the efforts are much appreciated!
I don't think there is a formula to box-in the art of playing the piano since we are all with different capabilities and learning abilities. However, Cory has given us the best advice I have found so far on this subject. Thank you, Cory!
"Horizontal" music is when the texture is made of a melody with an accompaniment. "Vertical" music is when there are mostly chords, like in hymns or chorales. The notes in the chords are stacked up vertically and one must read them all at once and not one at a time. With melodies that are horizontal the notes are read one at a time.
I believe "cognitive overload" is a real issue, and the majority of people cannot learn both hands at once. What I have learned from all of these "sight reading" videos on YT is that you begin to recognize a group of notes as a "word" and your brain says "oh I know that word" .
@@Zenghitar there are books that show you common chords and cadences. Focus on learning on or two of them every week. You'll be able to recognize lots of them pretty quickly.
I think your advice on playing with both hands at the same time is very important since, as you said, a lot teachers advice playing each hand separately. I think playing each hand on it own is easier at first, but does not help advance in sight reading. While playing both hands at the same time can be taunting for new students who do not want to be serious piano players. Thank you so much for this revealing video, as well as the immense amount of videos you have uploaded of you playing, and of giving advice. I took a look at your channel and I wish these advice videos had their own sections. Keep up the good work!
***** I may not have mentioned this, but I think beginners up to intermediate level around level 6 should play hands separately more. I always have my beginning students play separately. Also, I believe beginners should not be forced to sight read. Sight reading is overrated especially for the beginning levels. Once one becomes "advanced" though (after level 6), one should graduate to hands together more and gradually phase out hands separately. They should also be expected to sight read more and better due to their experience. Sorry if I didn't make this clear in my video. I guess what I was trying to say was that too many advanced students rely far too much on playing hands separately. I was not referring to beginners or even those who have played for only two or three years.
I see what you're saying. Thanks a lot for clarifying. For some reason, I got the impression that sight reading is a very important skill to have and to develop from early on. I see why it is overrated though, as in there are other skills that I think would should get more attention. Thanks again!
You and I are complete opposites as I'm probably THE slowest sight reader on the planet...and I started it about the time you were born! I've learned Liszt, Beethoven, Rachmaninoff, Chopin, etc. (of course, can't remember 90% of it any more!) in the absolute most pathetic, painstaking way...I have to count up from the bottom (Every Good Boy...) for every-single-solitary-note!! Yeah, about 6 months to learn Un Sospiro, I just never could catch on. Guess I'm a hopeless case by now, I'm probably slower than about 99.999%! You totally lost me with this horizontal vs vertical stuff, I have no idea what you're talking about. On another note - no pun intended...really - your video on the Bohemia Rag is just pure genius!!!! Blows my mind...best on TH-cam by a wide margin.
I always see sight reading like reading books out loud. The more you do it, the more fluent and easy it becomes :) I'd love to get to a point where i could sight read at your level :) I usually use church hymns to practice my sight reading since church hymn books usually have hundreds of pieces :)
I like that analogy! They are both reading, after all, and I've heard highly proficient sight-readers claim that reading music has become like reading English (or whatever language) to them Also when you sight-read, everybody says to read ahead a bit of where you are, and the same thing is true of reading a story. Unless, of course, you want every line to sound flat or have an awkward cadence. Anybody who can read something for the first time with expression that makes it really pop as a story have to be reading a bit ahead to get enough context to know what the phrasing should sound like. It's not magic, it's totally logical! Again, great comment
Thanks Cory, very informative and good video! Really helps! another good tip I got from Josh Wright is never look at the keys. I think you once said, that youre not too fond of this method, but for me, it did quite the trick! Cheers pal! Youre an amazing Pianist and Teacher!
Bachscholar, One thing I always struggle with is actually being able to look at both the treble and the bass cleff at the same time, so I struggle in immediate dual-hand execution. Do you have any suggestions? Kind regards... (liked the Schubert book, by the way! haha)
just found your channel and book via Josh Wright and just bought your book today. I'm 39, took a decade off of paino and looking forward to continue my training.
Of course there's hope! Just keep sight reading something new every day as well as reading pieces you can play already. Try focusing on chordal music like hymns and chorales. Good luck!
In spanish they are: Lectura Musical=Reading just Musical Sheets no matter if you read them or are new(just the purpose of doing such action) Lectura a primera vista=Sight Reading involves an ammount of levels related to how precise and fast you are with any sheet. This is just important to have at a high level when you are at a musical conservatory or going to enter one(the sight reading exam). If it is just practising and a hobby, you will be ok.
Ty Virtual Master. You are very well spoken. Are those books expensive? I am from Perú(i never heard of them). So i think they can be expensive or even not in libraries at 2018. So the only way to get them is buying from amazon or ... idk. Waiting from your answer. Thanks.
I'm not a teacher.. but teaching myself a melody was rewarding and encouraging because I was able to reproduce some part of the music. hearing it makes me want to do more
I agree with you about learning hands together vs separately. I have learned a couple of Bach Inventions, and it's crazy trying to try to put things together after learning them separately. I am confused though on why it's best to steer away from horizontal music for sight reading. I play mostly horizontal music, more of the lyrical/romantic style. I do have great difficulty jumping with my hands though. Ex. Glinka's Barcarolle is difficult, and it shouldn't be. Will Vertical help?
Although I'm not a good piano player, I have to say, you are absolutely right :) I always learn the piece with two hands from the beginning because both hands are then "connected" and it's easier to speed up afterwards :) For me, it's difficult to connect both hands after I learned every hand seperately.
I love your point about practicing hands together, I always have this problem with sight reading, I start reading the right hand part and then I inevitably stop to look at the left hand part. It makes playing continuously very difficult.
