Great episode. It's refreshing to see such a pro like you making little mistakes with sight reading at full tempo and not editing them out! Your videos are hugely helpful and I intend to be a ProPractice regular once my skills are up to these pieces. Thanks!!
Like all of your videos Josh this one is so helpful and spot on. I’ve often thought that we need to distinguish between two types of sight reading. There’s plenty of overlap, but it’s important to make the distinction, because it determines how we practice. One sight-reading approach is basically the one you go over here, which is the “I’m practicing slowly and carefully now” read-through. You’re sight-reading and learning the notes, but stopping and repeating and making connections in your brain. The other type of sight reading is what I call the “last-minute vocal audition” way of sight reading. Where you set the metronome, you start and don’t stop, until you reach the finish line. And you don’t correct, and you don’t repeat, and you keep going even with one hand or a single line, at all costs. There’s overlap here, but the second way is definitely a different mindset. Both are equally important skills! Just thought I’d make that distinction, at least as I see it. Thanks so much for your amazing channel. Blair McMillen, NYC pianist and prof
This is very interesting. I tried one of your other sight reading videos and was instantly helped. There's a retired chair of the university's piano accompaniment dept who goes to my church and I learned recently that he can sight read at tempo and at the same time can transpose as needed. I've taken sight reading much more seriously and it's becoming enjoyable. Thanks for your great channel.
Having learned and practiced scales and arpeggios in most tonalities helps a LOT because your brain anticipates fingering and possible musical structures
yes scales are the BEST exercises, because you can work on EVERYTHING, fingers coordination, sounds equality or dynamic, velocity, looseness, regularity, articulation, music theory, fingering as you said which is SO helpful for sight reading, and even creativity.
josh your pieces are amazing and you play so well can do a video about your journey and how you became such a great piano player and what were the obstacels that you had to face and how you resolved them ?
Holy crap i just stumbled upon this channel. I've been playing for about 11 years now and my sight reading is still atrocious... yours is out of this world, i'm blown away
let me tell you that that was just about okay. ^^ I am studying piano at the university... there are many REALLY good sight readers here. I am about okay I´d say as well... if what you just saw is on like level 30, than the real good sight readers at my universitiy are at like level 80...
Dear Josh, thanks for this great video. I started studying the piano privately when I was 6 and carried on. I can play long pieces and I must say I am not too bad with interpretation but sight reading has always put me off. What's refreshing about your tip is that you're probably the only one to say that you can play the same passage a few times if you wish. I know that 99% of teachers insist on not stopping and tell you to carry on to next piece etc. However on recent sight reading books, I noted things like " Repeat measure three times". So, I am so grateful for that little key you've given me. I have always been so stressed out with sight reading that I do it for 10 min and give up. And I cannot see the problem in repeating 5 times the same passage since sight reading involves reading blocks of notes instead of reading them one by one. And all pieces are made of the same ( ok, thousands...or fewer I don't know ....endless) different blocks, scales, note structures and so on, so why not train since you're bound to come across them at some point? That's liberating to me and the slow practice is important too. So, thanks so much for your input. Very much appreciated. Best wishes. Yoan
What i suggest what will help your sight reading is playing songs for the hell of it. have the idea "lets see what happenes." If you are doing songs not too difficult you will get better at sight reading and pushing your self to more harder pieces without realizing it. i like to work on sections before moving on to tackle next section. Beccause of this if you get used to the first section fairly well you are bound to run into some similiar notes, and intervals that will take the stress off seeing you already know it being happy you just got another chunk of the piece EZ! Also take risk. As in if you are still not sure of the notes just play it what you think it is and revise it when you try it again. dont be afraid of the piano. Just think it's one big experiment. dont look at your hands unless big interval. Just try not to look at your hands for the most part. And if you see a weird interval try and nail it without seeing. look ahead sooo this goes with dont look at hands. Because if you look at hands and lose focus for that 1 second you lose your place you lose your fingering you lose your concentration and fuck it all up! keep hands on piano at all times. its all about feeling the hand structure and fingering. If you keep hands on piano it will help you see a pattern to continue the piece to make it less confuscion. And even if you dont get right fingering just keep going and see what works and go back to try and get a fingering that connects the 2 passages. all these work together! just giving my 2 cents ;)
Thanks for your tips, very insightful. Nice idea about the songs. I know the trick about the hands and I definitely try not to look at them. I am not that bad at it but what I don't like is the absolute rule that YOU MUST NEVER SIGHT READ the same passage again. It doesn't make sense to me because music is made of the same patterns over and over again so why not get accustomed to them by repeating 2 or 3 times. It's still sight reading as Josh said. Anyway, thanks for your input. Best regards, Yoan
Yoan D Mest i never heard that rule "must not sight read same passage again" thats not a rule thats like a nazi law. Fuck that. Just be you and whatever helps you get better!
