How to improve sight reading (and other questions)

[nldnmum]

Hi, I was wondering if I could ask for some advice for sight reading on piano.

DD has passed Grade 1-3 with distinction but each time really struggled with sight reading.

I feel that our piano teacher (who is genuinely really lovely and positive and we love her, but) tends to focus on the pieces which she picks up really quickly, so the piano teacher(PT) thinks DD is a fast learner and keeps hurrying her up through the grades. She did grade 1 in spring 2018, grade 2 in autumn 2018, then grade 3 in summer 2019.

And now after summer holiday (and not much piano playing at all), PT wants us to start learning new scales and preparing for Grade 4 pieces! I don't think she realises the amount of extra teaching and extra practicing I have to do with DD to patch the holes in her sight reading, which always seems to be an afterthought six weeks before the exam.

To avoid turning into a rant (it might have become one already), I was wondering if anyone has any tips of what I should expect the PT to teach about sight reading during the lesson?

Ours does teach the basics like looking at the key signature, time signature, highest lowest notes, clapping hands for the rhythm, look for hand position change and patterns etc, but DD seems unable to remember unless being reminded each time. I suspect it is just that she needs time to practice more and she's been hurried through too much. Grade 4 seems another big jump and I don't know DD's cognitive skills are catching up as fast (she's only 7).

Also is it important for PT to coach through some sight-reading for each lesson? Our lessons only have a sight reading segment maybe once a month, which is why I feel like I got left with the job to teach her this important area.

I'm also not happy with the way that getting to the next grade is such a rush. I've raised the issue but PT says well I can't stop her taking the exam if she's ready. But the problem is DD is ready with the songs easily but lagging behind on sight reading, and PT doesn't seem that bothered and keep saying that DD's sight reading is really good for her age. Her scores are 18, 19, 16 for each grade.

Have I got too high standards for sight reading or is the PT rushing her too much?

Feeling quite frustrated and re-reading my own post I'd want to tell myself to speak to the PT but I have as well, and find her so excited and enthusiastic to move forward that she doesn't seem to be able to listen to my concerns. So I wanted to air it out and be a bit more sure about my position before speaking to her again.

Any comments about our situation would be appreciated. It's probably things I already know but needs to be told again!

Your DD sounds like she is making really good progress. Sight reading comes from playing lots of repertoire and getting more confident with trying new things. I'm not suggesting that she has only played the exam pieces but some people move up the grades literally only playing the three pieces. That is not the way to become a rounded musician! There are some books by Paul Harris I think which help. If she only has a half hour lesson it is quite a lot to get through but it definitely should be an integral part of most lessons, not just exam prep. It's great you are able to help her outside lessons, that will really benefit her. Maybe you could ask her to spend a bit of time consolidating and learning some new styles of music and new technique. There are some 'bridge the gap' books for between grades, or she could play the other pieces from the book she didn't play for the exam, but not necessarily to exam standard, quicker studies. Mine enjoy a variety of pieces, especially in the post-exam period which has been more intense. Hope you manage to have a good chat with her.

Was going to reply with exactly what Horsey said! Paul Harris books, and bridge repertoire which covers a broad range of genres. If she needs a 'target' to focus on, look for some nice friendly festivals that you can aim for to make sure some of the pieces are polished to performance standard.

Also, around this level there should be some study collections she could introduce.

It may just be that teacher is loving the challenging pace and pushing on through because she can, and she knows you are supporting her with 'other stuff' at home. You just need a nice open chat to get aligned.

I remember turning up for my first piano lesson after my Grade 4 exam, to find the Grade 5 pieces on the stand. Very depressing. I agree with the PPs that it would be a good idea for your DD to play some other repertoire to improve sight-reading and inject some fun!