Good videos Cory and keep going with this as I am enjoying viewing them. Sight reading is important so is improvisation and plenty of theory, ear training, memorization etc. Great to use hymns for chord analysis and part writing. Best regards, Peter Tarsio
What you say about hands together is of course correct. It being a function of the brains way of working. The left and right hand movement being related one to the other in memory. But this is of course only relevant to learning the piece, not sight reading it. Most teachers recommend marking fingering but this again relates to reading or learning a piece as opposed to sight reading. My own experience is that it is not a good idea to sight read music you wish to learn, as great care must be taken to avoid errors or poor fingering from the outset. A good tip to help sight read is to look through the piece before playing it and imagine the actions and fingering you will use. Also, its essential to make a judgement on what tempo you think you will be able to proceed without goofing up.
In order to improve my sight reading I read as rapidly as possible all of the prelude and fugues Book I and II from JS Bach, which will force you to learn most of the available chords, keys and modulations. Playing the hands together.
1)While practising sight reading,should I correct wrong notes or I should keep going till the end of the piece?. 2)How many times should I repeat the piece I'm trying to sight read it [ when I begin to memorise the piece,it won't be sight reading any more]. so should I turn to a new one?. 3) The more I practice ,the more I get results or, I don't have to over do it?.[ I mean for how long should I practise sight reading every day?]
Thanks for the video Cory... I'm trying to be a better sight reader and I've heard from others that when you are actually practicing sight reading, things like going slow, not looking at your hands, not stopping, and picking music that isn't too hard for you are all hugely important.... Do you agree?
AS someone who is learning without a teacher would you do a tutorial on pedaling? For the most part I use pedal as you did in this video(Lift the pedal with each new chord) to varying degrees. But I often times get confused when a score will say use no pedal and yet when I play that way to me it just sounds plain bad with no pedal. Is it really possible to play Chopins e minor prelude sostenuto with no pedal, for example?
I've practice Bach Inventions hands seperately then put them together and I've practiced Invention without doing hands seperately and I don't know if it mattered that much. Hand independence issue showed their ugly head regardless if I had done hands seperately or not. If something is really difficult then there are passages where I have to break them down. But generally I agree with Mr. Cory. Once I did put hands together it was like I started over anyway,
While playing through a Mozart sonata will fingering numbers help? I have grown accustomed to fingering indications in the Well tempered clavier and the two part inventions. I have a large book containing Mozart's sonatas that has no such indication. Is this a good or bad thing? I feel puzzled by the lack of fingering numbers in this book. What should I do?
This is exellent advise.I myself took lesson from Erwin Seeger a German who was placed in the top 10 at catnegie hall at one time. He taught one hands at a time, but I think the only reason he did was because I was learning music that was more advanced than I was technically ready for. Unfortunatly I used my ear to much as well and didn`t practice sight reading enough. You are lucky your experience and time was spent doing it right. Although, some with very good ears play very well.
It's the "Augener Edition (No. 8393B), Schubert Dances, Book II, edited by Liszt". It looks old and maybe out of print but maybe I'm wrong. I found it at a garage sale somewhere.
From my experience I’ll disagree with the focus on vertical music only. Perhaps, it was because I was also very harmonically interested and I had that basis already (by harmonizing simple songs myself). For me, reading Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven sonatas gave me many extra reading skills. And I enjoyed reading polyphonic music for the challenge of it. Of course not everything can be sight-read that way, but it helped enormously getting “mental” finger independence and e.g. reading more modern music.
I bought all of the schubert works and all of the haydn sonatas etc. in mini-print, expressly for sightreading. (Now-adays my eye sight would probably bother me, but still I do sight read in darkish rooms (I like it dark) with the stand down (so the book is flat before me). I guess you get used to it)
This, like so many of your other videos, was great. Thanks for posting it. What is the Schubert dance you played when you gave an example of his music?
Hi Cory! Wonderful video! I've been playing the piano now for a couple of months and I've memorized all the letters of the piano but the problem I'm still having is actually reading the music still because everytime I want to play the notes I have to keep singing the jingle E very G ood B oy D eserves Fudge FACE etc., all the piano teachers I have has taught me this but I feel like I keep failing when I want to just look at a line and know instantly that's an E or that's an F and so on! Please is there a trick to instantly recognize all the notes? Same problem I'm having with the ledger line notes. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thank you so much!
I agree with you on all points. I am a good sightreader, mostly from always learning new pieces, I prefer to sightread hands-together, etc. One thing I would recommend is that, if you can, avoid listening to the piece before you sightread it. This way, it becomes a lot easier to play at a comfortable tempo.
The argument against "playing hands separately" would make sense if reading and memorization were the same. But they're not. If a piece of music is too advanced for a student to read, then the student can either put it aside until s/he's ready for it or s/he can get value from it right now by reducing the cognitive load of the piece; and a good way to do that is to play just the bass staff and then play just the treble staff. This equates to playing left hand and then right hand separately. You make two (or more, if you want to pick out individual voices) passes at the piece. You thin it out. It's the same idea as playing each voice in a chorale one by one before playing them polyphonically. *Memorizing* a speech is not an analogy for *reading* music. Reading a speech is. And in fact it *would* be logical, and useful in principle (if the reading matter were too hard to read as-is) to have have a student first practice picking out the vowels in the speech and then later go through again reading the consonants (or some subset of the consonants; whichever glyphs had been learned so far). Similarly, your nouns and verbs analogy doesn't ring true to me because you're appealing to comprehension and not to reading (this video is about reading, right?). Reading is not comprehension. Being able to read words or music is not a predictor of whether the reader is understanding what is being read. Even at the level of parsing a group of notes into a chord, that's no more a demonstration of understanding than reading "cat" instead of "c-a-t". You still need to know what that word means just as you still need to know how that chord functions in the music (and you need to know what "functioning" even means, which no amount of reading training will tell you: that's comprehension and is a separate pursuit). Conflating reading and comprehension won't help anyone. IMHO, fingering is crucial to get right from day 1 because it helps you keep track of where your fingers are without looking at the keyboard. I agree that there's no need to write it in yourself, but most sight reading books and software these days have it written in already (although they should only write it when it's not obvious, and they don't, but that has to be tolerated). "Play most melodies legato", etc. Well, that quote is conflating reading and performance. Most folks are just struggling to develop the neurons that will allow them to read quickly, and the guidance in this video is pitched at too high a level for 95+% of people. Let people get good at reading quickly before adding the extra cognitive load of performing nicely. Kids learn to read the written word before we bug them with super-crisp pronunciation, projecting the voice, speaking in a nicer accent, or even a comical accent. In terms of reading music, you want to encourage folks to be reading the simplest pieces for their level, they should be giving themselves very high volumes of stuff to read, always be trying to read stuff they haven't seen before, and not looking at the keyboard but playing by feel instead. Look at Shawn Cheek's guidance on reading score, I would urge folks to hear his guidance, it's more useful and practical and logical than this video. I'd also suggest that nobody cares about the distinction between reading and sight reading. Nobody expects nor aspires to be able to perform a piece perfectly and at the correct speed at first sight. Being able to read competently has a couple of main purposes: one is to build a beautiful and crisp internal mental model of the keyboard as a physical instrument and the notes and intervals and chords laid over that construct; the other is in order to be able to input new pieces into the brain with a high-bandwidth transfer rate for purposes of analysis, performance, or just pleasure.