AHhahaha! True. I have heard and read that so many times and that's what's probably held me back. Yeah, f*** them. Ahaha. Learning sight reading should be fun but my teachers made it HELL. When I started, I had a problem with the D key. I kept forgetting about it so she went " Stop it now or I'll put a note around your neck that says" YOAN IS AN IDIOT AND DOESN'T KNOW HIS D KEY - pun not intended...LOL....And she went " I'll walk you around the city with that around your neck". She wasn't my teacher for long. You can be strict to some extent but this was too much. Soviet style teaching. LOL.
Yoan D Mest LOLLLLLLLL THATS HILARIOUS. D key lol. i gotta use that as a pun now with piano and girls "i play piano.....let me teach you where the d key is" hahahahahaha
Im quite a beginner at piano , and it looks in my opinion that sight reading is the final point of every technique, (not looking at your hands when playing, scales, arpeggios, music theory! , and patterns) Thanks a lot for your channel and your videos, the effort you put into those is amazing .Thanks. A lot. Seriously.
Thanks for this video on sight reading, I find it very helpful to me. I also agree with Eric Vannasse that it's good to know even you can make little mistakes. It gives me the confidence that I am slowly getting better.
Thanks. At the risk of sounding obvious - though it feels like a revelation for me, at my very rudimentary level of music sight-reading - the process of seeing clumps of notes/relations just as you've described here is the way I read prose. And as I've been struggling to build music sight-reading skills, I've never before imagined this process as analogous to the process of learning to read music at an advanced level--but now the analogy seems obvious and will help guide me...
ThommasThompson I am not the best note reader by far.. I can honestly say Josh I many times a better reader than I am. However these apps sometimes over simplify.. Has any advanced musicians ever rated them?. They seem to be more aimed at beginners.
Good point. Almost sight reading is still sight reading. I read as many pieces from as many composers as I can, but the time between the first reading and second reading and third reading might be months, sometimes years. And it’s a lot like sight reading every time!
So weird that you flipped through to that example because I'm familiar with that piece from flipping to it in my own recent practicing as well. The tips in here help cement that what I naturally end up doing is a good way to go. Definitely helps knowing this to become more mindful; I'll be adopting the taking it a line at a time method as well. I usually fumble through a piece until I hit a wall or burn out and only end up doing that with particularly challenging parts, but it is probably good to build a mental buffer like that and take it slow. I had the same experience with reading an entire score when I tried out conducting while being mindful of all the players and the music at hand. It is very impressive. The accompanists in choirs also greatly inspired me to become a better sight reader. What can also be difficult after learning the piece is memorizing it. Some passages, especially in seemingly simple pieces like this, just don't seem to click, while others are so effortless to commit to memory.
I would love to be able to see the sheet music edited as a side-by-side of the video or something, or even a link in the description. Otherwise, great video and thank you for the insight!
I like when you mentioned how you read the groups of notes instead of each note - I always find that I start tripping on my notes when im sight reading!
How does one know where their hand position should be as they are sight reading? You could sort of 'run out of fingers" or get yourself into a situation of very awkward fingering that would cause an abrupt stop? Just to let you know, I'm a lowly beginner pianist..... :-(
Scott Lum, sight reading is very difficult, so beginners shouldn't expect to be able to sight read a piece anywhere near full tempo. Try playing a piece painfully slow, at a pace where you can keep track of the notes you're playing while being able to look ahead and watch out for difficult fingerings, or for places that require you to move your hand. That way you can watch out so you don't "run out of fingers"
Scott BikeDawg That's a skill you need to work out as with jumping the piano and keyboard geography In one of my books they have you analyze fingerings
Awesome video Josh, I'm relieved to hear your opinion on replaying certain sections for gaining further sight reading ability. What are your opinions on sight reading books ( The Paul Harris 'Improve Your Sight Reading!' series for example ) ?
