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Extra-curricular activities

Find advice on the best extra curricular activities in secondary schools and primary schools here.

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Original poster

DD preparing piano grade 3 but can't sight read

23 replies

MagnifyingGlassSearch · 13/04/2018 19:35

How she's got this far I don't know but we need to get back to basics with sight reading. What is the best way for her to learn sight reading as at the moment she counts to work out the notes?

OP posts:

Jobbieshitkakaboudin · 13/04/2018 19:39

Do it every day, example after example. I'm a music teacher and I find most pupils are weakest in this area, my own children included. She needs to be past counting notes for grade 3 though. Get her to spend a couple of days just revising notes and then focus on the sight reading. During the holidays she should try and do a few examples per day, and back at school at least 2 per day now.

Situp · 13/04/2018 19:41

I did grade 8 piano and failed sightreading at every single exam

It just didn't come naturally to me at all and even now, although I love to play, I hate playing from music!

Trumpetboysmum · 13/04/2018 21:59

Lots and lots of practice!! I also gave Ds a mental checklist of reminders - things he needed to go through before he even started to play - time signature, key signature, markings, briefly looking over the music itself . That way when he played it it flowed sounded more musical which in turn then helped him to keep going ( even if it wasn't note perfect) Also Ds hated sight reading at first so I just gave him any old easier music to play - as soon as I called it sight reading he would muck it up !!

tallwivglasses · 13/04/2018 22:07

I was crap at sight-reading. Ultimately it's what made me give up after grade 4 and stop playing - which I regret to this day. Till then I just made sure I excelled (ish) in the other bits of the exam. Hope she does okay.

Needtomakeachange · 13/04/2018 22:22

My DD spent 20 mins a day on a sight reading iPad game "piano tutor" for the month before her exam. She wasn't great by then but it definitely helped a lot.

AliceLutherNeeMorgan · 14/04/2018 07:07

I was also rubbish at sight reading as a child (but weirdly am ok at it now!)

The Paul Harris books are good; I would buy grades 1, 2 and 3, and get her to work quickly through grade 1 and the first half of grade 2, then spend longer on the rest of grade 2 and grade 3. He gives good tips and works through different combinations which really helps.

How old is she? If old enough to work through on her own, then great (I have to help my DD and it’s as painful as pulling teeth sometimes)

crazygirlsmama · 14/04/2018 07:41

The Paul Harris sightreading books are good- they encourage the breaking down of it and thinking about rhythms, what they should be considering before they even try to play it etc etc.

Perhaps also get a grade 1 or 2 theory for children book if she’s still struggling with note recognition and do lots of practice with that so she’s more confident with the notes.

I agree with the “give random bits of music” approach too- my DD didn’t know she was doing sightreading for quite a long time! We do some total sightreading stuff so prepare it, play it, then never touch it again but we also do some prepare it, play it, “debrief” it and then one more go to think about what should have been thought about first time.

Theworldisfullofidiots · 14/04/2018 07:46

Does she do theory? I'm a great sight reader and did theory all the way through from the beginning.
I think it's like learning something like Chinese. You just have to do it. Little and often. Theory games away from the piano help a lot with recognition.

Original poster

MagnifyingGlassSearch · 14/04/2018 08:57

She is 10 Alice.
Thank you so much everyone, you've given me great advice. It doesn't help that I am not musical and certainly cannot read music myself, but will follow your advice!!

OP posts:

MeanTangerine · 14/04/2018 09:02

It's a tiny part of the exam. Get her to do five mins a day (like they do in the exam, so she gets a minute or two to look at it and try bits out, then have a go at playing it) but otherwise don't sweat it.

Original poster

MagnifyingGlassSearch · 14/04/2018 09:14

Hi Mean I do realise it's just a tiny part of the exam, but I am wondering if it will hold her back moving forward? Also, I think it might affect her confidence and make her overall performance more wobbly.

When she went for her Grade 2 exam she was truly playing at distinction level; about an hour before the exam she started panicking; by the time she had to go in she was a right mess and only managed to scrape a pass, only just!

OP posts:

GrasswillbeGreener · 14/04/2018 09:14

I'll second and third the stuff above, good luck.
My son used to learn from a teacher who had been a concert pianist yet wasn't comfortable with sightreading (to my surprise). Recognising the gap now and taking steps to deal with it is great.