+Steven Charles White Of course "nobody cares about the distinction between reading and sight-reading" because the two two terms aren't understood correctly. Time and time again I hear people say "sight-reading" when in fact they really mean "reading".
Great question, Roger! I daresay all musicians have wondered the same thing at one time or another. Here's my understanding of the term. The Italian language features prominently in musical terminology. Reading a piece of music nearly always implies playing it, too. Reading a piece of music "a prima vista" ("at first sight") is the idea of reading a score that you haven't seen before, so you haven't had chance to get familiar with it, nor to memorize nor begin to internalize it. Let's say you read a piece of music 50 times in your life. You only get the opportunity to read it "at first sight" once, so we actually read "at first sight" statistically very infrequently. Why is why I cast doubt on its relevance. Few people can competently read at first sight these days. When you see someone "reading music" the chances are they're playing it mostly from memory, and using the score as a prompt/reminder. Now, back to the terms. Over time, the expression "reading at first sight" corrupted into the confusing and lazy term "sight-reading", and that corruption is the source of this confusion of terms. A newcomer to music sees "sight-reading" and assumes that the word "sight" is merely referring to the fact that you have to use your sight in order to read. Like you did, folks think that it's a pretty silly and redundant term for "reading music". But they use the term, and they use it incorrectly. So the mistake has spread and become endemic of confusing "sight-reading" with just plain old "reading" (meaning "reading whether or not it's the first time you've seen the score"). At this point in history I feel like it's too late to correct this widespread mistake and so I would say that it's best to avoid using the term "sight-reading" if you want to be understood. If you're talking about reading music regardless of how many times you've seen the score in the past, then I'd suggest any of the terms "reading score", "reading music", or "reading written music". If you're talking about the very first time you see a score (which as I say seems like largely an irrelevant, special case, to me, so I'm not sure why we need a term for it) then I would suggest reviving the original expression and just appending the words "at first sight" to either of those previous three terms. Since in the vast majority of cases you're playing the score at the same time as you're reading it, I think that the term "reading" already implies "playing", so I wouldn't worry about introducing the word "playing" here.
I think what bothers me is using the term "reading'' to require the simultaneous playing of the music. It's like saying you're not reading print unless you're also typing the words into a QWERTY keyboard. So is there another term for going through the score away from the piano but understanding fully how everything applies to the keyboard?
A lot of Welsh hymn books are sol-fa (which I think is 'vertical' music!). This is an inspiring video because I'm not brilliant at sight reading or reading music - as you say - it takes practice! Thanks for your videos!
I thought it was something like that but as complex as piano is I wanted to know what could be considered a right or most common answer. About sostenuto, I have an upright I got for free from craigslist and it's no grand piano...When I try and play sostenuto with no pedal I can depress than lift the keys but not all the way back up and depress them again to get a somewhat sustained sound.. It's this a technique that people practice and master that is maybe more capable with a better piano? Thx
Great video, thanks. I am beginner sight reader and have been using Mikrokosmos by Bartok for a few months. I have just purchased a book of Bach Chorales and it's painfully slow to sight read and play the pieces.
Hi. I found you when looking for video of Clementi's p. 36. No.3. Thanks for the lesson! I sight read hymns all the time. I will try your suggestion to play without pedal first. I'm so addicted to it. I dsiagree about the two hands togeather. This week I was about to throw Bach Invention No 1 in the garbage, but my teacher said don't give up-- use metronome and hands separate for a few weeks. I'm going to try that. Found old copy of Joplin. Never played rags. Will give it a try! Thanks!
I appreciate the point you touch on at 11:48. Make playing musical with phrasing and control. It helps me to listen to what I am playing as I play, and try to make it sound to me more musical. Then arms hands and fingers almost unconsciously combine to produce a beautiful musical sound. I'm not sure of the technical term for this process. Self listening? or Feedback loop? Whatever. It cures robotic mechanical playing. Also, it allows us to make music even on crummy instruments. TY again.
Would you suggest when you first try to tackle sight reading that you should move on to a piece after one run through as it then becomes reading, or learn piece by piece until you have fully conquered them?
***** Learn bit by bit until you can play the piece. Sightreading really isn't that important because it only happens once. It's like getting all paranoid about eating breakfast on one day even though you have to eat breakfast every day.
Thank you, Cory for this video. This is the first time that I have seen any of your videos, and I will continue to view your presentations. I am so frustrated with trying to learn how to play the piano. Music classes didn't work for me; but I still would like to pursue my childhood dream. Could you give me any ideas that would help get me past this bump (wall)? I use an electronic keyboard, and confess that I do not practice regularly. Thanks, again.
very interesting... ...why verticle? why is that easier? i enjoy sight reading prelude/fuges by bach. Maybe you are thinking that it is harder to see the tonal centers/chords? what i like about sight reading fuges is that there are not so many notes )))) ...at one point in time!
It's not easier. Most pianists are lacking in vertical reading and their reading of chords lags far behind the reading of more vertical scale type passages. Also, 80% of all piano music is based on vertical chords, not on horizontal scale type passages.
