Dear Prof, this is a beautiful and clear lesson. I’ve downloaded the plan and will be using it tomorrow and going forward. I do sightread every day but have not significantly improved. Now I don’t have excuses! Thank you so much, Tom
I had trouble understanding how to go about sight reading, even with my piano teacher. This video helped me understand how properly practice this skill.❤
Thank you from an adult beginner trying to figure this out one key at a time..which gets frustrating. This will help me start experiencing the music 🎶 🎵 from the pages.
Your videos are really helpful. I'm Fr Daniel, a Catholic Priest from Tanzania, East Africa It is my greatest dream to know music in the Highest levels. Suppose I could be in the colleges that you teach, I could benefit much. Your advice please matters a lot to me. What shall I do that one day I become one of the Maestros like you.? You really inspire me a lot, professor. I pray that God gives you long and healthier life that we benefit much. You are in my heart Professor. Kind regards Daniel
Very useful indeed. Besides the checklist’s great usefulness your observations of the piece in terms of music theory is something I hope you always keep in your videos. Thank you. I’m new to your channel so i don’t know if you delve into music theory using pieces but a series like that sometimes even using more complex pieces would be very useful and very interesting. Thank you again
Thanks for your comment! I don't normally talk exclusively about music theory on this channel (the focus is on piano), but when I teach pieces I definitely include it because it's a crucial element to understanding and interpreting the music. Welcome - glad you're here!
This might have been too obvious to go on your checklist but I made a funny mistake today. I sightread a piece, by a 20th century composer with an Eastern European name. I was thinking this sounds really interesting. Very modern. I loved it. Then I realised I forgot to check the clefs. It was two treble clefs instead of a treble and bass clef. That’s how bad my sight reading is.
Thank you so much for this, Prof. Boyd. I've just come across your channel and love the way you explain things. This lesson is absolute gold. I'll be refering to the checklist until it becomes second nature. So glad I found you.
Hi Prof, I had just discovered your videos yesterday and learnt valuable fundamental techniques from them. Thank you! Also could I request a video on tempo names/terms that are indicated at the start of the music sheet? It is kind of confusing and vague when I see a certain tempo indication (e.g. Allegro) and most of the pianists on TH-cam plays at a different bpm than what I understand from the tempo name's bpm. For example, Clementi's Sonatina Op 36 No 1 3rd movement; Vivace is indicated but most on YT played it at 200 bpm or more. Isn't that more like Prestissimo? I have started learning the piano on my own recently - very slowly. 😛
This is a good idea!!!! I'll think about this and see what I can come up with. As a short answer, I can say that the tempo markings on a metronome are not "absolute" and an "Allegro" tempo has no direct correlation to any bpm. Also, the metronome marking does not usually refer to the smallest note value. For example, in the Clementi movement you mention, if you put the metronome on 200 BPM, you are putting 1 click per eighth note. However, the beat is actually 3 eighth notes long (a dotted quarter), and so you'd divide the 200 BPM by 3 to get roughly 70 BPM. Play it with 1 click for each beat (in 6/8 1 beat is a dotted quarter note), and then you will hear that makes more musical sense. That said, you can see that 70 on a metronome is given some arbitrary tempo indication by the metronome manufacturers, like Andante or something, which doesn't really have any meaning that relates to the piece. Hope this helps clarify! Meanwhile, I'll add this to my list of suggested topics!
@@ThePianoProfKateBoyd I am looking forward to your video. Still a little confused but I think I will understand your explanation. 😁 Oh, that brings me to another question. If the tempo marking has no direct correlation to bpm, how do our modern day pianists know how fast to play those classicals? Since we obviously cannot ask the composers. You don't have to answer here, I will learn from your future video. Thank you!
I got a tip from a professor that i shouldn't look down at the keys at all when sight reading . To learn to orient myself like i am blind. but as an early intermediate student that s very hard to do. I found that almost everyone looks down.... what is your opinion about that ?
I understand how you feel conflicted! Looking at the score more and scanning ahead while sight reading definitely will be beneficial to you, although I know it is difficult. Feel free to refer to this video for tips on how to play without looking down! th-cam.com/video/y3QWb0AulGs/w-d-xo.html
I'm sorry to hear that! The sightreading guide should open as a page that you can view and then download from there. Did it do that? Is your email the same as your TH-cam handle?
Thank you, dear Prof for this great video with a concrete example. Isn't the clef change at the start of the second line important enough to be included on the checklist or at least taken into account (mentioned / circled) during the analysis?