TheHumanMothboy · 14/04/2018 09:19

Do you mean that she doesn't actually know the notes, so has to work them out from C each time? There are a number of acronyms (such as FACE etc) to learn, then she'll crack that. I was going to recommend the Paul Harris books too

Ninabellina · 14/04/2018 09:19

We don't learn the piano, but can share what I know from our other music exams:
Lots and lots of practise - start on the grade one examples and progress through. She should clap the rhythms first and perhaps start with one hand and then the other until she is more confident. Also check the key and make sure she knows which black notes she will need to play.
Try to ensure all other areas are as strong as they can be - dd did grade 2 violin at age 6 - completely failed sight reading, but came out with a distinction overall as her pieces were high marks (around 29/30), full marks in aural and good scales.

Ninabellina · 14/04/2018 09:22

Thinking about it, it was only at grade 7 that dd had finally mastered sight reading - she could make it in to a little piece of music, rather than just struggling to get through the notes as she had done before -she got an incredible 144 / 150 in that exam!

dodobookends · 14/04/2018 09:23

Is it necessary for her to take exams? Some people just don't do all that well in them, due to nerves or whatever, and make a hash of it. Sometimes getting a poor exam result can demoralise students, and can put them off a bit.

Does she actually want to take the exam?

WeAreGerbil · 14/04/2018 09:31

I was crap at sight reading on the piano. I think to some extent it was just the way my brain is wired, I'm just not fast enough (I did some reading around this and I can't remember exactly why I came to this conclusion now).

What helps me though is focusing on patterns rather than individual notes, e.g. in a run of quavers / semiquavers just focusing on every fourth / eight and recognising the scales and where you have to get to. You might get some wrong notes in there, but it keeps you moving forward.

Trumpetboysmum · 14/04/2018 09:31

Is she preparing for the exam for the summer session ? Dd is due to take grade 1 piano and has been preparing for it for what seems like ages because she panics and worries ( unnecessarily) and so her teacher wants her to do the exam when she is totally well prepared . Dd is happy with this ( I would be bored rigid) but she wants to do the exam . Exams aren't for everyone though and shouldn't detract from the enjoyment of playing .

Ninabellina · 14/04/2018 09:38

Exams do give people a focus - without the preparation for the exam, many people would be less likely to concentrate on scales, sight reading or aural except than to prepare for an assessment. My dc play a wide range of music and have taken some (but not all) exams.

Broken11Girl · 15/04/2018 07:43

The way to improve sightreading is to do it. The actual books ABRSM publish with sample sightreading are quite tedious imo. Maybe find her some fun pieces she really likes, not as sightreading as in attempt it once then never see it again, but challenge her to see how quickly she can play them musically ie a pass performance, don't let her be perfectionist? I mean pieces below her level, aim to see how many she can do in a week? Encore book 1 might be a good one for this, or past grade 1 books. Sightreading is about 2 grades below the exam so will be that level.
I was useless at sightreading, basically did something like the above, it's helping. Good luck to her.

ThreeAndUs · 18/04/2018 22:49

I'm a piano/trumpet teacher and I agree with lots and lots of practise at it. A few examples each day from the 'improve your sightreading' books by Paul Harris are a good start. Sightreading tends to be around 2 grades lower than the grade your working for so grade 1 pieces or standard pieces is also a good start.

ThreeAndUs · 18/04/2018 22:54

You can improve at sightreading if you are committed to doing so. I currently have a student working for grade 4 piano who has in the past been always been anxious over the sightreading test but we are taking a new approach this grade and she has committed to practising it daily at home from the early stages of preparing for this grade and we have committed to us spending more time on it in the lesson to throw the anxiety out the window. It seems to be working and she is really starting to get it. We are also doing the same with aural tests.

bella2bella · 18/04/2018 23:56

Sight reading was always one of my strongest sections and it was because I played in various orchestras and bands so essentially practiced a lot. I realise that's harder on a piano so (alongside the books previously mentioned) get an easy book of tunes she'll enjoy (show tunes/pop songs etc) so she's just playing for fun too, it really helps with the sight reading.

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