@@BachScholar check. So I ordered a copy of some 300 Bach Chorales, will (sight) read through it and then go back to my prelude/fugues and update on improved sight reading skills. Its just so interesting, because throughout my long musical experience (also from childhood, now 52) I somewhat rejected vertical music as a whole in favor of the immediate and often more sincere expression of melody (horizontal). Looking at the ancient history of music surely it was monophonic or simple polyphony.... ...so I would see people playing chords more often as an expression of theory rather than a heart-level expression. With that said, rags would be the obvious exception ))))... ..its like this, when I ask you "how does the entertainer go" you would sing a melody not some expression of chords....
@@BachScholar ok I have a good start on my 371 vierstimmige Choraele fuer ein Tasten Instrument (Orgel, Klavier, Cembalo). Question, what do you do with the inner voices when they are a 13th away from the lowest note and a 13th away from the highest note? Or better example (sometimes I can make the 13th) a 15th! Arpeggio, grace note, dealer's choice? )))) But thanks for the tip.... ...bazaar music, makes me want to see how all this BWV is organized anyway.....
I find knowing theory and counterpoint (and their applications such as ear-training and sight-singing) helps immensely in sight-reading, just because you know what you're playing and can somewhat expect where things are gonna go. This is especially true for horizontal music. Liszt could probably sight-read Bach fugues lol
I'm a bass player who is musically trained and was very good at sight reading orchestral parts for my instrument. I've devoted a lot of time recently to improving my piano playing, but my piano sight reading is still novice although I try again and again. Is there hope for me?
+JH5280 Yes, I don't think those are good sight-reading material unless you are a concert pianist with lots of experience. Also, remember that you should be sight-reading at least two levels below your current level. For example, if you are at "Level 6" according to the average grading system then your sight-reading material should be no higher than "Level 4". Most pianists try to sight-read with far too difficult music.
+BachScholar . I've never read from a 4-part Hymnal book before, seems pretty difficult. Is there anything you would recommend starting with first to work up to that level before jumping in head first? Or would you just start sight-reading from it as best you can? I guess I'm not sure what my "level" would be. I've never been the greatest sight reader. Single notes are fine, but lots of chords in both hands proves to be difficult for me.
for "vertical" music, may i suggest anything rachmaninov =) btw, great video. i guess the key to learning to sightread well is to play new sheet music daily. on the contrary, playing the same thing (or the same collection of things) over and over and over again... until it's prefect... does absolutely nothing for enhancing sightreading skills.
I think hands separate practice should be used primarily in the first few years of study up until around the intermediate level. Once a student is able to read adequately and play decently, it should be used less and less and eventually abolished altogether once one has reached the advanced-intermediate level.
POV: Your a really tall person getting a piano lesson
I was looking down at the screen, so I highly relate 😂😂
Supervising a piano lesson
Lol.
Best sight reading video on TH-cam. Thank you
Thank you so much! I lived in Asia, as you know, English is not our daily language. But I tried to get your points and followed your instructions. I have started to practice the church hymn without pedal in the first step. I used my ears and my brain to the holy songs when I played slowly. I love it!
Thank you again! May the Lord bless you and your family.
thank god I found your videos, all are very helpful! Thank you so much!!!
I've found ear training, particularly sight singing (or even better, 'sight hearing'), to be a most valuable tool for taking my sight reading to the next level. Even though I'm not fast enough at sight hearing yet to consciously apply it in real time to complex music such as piano concertos, I've found that it has helped my ability to sight read complex music immeasurably. I'm hoping that at some point, I'll be able to hear complex music in my head as I sight read it.
These tutorial videos have been so important to my learning. I've always wondered why my teacher has asked me if I learn hands-together or hands-seperately as it just seemed strange to seperate them. Thanks Cory for your teachings through these videos and I cannot wait until the next lesson! :-)
You and Tom brier are the greatest sight readers!
The best lesson on sight reading. Just got myself a hymnal. It makes real sense to start with vertical scores. Sight reading is so important and yet, most teachers don't invite or initiate their pupils to explain that it's a daily thing. Thanks so much for your tips. Sight reading has always been my "fear" so to speak but you managed to give it a brand new approach in 15 minutes. Brilliant! Thanks so much. Yoan xxx
I would say try to play all four voices at once but play only the simplest and least complex hymns. Great ones to start with are simple Christmas hymns like "Away in a Manger".
Depends a lot on which version you pick :) Some of the best choral versions aren't very easy to play at sight. Actually, I hate sight reading some of the most simple ones because they tend to run counter to my harmonic expectations (ruining all my voice leading muscle memory) but I digress
I plan on doing a tutorial sometime on pedaling. It's the most difficult aspect of piano playing and is hard to explain using just one camera. Most of the time when pedal isn't marked in a score, it doesn't mean you shouldn't use pedal. In fact, I don't know any composer who marks pedal every time it's necessary. Pianists should rely on their ears and common sense more than what's not written in the music. Chopin's E-minor Prelude needs pedal, definitely.
When I was about to finish my A.R.C.T. in piano performance, the only thing that was holding me back from receiving first class honors was my inability to sight read well. It was then I was tutored for sight playing by a very good teacher who advised me the best way to learn this aspect of musicianship was to practice reading from hymnals. Worked like magic! Now, confronted with constant blocks of notes in strict timing, my eyes were training themselves in the discipline of sight reading at a new level I had formally thought impossible for me.
Of course, one usually does not play hymnals exactly as written, but instead improvises around them in singing accompaniment, yet to practice sight reading ability hymnals are indeed invaluable.
Thanks Pammi. The Schubert book in this video was an old edition by Liszt that I found somewhere in a sale. I would recommend any standard edition of the Schubert dances, preferably one with not many editorial markings.
SO IMPRESSIVE ! I think what you do CORY unfortunetalty, most 99% of humans cannot do … you so gift
Just wanted to thank you for taking your time and sharing your musical abilitys and knowledge with us. I play guitar, but work on piano from time to time, have absolutely no way to work on or learn proper applied technique, your videos give a good visual perspective and help quite a lot with what I can observe. Thank you Cory, the efforts are much appreciated!