Thanks for that observation! True - you can take note of the clef change when you look for patterns, etc, and it would be worthy of circling/noting especially if clef changes are new or tricky for you. TBH I didn't include it b/c I didn't notice it! 😂 But even without it as a checklist item (a clef change is relatively infrequent compared to the other items discussed), it's something that you'd take note of when examining the score for things like musical patterns, etc. 😊
Sorry to hear that! Sometimes pop-up blockers or spam filters can interfere. If you send me your email through this form, I'll email it to you directly: thepianoprof.com/contact/
I wonder what your thoughts are on things the 20/30/40/50 or even 100 piece challenges, do you think its an effective way of improving sight reading skills? musicality? etc. Thanks for the great tips :)
Thank you for the lesson! I have a question about fingering. Do we need somehow understand it before first playing, or find the best fingering after playing several times?
When you are sightreading a piece for the very first time, less attention will naturally be given to the fingering as you are mainly focused on comprehending patterns and groups of notes. Looking over the fingering beforehand can be helpful, or you can gradually begin to figure out fingering as you are learning the piece.
Could the composer have notated it as 4/4 time and written quarter notes instead of sixteenth notes? What was the reason for using 2/8 and sixteenth notes?
👉GET THE SIGHT READING CHECKLIST HERE: thepianoprof.com/Checklist
How lucky I am to have found this video. It is very useful for me as a composer to watch these videos. Thanks for sharing. I got good ideas🙏⚘❤
Glad it was helpful! Good luck!
Dear Prof, this is a beautiful and clear lesson. I’ve downloaded the plan and will be using it tomorrow and going forward. I do sightread every day but have not significantly improved. Now I don’t have excuses! Thank you so much, Tom
Wonderful! I hope you find it helpful!
I had trouble understanding how to go about sight reading, even with my piano teacher. This video helped me understand how properly practice this skill.❤
Glad it helped!
You are to good to mess up correctly.
I loved this video, I'm going to practice my sightreading like this now. Thank you so much ❤
You're welcome! Happy practicing! 😊
You have helped me so much as an adult student with many gaps!
Thank you from an adult beginner trying to figure this out one key at a time..which gets frustrating. This will help me start experiencing the music 🎶 🎵 from the pages.
Wonderful! Good luck on your journey!
This helps so much. Thank you. ❤
You're so welcome! Glad it was helpful!
Thank you for this, Professor Boyd. Such great steps to take when sightreading!
Glad it was helpful!
Dear Prof thanks very much for sharing your knowledge with us
I was waiting for this video so long !
So nice of you to write that! I'm glad you found it helpful!
Very helpful,thank you Prof❤
Glad to hear that!! Good luck!
Your videos are really helpful.
I'm
Fr Daniel, a Catholic Priest from Tanzania, East Africa
It is my greatest dream to know music in the Highest levels.
Suppose I could be in the colleges that you teach, I could benefit much.
Your advice please matters a lot to me. What shall I do that one day I become one of the Maestros like you.?
You really inspire me a lot, professor.
I pray that God gives you long and healthier life that we benefit much.
You are in my heart Professor.
Kind regards
Daniel
Thank you-- love your teaching
Very useful indeed. Besides the checklist’s great usefulness your observations of the piece in terms of music theory is something I hope you always keep in your videos. Thank you.
I’m new to your channel so i don’t know if you delve into music theory using pieces but a series like that sometimes even using more complex pieces would be very useful and very interesting.
Thank you again
Thanks for your comment! I don't normally talk exclusively about music theory on this channel (the focus is on piano), but when I teach pieces I definitely include it because it's a crucial element to understanding and interpreting the music. Welcome - glad you're here!
Thank you very much! It's the best lesson and very useful!
You are welcome! So kind of you!
Thank you for this 🙂
You're very welcome! 😊
This might have been too obvious to go on your checklist but I made a funny mistake today. I sightread a piece, by a 20th century composer with an Eastern European name. I was thinking this sounds really interesting. Very modern. I loved it. Then I realised I forgot to check the clefs. It was two treble clefs instead of a treble and bass clef. That’s how bad my sight reading is.
That is an easy thing to overlook! I hope you can have grace and patience for yourself in your future sightreading! 😊
Thank you professor for such helpful tips
You are very welcome! Thanks for watching! 😊🎹
Thank you so much for this, Prof. Boyd. I've just come across your channel and love the way you explain things. This lesson is absolute gold. I'll be refering to the checklist until it becomes second nature. So glad I found you.
