Regularly preparing students for ABRSM exams means a recurring topic of discussion arises more than once a week in my piano room: the dreaded sight reading tests involved in practical music exams. It’s not very often that someone will tell me they love sight reading (mind you, it happens) and as a youngster, it was the area in which I was least confident (to say the least).
Anyway, over the years I have put together a compilation of tips to make sight reading that little bit less daunting. They will certainly help you prepare you for your graded exams, whether ABRSM or Trinity.
Practice Often
I know, it’s obvious really isn’t it, though I promise I have more advice than just practice.
But it’s just like everything else; The more you read and play or sing, the better your sight reading will be. The more you read music, the better you are at being able to predict what might come next. Since music is built in patterns/shapes /sequences etc, the more familiar you will become at anticipating the next move.
It makes sense that musicians who have studied lots of different pieces in different styles will become better equipped to read a wide range of music at sight.
“The” Routine
When sight reading in lessons, I ask my students to tell me what is going through their mind and in what order when I place the music down in front of them. What I am looking for as answers are the following:
Key Signature
Look at the last bar for confirmation. If you are unsure about key signatures, take a look at this infographic explaining keys. In an exam, your test will include the keynote in the final bar, so a piece in the F major (B flat key signature) will have an F in the last bar. It's useful to check that final bar because one flat could also mean D minor and, in this case, the last bar would contain an D (there might be c sharps to look out for too).
Find Your Starting Position (Piano Players)
This applies particularly to beginners; before you go through the piece it's helpful to rest your fingers on the keys that will be used because in the earliest grades, the hand position stays the same. Look at your hands: are any of your fingers over any notes that need flattening or sharpening? If so, place your fingers on them so that you don't forget them once you begin playing.
Time Signature
You will already know this by now. But the top number shows how many beats in a bar and the bottom number tells you what kind of beat.
Check that you understand timings like 6/8 time and the grouping of notes and rests in bars. Don't just look at the time signature - mentally pace the beat in relation to the rhythms in the music.
Gauge What Is Easy And What Is Hard
Follow the music in front of you and mentally pace the rhythms and the direction of the notes. Get the general gist of the music by focusing primarily on the main elements, such as the predominant rhythmic feel, the shape of the melody and the tonality (major or minor). This will help you achieve a degree of fluency.
Find Patterns
Look at which notes are next door to each other, a 3rd apart and any big leaps. Look for rhythmic and pitch patterns which might be repeated exactly or in a sequence (a phrase played at a different pitch subsequent times). Patterns could be inverted (like first ascending then descending). Look for intervals between notes rather than saying the note names to yourself - that might slow you down.
Fluency is key!
Look Ahead And Anticipate Change
To make sense of the music you must think of the notes in relation to each other, like when you read a book: You scan the upcoming words as you are reading to prevent stopping between each word.
So if you can see that a bar contains a scale that starts on C and ends on G, you need mentally identify every note. Pianists - getting a secure feel for harmonies and chord progressions at later grades is beneficial.
Imagine How The Piece Sounds
As you imagine the piece in your head, keep a steady pulse and imagine the feeling of playing the notes. Wind players can touch the appropriate keys/valves and strings players can find the correct left hand fingers for the notes.
Pianists - where hand position changes are needed, from Grade 3 onwards, move your hands at the right time to each new group of notes.
Think the piece through at an ideal tempo and play it a little slower than you think you need to.
Singers - listen carefully to the key chord and starting note given by the examiner as you start your preparation. Don't be afraid to practice aloud.
Try Hard Bits If You Have Time
If you follow the above steps, there will be little time left to play or sing it right through. However, your thorough preparation will mean that there is little need to do this anyway. If there is any time left, just try out any bars that look hard.
The preparation time allowed for sight reading in graded exams is normally 30 seconds but, if you are dyslexic, your teacher will inform the exam board when making the application. This means you will be allowed extra time (currently 3 minutes) to study the sight reading before doing the test.
The Sight Reading Test - Points To Remember
Before you start:
Key Signature
Time Signature
Hand Position
Rhythms
Direction of notes/distance between them
Imagine How It Sounds
Pace It out alongside the beat in your mind
The Test
Don’t go too fast!
Keep a steady pulse
Don’t stop - even if you make a mistake.
Keep looking ahead and aim for fluency even if you are uncertain of something.
Give rests and long notes their full time-value. Nerves make you prone to rushing.
take advantage of the rests and long notes to see what is coming next.
Don't try to hide uncertainty by playing or singing too quietly
... If in doubt, just make it up - yes I just said that. Playing something is better than nothing. And fluency is that important.
Aim for a sense of character
Notice any performance markings, such as articulation (slurs, staccato and legato) and dynamics
A performance that shows the musical character of the piece or song will attract extra marks in an exam.
I have developed a mini strategy to improve coordination when practising sight reading whereby a student will use both finger 2s on a single note and play the rhythm of each hand all the way through the practice test to increase fluency. Done frequently it really helps.
Improvisation Can Help
Improvising around a given key or a set of notes from a specific key is a great idea for becoming more fluent. Familiarity with the notes and chords that are likely to be used in any key will help you to predict what might come next in both everyday playing and in sight reading tests.
You do not have to make up amazing music when you improvise - you are doing it in this instance to understand the structure and form of certain sounds. just begin by
You might find the sight reading can actually help your improvisation too.
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