I don't think there is a formula to box-in the art of playing the piano since we are all with different capabilities and learning abilities. However, Cory has given us the best advice I have found so far on this subject. Thank you, Cory!
My family has the exact same ragtime book too! It was my mom's when she was young and we still have it today.
Thanks Cory! As always excellent advises and tutorials. Is an honor to learn from someone really dedicated to music teaching.
"Horizontal" music is when the texture is made of a melody with an accompaniment. "Vertical" music is when there are mostly chords, like in hymns or chorales. The notes in the chords are stacked up vertically and one must read them all at once and not one at a time. With melodies that are horizontal the notes are read one at a time.
I believe "cognitive overload" is a real issue, and the majority of people cannot learn both hands at once. What I have learned from all of these "sight reading" videos on YT is that you begin to recognize a group of notes as a "word" and your brain says "oh I know that word" .
I agree. But how do you go about recognizing chords as "words" especially when that chord is spread out over the staff?
Zenghitar by reading new music every single day for years... just like when you learned to read as a child
@@Zenghitar there are books that show you common chords and cadences. Focus on learning on or two of them every week. You'll be able to recognize lots of them pretty quickly.
I think your advice on playing with both hands at the same time is very important since, as you said, a lot teachers advice playing each hand separately. I think playing each hand on it own is easier at first, but does not help advance in sight reading. While playing both hands at the same time can be taunting for new students who do not want to be serious piano players. Thank you so much for this revealing video, as well as the immense amount of videos you have uploaded of you playing, and of giving advice.
I took a look at your channel and I wish these advice videos had their own sections.
Keep up the good work!
***** I may not have mentioned this, but I think beginners up to intermediate level around level 6 should play hands separately more. I always have my beginning students play separately. Also, I believe beginners should not be forced to sight read. Sight reading is overrated especially for the beginning levels. Once one becomes "advanced" though (after level 6), one should graduate to hands together more and gradually phase out hands separately. They should also be expected to sight read more and better due to their experience. Sorry if I didn't make this clear in my video. I guess what I was trying to say was that too many advanced students rely far too much on playing hands separately. I was not referring to beginners or even those who have played for only two or three years.
I see what you're saying. Thanks a lot for clarifying. For some reason, I got the impression that sight reading is a very important skill to have and to develop from early on. I see why it is overrated though, as in there are other skills that I think would should get more attention.
Thanks again!
You and I are complete opposites as I'm probably THE slowest sight reader on the planet...and I started it about the time you were born! I've learned Liszt, Beethoven, Rachmaninoff, Chopin, etc. (of course, can't remember 90% of it any more!) in the absolute most pathetic, painstaking way...I have to count up from the bottom (Every Good Boy...) for every-single-solitary-note!! Yeah, about 6 months to learn Un Sospiro, I just never could catch on. Guess I'm a hopeless case by now, I'm probably slower than about 99.999%! You totally lost me with this horizontal vs vertical stuff, I have no idea what you're talking about.
On another note - no pun intended...really - your video on the Bohemia Rag is just pure genius!!!! Blows my mind...best on TH-cam by a wide margin.
I always see sight reading like reading books out loud. The more you do it, the more fluent and easy it becomes :) I'd love to get to a point where i could sight read at your level :) I usually use church hymns to practice my sight reading since church hymn books usually have hundreds of pieces :)
I like that analogy! They are both reading, after all, and I've heard highly proficient sight-readers claim that reading music has become like reading English (or whatever language) to them
Also when you sight-read, everybody says to read ahead a bit of where you are, and the same thing is true of reading a story. Unless, of course, you want every line to sound flat or have an awkward cadence. Anybody who can read something for the first time with expression that makes it really pop as a story have to be reading a bit ahead to get enough context to know what the phrasing should sound like. It's not magic, it's totally logical!
Again, great comment
Bach's 4-part chorals are excellent. I'm a beginner and work through a few every morning. Hands together.
Thanks for this lesson... It's exactly what I was looking to better my sight reading study. Thank you!
So good teaching thank you. Would u please show what you mean by vertical
Thanks Cory, very informative and good video! Really helps! another good tip I got from Josh Wright is never look at the keys. I think you once said, that youre not too fond of this method, but for me, it did quite the trick! Cheers pal! Youre an amazing Pianist and Teacher!
Bachscholar,
One thing I always struggle with is actually being able to look at both the treble and the bass cleff at the same time, so I struggle in immediate dual-hand execution. Do you have any suggestions?
Kind regards...
(liked the Schubert book, by the way! haha)
just found your channel and book via Josh Wright and just bought your book today. I'm 39, took a decade off of paino and looking forward to continue my training.
Cory I enjoy your detailed tutorials. I am a piano teacher as well. I've learned a few things from you. Thanks
Of course there's hope! Just keep sight reading something new every day as well as reading pieces you can play already. Try focusing on chordal music like hymns and chorales. Good luck!
In spanish they are:
Lectura Musical=Reading just Musical Sheets no matter if you read them or are new(just the purpose of doing such action)
Lectura a primera vista=Sight Reading involves an ammount of levels related to how precise and fast you are with any sheet. This is just important to have at a high level when you are at a musical conservatory or going to enter one(the sight reading exam).
If it is just practising and a hobby, you will be ok.
Gracias por tus consejos, tu metodologia es muy buena y la voy a poner en practica.
You are a really worthy person!!!
What about sight reading Bach's fugues?
Wow! Thank you! Love the video! Informative and a guide to the right direction for practice!
Ty Virtual Master. You are very well spoken. Are those books expensive? I am from Perú(i never heard of them). So i think they can be expensive or even not in libraries at 2018. So the only way to get them is buying from amazon or ... idk. Waiting from your answer. Thanks.
Really great tips--thanks!
I'm not a teacher.. but teaching myself a melody was rewarding and encouraging because I was able to reproduce some part of the music. hearing it makes me want to do more
Very helpful, thanks.
Thanks for getting back to me so quickly, and for your advice.