Hi Josh! Thanks for all your work. Watched your video on playing the best piano you can get, but I've played my whole life on just OK uprights at best. I'm now playing some fun stuff at church, including some classical pieces but am struggling to play their awesome new Yamaha grand...feels like my small hands are stumbling over the keys. If I concert tune my upright will it help? Is there any hope without an awesome grand?
Good points. I am not the best note reader, butI I have no necessity to read music instantly.. This may help newer learners First. Josh you touched on..you must know your notes first. Here is an analogy to reading a book. I learned from Dick and Jane.. See spot chase the ball.etc. When we first started out we read phonically and slowly. What happens is we later on see whole sentences. If we don't know our notes we can only go slow. The chords and measures themselves can be likened to sentences. Now it's best to read just a little ahead in case we see any words or keys we don't know. Now,Josh says we Continue to learn to sight read. The more you read music or books the better you get. These techniques are advanced but they help standard music readers also. I don't care if I have to read it over and practice again. For newer learners you must know your notes instantly. Four octaves would be desirable, but pieces like Menuet in G by Bach is good training.for general note reading. Read and say the notes even the chords before starting. If I'm doing something in C minor natural.. I know that it has Eb Ab and Bb is from the parent scale of Eb. When I'm saying them I just say E and know it is an Eb.. If you are being tested you have to say the Eb.. The basic premise of sight reading is to know the notes instantly. Flash cards have never worked for me. Get a song you are familiar with ..Say the note and the identification Eg. C3 G5.B2. To be a proficient note reader one must know exactly where the note is on their instrument.
Nice man , Gbu Nice piano man...what model is it ? I know is a stynway. You are absolutely right on your advised, organized the whole score...if we practice enough all this tip... eventually we'll be able to get really good at sight reading. I know about a dude that came to practice a new song , jazz with groove ...very complicated still , he grabbed the three pages and scanned with his eyes in a couple minutes, Done , He got it , of course it wasn't a Sonata but I'm talking really complicated stuff lots of changes , some scary , this dude got it like a computer. Yes , eventually we'll get really good at sight reading....Gbu
Other piano instructors on TH-cam suggest learning one hand at a time. You suggest doing both at the same time but just slower. I'm curious what you and other people think?
+Goldenturkey Daniel Barenboim, simply for his superior interpretation of Beethoven's sonatas and overall understanding of composition and musical understanding which goes to almost mystic depths.
+Goldenturkey Lang Lang is certainly a great showman but I don't think he gets a lot of respect from serious pianist and musicians. My personal favorites among currently active pianist are Marc-Andre Hamelin and Stephen Hough.
Hi Ian - yes, the "music only" disc will be the one we upload to iTunes. So, if you just want that it will be uploaded soon (not sure of the wait time for them to publish it). But, it is a 2-disc set, so if you'd like the Narrations+Music combo, plus the Music Only album, you can get that from our website. Hope you're doing well my friend. Thanks for all of the support over the years
Great episode. It's refreshing to see such a pro like you making little mistakes with sight reading at full tempo and not editing them out! Your videos are hugely helpful and I intend to be a ProPractice regular once my skills are up to these pieces.
Thanks!!
+Eric Vanasse Thanks so much for the support Eric. Best of luck in your studies, and let me know if you ever have any questions I can help with.
-Josh
@@joshwrightpiano Lov u dude
Like all of your videos Josh this one is so helpful and spot on. I’ve often thought that we need to distinguish between two types of sight reading. There’s plenty of overlap, but it’s important to make the distinction, because it determines how we practice.
One sight-reading approach is basically the one you go over here, which is the “I’m practicing slowly and carefully now” read-through. You’re sight-reading and learning the notes, but stopping and repeating and making connections in your brain.
The other type of sight reading is what I call the “last-minute vocal audition” way of sight reading. Where you set the metronome, you start and don’t stop, until you reach the finish line. And you don’t correct, and you don’t repeat, and you keep going even with one hand or a single line, at all costs.