Thank you! I'm glad you're here! 🎹
Hi Prof, I had just discovered your videos yesterday and learnt valuable fundamental techniques from them. Thank you! Also could I request a video on tempo names/terms that are indicated at the start of the music sheet? It is kind of confusing and vague when I see a certain tempo indication (e.g. Allegro) and most of the pianists on TH-cam plays at a different bpm than what I understand from the tempo name's bpm.
For example, Clementi's Sonatina Op 36 No 1 3rd movement; Vivace is indicated but most on YT played it at 200 bpm or more. Isn't that more like Prestissimo?
I have started learning the piano on my own recently - very slowly. 😛
This is a good idea!!!! I'll think about this and see what I can come up with. As a short answer, I can say that the tempo markings on a metronome are not "absolute" and an "Allegro" tempo has no direct correlation to any bpm. Also, the metronome marking does not usually refer to the smallest note value. For example, in the Clementi movement you mention, if you put the metronome on 200 BPM, you are putting 1 click per eighth note. However, the beat is actually 3 eighth notes long (a dotted quarter), and so you'd divide the 200 BPM by 3 to get roughly 70 BPM. Play it with 1 click for each beat (in 6/8 1 beat is a dotted quarter note), and then you will hear that makes more musical sense.
That said, you can see that 70 on a metronome is given some arbitrary tempo indication by the metronome manufacturers, like Andante or something, which doesn't really have any meaning that relates to the piece.
Hope this helps clarify! Meanwhile, I'll add this to my list of suggested topics!
@@ThePianoProfKateBoyd I am looking forward to your video. Still a little confused but I think I will understand your explanation. 😁
Oh, that brings me to another question. If the tempo marking has no direct correlation to bpm, how do our modern day pianists know how fast to play those classicals? Since we obviously cannot ask the composers. You don't have to answer here, I will learn from your future video. Thank you!
Any books you all can recommend, like a good progression pieces to improve sight reading?
Here's a video I made about sight reading books: th-cam.com/video/haCpQvM6Beg/w-d-xo.html
I got a tip from a professor that i shouldn't look down at the keys at all when sight reading . To learn to orient myself like i am blind. but as an early intermediate student that s very hard to do. I found that almost everyone looks down.... what is your opinion about that ?
I understand how you feel conflicted! Looking at the score more and scanning ahead while sight reading definitely will be beneficial to you, although I know it is difficult. Feel free to refer to this video for tips on how to play without looking down!
th-cam.com/video/y3QWb0AulGs/w-d-xo.html
Another gem of inspiration for improving at the piano! Thank you! But the sightreading guide never showed up in my email after 3 tries. :(
I'm sorry to hear that! The sightreading guide should open as a page that you can view and then download from there. Did it do that? Is your email the same as your TH-cam handle?
Thank you, dear Prof for this great video with a concrete example. Isn't the clef change at the start of the second line important enough to be included on the checklist or at least taken into account (mentioned / circled) during the analysis?
Thanks for that observation! True - you can take note of the clef change when you look for patterns, etc, and it would be worthy of circling/noting especially if clef changes are new or tricky for you. TBH I didn't include it b/c I didn't notice it! 😂 But even without it as a checklist item (a clef change is relatively infrequent compared to the other items discussed), it's something that you'd take note of when examining the score for things like musical patterns, etc. 😊
Thank you, Prof. Boyd. :)
I did not get a link in my email
Sorry to hear that! Sometimes pop-up blockers or spam filters can interfere. If you send me your email through this form, I'll email it to you directly: thepianoprof.com/contact/
I was able to finally get a copy of the piano sight reading check list. Thank you for your quick response.
I wonder what your thoughts are on things the 20/30/40/50 or even 100 piece challenges, do you think its an effective way of improving sight reading skills? musicality? etc.
Thanks for the great tips :)
Absolutely! I love these kinds of challenges - they can be very effective at improving both sight reading skills and musicality!
Thank you for the lesson! I have a question about fingering. Do we need somehow understand it before first playing, or find the best fingering after playing several times?
When you are sightreading a piece for the very first time, less attention will naturally be given to the fingering as you are mainly focused on comprehending patterns and groups of notes. Looking over the fingering beforehand can be helpful, or you can gradually begin to figure out fingering as you are learning the piece.
Could the composer have notated it as 4/4 time and written quarter notes instead of sixteenth notes? What was the reason for using 2/8 and sixteenth notes?
Typically a "smaller" time signature implies a faster tempo. So, a 2/8 tempo will often have a faster base tempo than 4/4.
last note is an e in the treble key not a c ...c major c e g
🙏🙏🙏