I agree with you about learning hands together vs separately. I have learned a couple of Bach Inventions, and it's crazy trying to try to put things together after learning them separately. I am confused though on why it's best to steer away from horizontal music for sight reading. I play mostly horizontal music, more of the lyrical/romantic style. I do have great difficulty jumping with my hands though. Ex. Glinka's Barcarolle is difficult, and it shouldn't be. Will Vertical help?
Although I'm not a good piano player, I have to say, you are absolutely right :) I always learn the piece with two hands from the beginning because both hands are then "connected" and it's easier to speed up afterwards :) For me, it's difficult to connect both hands after I learned every hand seperately.
I love your point about practicing hands together, I always have this problem with sight reading, I start reading the right hand part and then I inevitably stop to look at the left hand part. It makes playing continuously very difficult.
Good videos Cory and keep going with this as I am enjoying viewing them.
Sight reading is important so is improvisation and plenty of theory, ear training, memorization etc. Great to use hymns for chord analysis and part writing.
Best regards,
Peter Tarsio
Thank you for sharing this. Lots of new insights here.
You talked about Church Hymnals and got me attentive... Thanks.
Thank you very much! Easily put for me to learn. I can't tank you enough!
Please keep these videos coming.
What you say about hands together is of course correct. It being a function of the brains way of working. The left and right hand movement being related one to the other in memory. But this is of course only relevant to learning the piece, not sight reading it. Most teachers recommend marking fingering but this again relates to reading or learning a piece as opposed to sight reading. My own experience is that it is not a good idea to sight read music you wish to learn, as great care must be taken to avoid errors or poor fingering from the outset.
A good tip to help sight read is to look through the piece before playing it and imagine the actions and fingering you will use. Also, its essential to make a judgement on what tempo you think you will be able to proceed without goofing up.
In order to improve my sight reading I read as rapidly as possible all of the prelude and fugues Book I and II from JS Bach, which will force you to learn most of the available chords, keys and modulations. Playing the hands together.
DAVID BURKE, Hi, how does it work for you?
Your tips from another video has really helped me. Thanks!
This is a very informative helpful video. Bravo kind sir.
Thank you! These are great tips! I am always looking to learn how to sightread better.
1)While practising sight reading,should I correct wrong notes or I should keep going till the end of the piece?. 2)How many times should I repeat the piece I'm trying to sight read it [ when I begin to memorise the piece,it won't be sight reading any more]. so should I turn to a new one?. 3) The more I practice ,the more I get results or, I don't have to over do it?.[ I mean for how long should I practise sight reading every day?]
Thanks for the video Cory... I'm trying to be a better sight reader and I've heard from others that when you are actually practicing sight reading, things like going slow, not looking at your hands, not stopping, and picking music that isn't too hard for you are all hugely important.... Do you agree?
AS someone who is learning without a teacher would you do a tutorial on pedaling? For the most part I use pedal as you did in this video(Lift the pedal with each new chord) to varying degrees. But I often times get confused when a score will say use no pedal and yet when I play that way to me it just sounds plain bad with no pedal. Is it really possible to play Chopins e minor prelude sostenuto with no pedal, for example?
I've practice Bach Inventions hands seperately then put them together and I've practiced Invention without doing hands seperately and I don't know if it mattered that much. Hand independence issue showed their ugly head regardless if I had done hands seperately or not. If something is really difficult then there are passages where I have to break them down. But generally I agree with Mr. Cory. Once I did put hands together it was like I started over anyway,
While playing through a Mozart sonata will fingering numbers help? I have grown accustomed to fingering indications in the Well tempered clavier and the two part inventions. I have a large book containing Mozart's sonatas that has no such indication. Is this a good or bad thing? I feel puzzled by the lack of fingering numbers in this book. What should I do?
This is exellent advise.I myself took lesson from Erwin Seeger a German who was placed in the top 10 at catnegie hall at one time. He taught one hands at a time, but I think the only reason he did was because I was learning music that was more advanced than I was technically ready for. Unfortunatly I used my ear to much as well and didn`t practice sight reading enough. You are lucky your experience and time was spent doing it right. Although, some with very good ears play very well.
It's the "Augener Edition (No. 8393B), Schubert Dances, Book II, edited by Liszt". It looks old and maybe out of print but maybe I'm wrong. I found it at a garage sale somewhere.
THANK YOU SIR
Really great tips, look forward to more of your expert teachings.
From my experience I’ll disagree with the focus on vertical music only. Perhaps, it was because I was also very harmonically interested and I had that basis already (by harmonizing simple songs myself). For me, reading Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven sonatas gave me many extra reading skills. And I enjoyed reading polyphonic music for the challenge of it. Of course not everything can be sight-read that way, but it helped enormously getting “mental” finger independence and e.g. reading more modern music.
Oh, I actually consider the vast majority of classical sonatas very much “vertical” music. The presence of a melody doesn’t really change that
Thank you. Very helpful.
I bought all of the schubert works and all of the haydn sonatas etc. in mini-print, expressly for sightreading. (Now-adays my eye sight would probably bother me, but still I do sight read in darkish rooms (I like it dark) with the stand down (so the book is flat before me). I guess you get used to it)
This, like so many of your other videos, was great. Thanks for posting it. What is the Schubert dance you played when you gave an example of his music?
Hi Cory! Wonderful video! I've been playing the piano now for a couple of months and I've memorized all the letters of the piano but the problem I'm still having is actually reading the music still because everytime I want to play the notes I have to keep singing the jingle E very G ood B oy D eserves Fudge FACE etc., all the piano teachers I have has taught me this but I feel like I keep failing when I want to just look at a line and know instantly that's an E or that's an F and so on! Please is there a trick to instantly recognize all the notes? Same problem I'm having with the ledger line notes. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thank you so much!
Thank you very much for making this video, Cory. It has helped me a lot
I agree with you on all points. I am a good sightreader, mostly from always learning new pieces, I prefer to sightread hands-together, etc. One thing I would recommend is that, if you can, avoid listening to the piece before you sightread it. This way, it becomes a lot easier to play at a comfortable tempo.