There’s overlap here, but the second way is definitely a different mindset. Both are equally important skills! Just thought I’d make that distinction, at least as I see it. Thanks so much for your amazing channel. Blair McMillen, NYC pianist and prof
This is very interesting. I tried one of your other sight reading videos and was instantly helped. There's a retired chair of the university's piano accompaniment dept who goes to my church and I learned recently that he can sight read at tempo and at the same time can transpose as needed. I've taken sight reading much more seriously and it's becoming enjoyable. Thanks for your great channel.
Having learned and practiced scales and arpeggios in most tonalities helps a LOT because your brain anticipates fingering and possible musical structures
yes scales are the BEST exercises, because you can work on EVERYTHING, fingers coordination, sounds equality or dynamic, velocity, looseness, regularity, articulation, music theory, fingering as you said which is SO helpful for sight reading, and even creativity.
@@Assassunn That is true. However, chords and arpeggios are still necessary for development as they improve agility, strength, and spacial awareness.
josh your pieces are amazing and you play so well can do a video about your journey and how you became such a great piano player and what were the obstacels that you had to face and how you resolved them ?
Holy crap i just stumbled upon this channel. I've been playing for about 11 years now and my sight reading is still atrocious... yours is out of this world, i'm blown away
let me tell you that that was just about okay. ^^
I am studying piano at the university... there are many REALLY good sight readers here. I am about okay I´d say as well... if what you just saw is on like level 30, than the real good sight readers at my universitiy are at like level 80...
Dear Josh, thanks for this great video. I started studying the piano privately when I was 6 and carried on. I can play long pieces and I must say I am not too bad with interpretation but sight reading has always put me off. What's refreshing about your tip is that you're probably the only one to say that you can play the same passage a few times if you wish. I know that 99% of teachers insist on not stopping and tell you to carry on to next piece etc. However on recent sight reading books, I noted things like " Repeat measure three times". So, I am so grateful for that little key you've given me. I have always been so stressed out with sight reading that I do it for 10 min and give up. And I cannot see the problem in repeating 5 times the same passage since sight reading involves reading blocks of notes instead of reading them one by one. And all pieces are made of the same ( ok, thousands...or fewer I don't know ....endless) different blocks, scales, note structures and so on, so why not train since you're bound to come across them at some point? That's liberating to me and the slow practice is important too. So, thanks so much for your input. Very much appreciated. Best wishes. Yoan
What i suggest what will help your sight reading is playing songs for the hell of it. have the idea "lets see what happenes." If you are doing songs not too difficult you will get better at sight reading and pushing your self to more harder pieces without realizing it.
i like to work on sections before moving on to tackle next section. Beccause of this if you get used to the first section fairly well you are bound to run into some similiar notes, and intervals that will take the stress off seeing you already know it being happy you just got another chunk of the piece EZ!
Also take risk. As in if you are still not sure of the notes just play it what you think it is and revise it when you try it again. dont be afraid of the piano. Just think it's one big experiment.
dont look at your hands unless big interval. Just try not to look at your hands for the most part. And if you see a weird interval try and nail it without seeing.
look ahead sooo this goes with dont look at hands. Because if you look at hands and lose focus for that 1 second you lose your place you lose your fingering you lose your concentration and fuck it all up!
keep hands on piano at all times. its all about feeling the hand structure
and fingering. If you keep hands on piano it will help you see a pattern to continue the piece to make it less confuscion. And even if you dont get right fingering just keep going and see what works and go back to try and get a fingering that connects the 2 passages.
all these work together!
just giving my 2 cents ;)
Thanks for your tips, very insightful. Nice idea about the songs. I know the trick about the hands and I definitely try not to look at them. I am not that bad at it but what I don't like is the absolute rule that YOU MUST NEVER SIGHT READ the same passage again. It doesn't make sense to me because music is made of the same patterns over and over again so why not get accustomed to them by repeating 2 or 3 times. It's still sight reading as Josh said. Anyway, thanks for your input. Best regards, Yoan
Yoan D Mest
i never heard that rule "must not sight read same passage again" thats not a rule thats like a nazi law. Fuck that. Just be you and whatever helps you get better!
AHhahaha! True. I have heard and read that so many times and that's what's probably held me back. Yeah, f*** them. Ahaha. Learning sight reading should be fun but my teachers made it HELL. When I started, I had a problem with the D key. I kept forgetting about it so she went " Stop it now or I'll put a note around your neck that says" YOAN IS AN IDIOT AND DOESN'T KNOW HIS D KEY - pun not intended...LOL....And she went " I'll walk you around the city with that around your neck". She wasn't my teacher for long. You can be strict to some extent but this was too much. Soviet style teaching. LOL.