The argument against "playing hands separately" would make sense if reading and memorization were the same. But they're not. If a piece of music is too advanced for a student to read, then the student can either put it aside until s/he's ready for it or s/he can get value from it right now by reducing the cognitive load of the piece; and a good way to do that is to play just the bass staff and then play just the treble staff. This equates to playing left hand and then right hand separately. You make two (or more, if you want to pick out individual voices) passes at the piece. You thin it out. It's the same idea as playing each voice in a chorale one by one before playing them polyphonically. *Memorizing* a speech is not an analogy for *reading* music. Reading a speech is. And in fact it *would* be logical, and useful in principle (if the reading matter were too hard to read as-is) to have have a student first practice picking out the vowels in the speech and then later go through again reading the consonants (or some subset of the consonants; whichever glyphs had been learned so far). Similarly, your nouns and verbs analogy doesn't ring true to me because you're appealing to comprehension and not to reading (this video is about reading, right?). Reading is not comprehension. Being able to read words or music is not a predictor of whether the reader is understanding what is being read. Even at the level of parsing a group of notes into a chord, that's no more a demonstration of understanding than reading "cat" instead of "c-a-t". You still need to know what that word means just as you still need to know how that chord functions in the music (and you need to know what "functioning" even means, which no amount of reading training will tell you: that's comprehension and is a separate pursuit). Conflating reading and comprehension won't help anyone. IMHO, fingering is crucial to get right from day 1 because it helps you keep track of where your fingers are without looking at the keyboard. I agree that there's no need to write it in yourself, but most sight reading books and software these days have it written in already (although they should only write it when it's not obvious, and they don't, but that has to be tolerated). "Play most melodies legato", etc. Well, that quote is conflating reading and performance. Most folks are just struggling to develop the neurons that will allow them to read quickly, and the guidance in this video is pitched at too high a level for 95+% of people. Let people get good at reading quickly before adding the extra cognitive load of performing nicely. Kids learn to read the written word before we bug them with super-crisp pronunciation, projecting the voice, speaking in a nicer accent, or even a comical accent. In terms of reading music, you want to encourage folks to be reading the simplest pieces for their level, they should be giving themselves very high volumes of stuff to read, always be trying to read stuff they haven't seen before, and not looking at the keyboard but playing by feel instead. Look at Shawn Cheek's guidance on reading score, I would urge folks to hear his guidance, it's more useful and practical and logical than this video. I'd also suggest that nobody cares about the distinction between reading and sight reading. Nobody expects nor aspires to be able to perform a piece perfectly and at the correct speed at first sight. Being able to read competently has a couple of main purposes: one is to build a beautiful and crisp internal mental model of the keyboard as a physical instrument and the notes and intervals and chords laid over that construct; the other is in order to be able to input new pieces into the brain with a high-bandwidth transfer rate for purposes of analysis, performance, or just pleasure.
+Steven Charles White Verbose and convoluted.
+Steven Charles White Of course "nobody cares about the distinction between reading and sight-reading" because the two two terms aren't understood correctly. Time and time again I hear people say "sight-reading" when in fact they really mean "reading".
I've always thought that the term "sight-reading" is a misnomer. Wouldn't "sight-playing" be more accurate?
Great question, Roger! I daresay all musicians have wondered the same thing at one time or another. Here's my understanding of the term. The Italian language features prominently in musical terminology. Reading a piece of music nearly always implies playing it, too. Reading a piece of music "a prima vista" ("at first sight") is the idea of reading a score that you haven't seen before, so you haven't had chance to get familiar with it, nor to memorize nor begin to internalize it. Let's say you read a piece of music 50 times in your life. You only get the opportunity to read it "at first sight" once, so we actually read "at first sight" statistically very infrequently. Why is why I cast doubt on its relevance. Few people can competently read at first sight these days. When you see someone "reading music" the chances are they're playing it mostly from memory, and using the score as a prompt/reminder. Now, back to the terms. Over time, the expression "reading at first sight" corrupted into the confusing and lazy term "sight-reading", and that corruption is the source of this confusion of terms. A newcomer to music sees "sight-reading" and assumes that the word "sight" is merely referring to the fact that you have to use your sight in order to read. Like you did, folks think that it's a pretty silly and redundant term for "reading music". But they use the term, and they use it incorrectly. So the mistake has spread and become endemic of confusing "sight-reading" with just plain old "reading" (meaning "reading whether or not it's the first time you've seen the score"). At this point in history I feel like it's too late to correct this widespread mistake and so I would say that it's best to avoid using the term "sight-reading" if you want to be understood. If you're talking about reading music regardless of how many times you've seen the score in the past, then I'd suggest any of the terms "reading score", "reading music", or "reading written music". If you're talking about the very first time you see a score (which as I say seems like largely an irrelevant, special case, to me, so I'm not sure why we need a term for it) then I would suggest reviving the original expression and just appending the words "at first sight" to either of those previous three terms. Since in the vast majority of cases you're playing the score at the same time as you're reading it, I think that the term "reading" already implies "playing", so I wouldn't worry about introducing the word "playing" here.
I think what bothers me is using the term "reading'' to require the simultaneous playing of the music. It's like saying you're not reading print unless you're also typing the words into a QWERTY keyboard. So is there another term for going through the score away from the piano but understanding fully how everything applies to the keyboard?
Good upload.
thanks a lot. fingering is very good
A lot of Welsh hymn books are sol-fa (which I think is 'vertical' music!). This is an inspiring video because I'm not brilliant at sight reading or reading music - as you say - it takes practice! Thanks for your videos!
Thanks very much.
Reading vertically is toughest for me. Especially from upper to lower staff.
Your voice calms me. I bet you're on of those people who's incapable of feeling anger.
I thought it was something like that but as complex as piano is I wanted to know what could be considered a right or most common answer. About sostenuto, I have an upright I got for free from craigslist and it's no grand piano...When I try and play sostenuto with no pedal I can depress than lift the keys but not all the way back up and depress them again to get a somewhat sustained sound.. It's this a technique that people practice and master that is maybe more capable with a better piano? Thx
Great video, thanks. I am beginner sight reader and have been using Mikrokosmos by Bartok for a few months. I have just purchased a book of Bach Chorales and it's painfully slow to sight read and play the pieces.
Wow thanks for all your very valuable info! Terrific video!
Will you make a video on ear training? That would help me a lot because I want to learn how to play by ear
Thanks for the tutorial! It's always helpful since I can't afford a piano teacher right now. Thank you.
nice to hear something about you and your life...its the same thing with me. i come from scholl and learn joplins rags to :)
Thank you, very helpful! God bless
Hi. I found you when looking for video of Clementi's p. 36. No.3. Thanks for the lesson! I sight read hymns all the time. I will try your suggestion to play without pedal first. I'm so addicted to it. I dsiagree about the two hands togeather. This week I was about to throw Bach Invention No 1 in the garbage, but my teacher said don't give up-- use metronome and hands separate for a few weeks. I'm going to try that. Found old copy of Joplin. Never played rags. Will give it a try! Thanks!
I appreciate the point you touch on at 11:48. Make playing musical with phrasing and control. It helps me to listen to what I am playing as I play, and try to make it sound to me more musical. Then arms hands and fingers almost unconsciously combine to produce a beautiful musical sound. I'm not sure of the technical term for this process. Self listening? or Feedback loop? Whatever. It cures robotic mechanical playing. Also, it allows us to make music even on crummy instruments. TY again.
i wish i had enough money to buy your book, it seems really good and it's highly rated.
Ah ..., nice Sir Hall. VERY NICE!!!
Thank you, Cory!
Very cool story, I'm very into ragtime music as well, they're so fun to play. Very nice videos keep it up!
Thank you!
Would you suggest when you first try to tackle sight reading that you should move on to a piece after one run through as it then becomes reading, or learn piece by piece until you have fully conquered them?
***** Learn bit by bit until you can play the piece. Sightreading really isn't that important because it only happens once. It's like getting all paranoid about eating breakfast on one day even though you have to eat breakfast every day.
Question: What is the best way to sight read notes that are very high and very low in the music staff? Thank you
David
Thank you, Cory for this video. This is the first time that I have seen any of your videos, and I will continue to view your presentations. I am so frustrated with trying to learn how to play the piano. Music classes didn't work for me; but I still would like to pursue my childhood dream. Could you give me any ideas that would help get me past this bump (wall)? I use an electronic keyboard, and confess that I do not practice regularly. Thanks, again.
nice tips!
very interesting... ...why verticle? why is that easier? i enjoy sight reading prelude/fuges by bach. Maybe you are thinking that it is harder to see the tonal centers/chords? what i like about sight reading fuges is that there are not so many notes )))) ...at one point in time!
It's not easier. Most pianists are lacking in vertical reading and their reading of chords lags far behind the reading of more vertical scale type passages. Also, 80% of all piano music is based on vertical chords, not on horizontal scale type passages.
@@BachScholar check. So I ordered a copy of some 300 Bach Chorales, will (sight) read through it and then go back to my prelude/fugues and update on improved sight reading skills. Its just so interesting, because throughout my long musical experience (also from childhood, now 52) I somewhat rejected vertical music as a whole in favor of the immediate and often more sincere expression of melody (horizontal). Looking at the ancient history of music surely it was monophonic or simple polyphony.... ...so I would see people playing chords more often as an expression of theory rather than a heart-level expression. With that said, rags would be the obvious exception ))))... ..its like this, when I ask you "how does the entertainer go" you would sing a melody not some expression of chords....
@@BachScholar ok I have a good start on my 371 vierstimmige Choraele fuer ein Tasten Instrument (Orgel, Klavier, Cembalo). Question, what do you do with the inner voices when they are a 13th away from the lowest note and a 13th away from the highest note? Or better example (sometimes I can make the 13th) a 15th! Arpeggio, grace note, dealer's choice? )))) But thanks for the tip.... ...bazaar music, makes me want to see how all this BWV is organized anyway.....
FYI did find this, thanks! but does not answer my question... www.bachscholar.com/how-to-practice-bach-chorales
I find knowing theory and counterpoint (and their applications such as ear-training and sight-singing) helps immensely in sight-reading, just because you know what you're playing and can somewhat expect where things are gonna go. This is especially true for horizontal music.
Liszt could probably sight-read Bach fugues lol
I'm a bass player who is musically trained and was very good at sight reading orchestral parts for my instrument. I've devoted a lot of time recently to improving my piano playing, but my piano sight reading is still novice although I try again and again. Is there hope for me?
great sight-reading advice!
The hymn you play at 12:45 is very beautiful, can you tell me the name of it?
Dear Lord and father of Mankind, forgive our foolish ways( first line of first verse). Hope your hymnal has this in alphabetical index
Cory, thanks for this! Would Chopin waltzes/mazurkas and Bach preludes from WTC or WTC II be in the "Stay Away" category?
+JH5280 Yes, I don't think those are good sight-reading material unless you are a concert pianist with lots of experience. Also, remember that you should be sight-reading at least two levels below your current level. For example, if you are at "Level 6" according to the average grading system then your sight-reading material should be no higher than "Level 4". Most pianists try to sight-read with far too difficult music.
+BachScholar . I've never read from a 4-part Hymnal book before, seems pretty difficult. Is there anything you would recommend starting with first to work up to that level before jumping in head first? Or would you just start sight-reading from it as best you can? I guess I'm not sure what my "level" would be. I've never been the greatest sight reader. Single notes are fine, but lots of chords in both hands proves to be difficult for me.
+JH5280 Start wit two-part pieces, like Bach Inventions or something easier but with two independent voices per staff.
for "vertical" music, may i suggest anything rachmaninov =)
btw, great video. i guess the key to learning to sightread well is to play new sheet music daily.
on the contrary, playing the same thing (or the same collection of things) over and over and over again... until it's prefect... does absolutely nothing for enhancing sightreading skills.
Thanks for a really interesting and helpful lesson.