Yoan D Mest
LOLLLLLLLL THATS HILARIOUS. D key lol.
i gotta use that as a pun now with piano and girls
"i play piano.....let me teach you where the d key is"
hahahahahaha
Im quite a beginner at piano , and it looks in my opinion that sight reading is the final point of every technique, (not looking at your hands when playing, scales, arpeggios, music theory! , and patterns) Thanks a lot for your channel and your videos, the effort you put into those is amazing .Thanks. A lot. Seriously.
Thanks for this video on sight reading, I find it very helpful to me. I also agree with Eric Vannasse that it's good to know even you can make little mistakes. It gives me the confidence that I am slowly getting better.
Thanks. At the risk of sounding obvious - though it feels like a revelation for me, at my very rudimentary level of music sight-reading - the process of seeing clumps of notes/relations just as you've described here is the way I read prose. And as I've been struggling to build music sight-reading skills, I've never before imagined this process as analogous to the process of learning to read music at an advanced level--but now the analogy seems obvious and will help guide me...
love your lesson!!
please make more of these in terms of other contexts such as music theory , performance etc.
Thank you☺
Yousician ads are terrifying aren't they?
ThommasThompson I am not the best note reader by far.. I can honestly say Josh I many times a better reader than I am. However these apps sometimes over simplify.. Has any advanced musicians ever rated them?. They seem to be more aimed at beginners.
Yeah, they promote bad habits... If you have a good teacher at the same time it can be beneficial
You’re about 4 years to early
Good point. Almost sight reading is still sight reading. I read as many pieces from as many composers as I can, but the time between the first reading and second reading and third reading might be months, sometimes years. And it’s a lot like sight reading every time!
So weird that you flipped through to that example because I'm familiar with that piece from flipping to it in my own recent practicing as well. The tips in here help cement that what I naturally end up doing is a good way to go. Definitely helps knowing this to become more mindful; I'll be adopting the taking it a line at a time method as well. I usually fumble through a piece until I hit a wall or burn out and only end up doing that with particularly challenging parts, but it is probably good to build a mental buffer like that and take it slow.
I had the same experience with reading an entire score when I tried out conducting while being mindful of all the players and the music at hand. It is very impressive. The accompanists in choirs also greatly inspired me to become a better sight reader.
What can also be difficult after learning the piece is memorizing it. Some passages, especially in seemingly simple pieces like this, just don't seem to click, while others are so effortless to commit to memory.
Thankyou for helping and teaching how to get better on the piano. I really apreciate it, since I don´t have a teacher...yet!
I like your approach!You're a very gifted man and a great pianist and teacher!Hope to maybe meet you at some point.
I would love to be able to see the sheet music edited as a side-by-side of the video or something, or even a link in the description. Otherwise, great video and thank you for the insight!
I like when you mentioned how you read the groups of notes instead of each note - I always find that I start tripping on my notes when im sight reading!
Are you familiar with the Taubman technique? I can see it in the way you are playing
Great sight reading.
How does one know where their hand position should be as they are sight reading? You could sort of 'run out of fingers" or get yourself into a situation of very awkward fingering that would cause an abrupt stop? Just to let you know, I'm a lowly beginner pianist..... :-(
Scott Lum, sight reading is very difficult, so beginners shouldn't expect to be able to sight read a piece anywhere near full tempo. Try playing a piece painfully slow, at a pace where you can keep track of the notes you're playing while being able to look ahead and watch out for difficult fingerings, or for places that require you to move your hand. That way you can watch out so you don't "run out of fingers"
Scott BikeDawg
That's a skill you need to work out as with jumping the piano and keyboard geography
In one of my books they have you analyze fingerings
I like your explanation. thanks for sharing your experiences
Awesome video Josh, I'm relieved to hear your opinion on replaying certain sections for gaining further sight reading ability. What are your opinions on sight reading books ( The Paul Harris 'Improve Your Sight Reading!' series for example ) ?
it is so amazing .... thanks, it helps me a lot.
Hi Josh! Thanks for all your work. Watched your video on playing the best piano you can get, but I've played my whole life on just OK uprights at best. I'm now playing some fun stuff at church, including some classical pieces but am struggling to play their awesome new Yamaha grand...feels like my small hands are stumbling over the keys. If I concert tune my upright will it help? Is there any hope without an awesome grand?
Love the sound of the piano with your fantastic playing! What model is it?
Joel has been waiting for 5 years.
@@bypig 😭😭😭
What about a few levels up e.g. late Scriabin sonatas. How would one get to be able to read those at a reasonable speed?
How about Rachmaninov- moments musicaux no.4
Josh.. that made a lot of sense.
Josh how do you keep an eye on base clef and treble cleff at the same time while moving at such a tempo?
Good points. I am not the best note reader, butI I have no necessity to read music instantly.. This may help newer learners First. Josh you touched on..you must know your notes first. Here is an analogy to reading a book. I learned from Dick and Jane.. See spot chase the ball.etc. When we first started out we read phonically and slowly.
What happens is we later on see whole sentences. If we don't know our
notes we can only go slow. The chords and measures themselves can be likened to sentences. Now it's best to read just a little ahead in case we see any words or keys we don't know. Now,Josh says we
Continue to learn to sight read. The more you read music or books the better you get.
These techniques are advanced but they help standard music readers also. I don't care if I have to read it over and practice again.
For newer learners you must know your notes instantly. Four octaves
would be desirable, but pieces like Menuet in G by Bach is good training.for general note reading.
Read and say the notes even the chords before starting. If I'm doing something in C minor natural.. I know that it has Eb Ab and Bb is from
the parent scale of Eb. When I'm saying them I just say E and know it is an Eb.. If you are being tested you have to say the Eb.. The basic premise of sight reading is to know the notes instantly. Flash cards have never worked for me. Get a song you are familiar with ..Say the note and the identification Eg. C3 G5.B2. To be a proficient note reader one must know exactly where the note is on their instrument.
Thanks a lot have theory and piano exams coming up
Thank you so much:)
Nice man , Gbu
Nice piano man...what model is it ?
I know is a stynway.
You are absolutely right on your advised, organized the whole score...if we practice enough all this tip... eventually we'll be able to get really good at sight reading.
I know about a dude that came to practice a new song , jazz with groove ...very complicated still , he grabbed the three pages and scanned with his eyes in a couple minutes, Done , He got it , of course it wasn't a Sonata but I'm talking really complicated stuff lots of changes , some scary , this dude got it like a computer.
Yes , eventually we'll get really good at sight reading....Gbu
Other piano instructors on TH-cam suggest learning one hand at a time. You suggest doing both at the same time but just slower.
I'm curious what you and other people think?
How is this minuet called? Thank you.
what's the pedal below the piano for??
who's your favourite pianist? i can't decide between lang lang and valintina lisitsa :P
Just curious
+Goldenturkey Lang Lang is the best pianist alive for sure.
+Goldenturkey Dude, check Nelson Freire, Daniil Trifonov, Alice Sara Ott... lang lang and lisitsa are just popular.
i know a lot i just have a strong favouritism towards those two for some reason. i seem to enjoy them a bit more i dunno why
+Goldenturkey Daniel Barenboim, simply for his superior interpretation of Beethoven's sonatas and overall understanding of composition and musical understanding which goes to almost mystic depths.
+Goldenturkey Lang Lang is certainly a great showman but I don't think he gets a lot of respect from serious pianist and musicians. My personal favorites among currently active pianist are Marc-Andre Hamelin and Stephen Hough.
You putting the album up on iTunes?
Hi Ian - yes, the "music only" disc will be the one we upload to iTunes. So, if you just want that it will be uploaded soon (not sure of the wait time for them to publish it). But, it is a 2-disc set, so if you'd like the Narrations+Music combo, plus the Music Only album, you can get that from our website. Hope you're doing well my friend. Thanks for all of the support over the years
Josh I like this song.
Thanks！
Good stuff, man.
+Alex Carter Thanks Alex!
Josh Wright
You're very welcome, sir.
Nice
what is the book?
Bruno Batista henle verlag edition of haydn sonatas
Meanwhile I cant even sight read chopin prelude A minor lol
Damn your good marry me lol
Good video seemed a little peeved, but that's okay. No one is happy.