DD (aged 8) is quite a way behind your DD but she's done her grade 1 and her sight reading was weak. She's currently enjoying a book called "Upgrade! Light relief between grades" by Pam Wedgwood which sounds similar to the Paul Harris books mentioned by PPs. There are different levels, and in fact DD is doing the book for grades 0-1 which means the pieces are well within her grasp so should help her to build her confidence with sight reading.

the only way to improve sight reading is to do some.

I know it sounds obvious, but kids don't often just have a go at short pieces for the sake of it. And learning to sight read does not just mean playing a few bars once or twice, you need to analyse and improve.

Quite often I see the kids have a go - a single go at a piece - "oh I was rubbish at sight reading", no - you just didn't learn how to yet...

getting a child to pick out the tricky bit in the 30 sec practice is like drawing blood from a stone, they are determined to "practise" it by playing through from the start, and starting again if it goes wrong.

just need to develop their own technique - and do some... then do some more... and some more...

Thanks everyone for the comments.

We got the Paul Harris books! Have played every single piece from grade 1-3, as well as every single piece in the abrsm sight reading tests and joining the dots books... but still takes 15 minutes to do just one piece when we moved on to Grade 4 Paul Harris.

We'd spend about 3 minutes analysing the piece, then play hands separately, and then finally together. And it could be 3 gos before it sounds mostly correct. Feels like a really long way off before she'll be able to just pick up a piece, study for 30 seconds and play through without too many mistakes.

She's also played a lot of bridge pieces, Xmas concerts, musical songs, some classic pieces etc. Does feel like there is enough breadth.

Probably just need to keep going... it always feels like the slowest improving area and so easy to lose heart

Go back to the earlier level books that she's played before - can she pick up a piece from grade 1 level sightreading and play it? Great, get her to play through really easy stuff. Maybe back off on "this is how you do sightreading" systematically for a bit, and get her playing unfamiliar but very easy things regularly.

What written music theory has she done? She's a good age and stage to get stuck into doing that. It could help the sightreading but equally could help slow the teacher's expectations a little if she is asked to help teach it?

Does she sing much? Following single line music can be easier; she's clearly musical and if you have a decent children's choir (that uses music) in range / practical to fit in your lives, that could be a great addition.

Part of the trick of being good at sightreading is the ability to just keep going despite errors. Perhaps work out what she is finding tricky - is it rhythm? Then do lots of clapping exercises. Is she trying to read each note instead of looking at patterns? Do some every day.
I was a terrible sightreader until i started to play for a choir and then I improved rapidly!
Ds was also a terrible sightreader until about Grade 6 and then he just did it every day, 2 or 3 mins. I am proud to say he got 19/21 in his Grade 8 (a miracle!)

I think playing catch up with piano sight reading is v hard.
Has she the opportunity to play with other people? Even if it is just you singing along. This way she has to keep going despite any mistakes and you can really have some fun muddling through stuff. Start with easy stuff she can do.
As others have said, a lot of it is about recognising patterns.

Thanks all.

She just auditioned for the school choir and decided to join the string group at school so hopefully lots of opportunities to learn to do music with other people.

It’s the notes not the rhythm that she finds tricky. When in a different key other than C, she finds it difficult to remember the key signature and change notes accordingly - to be fair I find that hard too.

We’ve started on music theory and she’s on Grade 2 workbook. Planning to work through that and catch up to grade 4. I know they have to do a written test by grade 5. Hopefully consolidating the theory can help.

I had some chats with PT today, and emphasised that we spend a lot of time on sight reading and theory so the progress on learning songs will be quite slow. I think I got my point across this time and feeling much more aligned.

Thanks so much everyone to be a sounding board x

I don’t think it’s teacher’s fault. DC2 was never taught sight reading as such, he just learnt it as he progressed. Now plays grade 8 pieces for fun at home, after two years of learning piano. DC1 just could not master sight reading and given up after grade 5. We had several music teachers over the years, none was spending time on sight reading during the lesson...

I don’t know anything about music, but DC2 told me that if you know a scale, you can play any piece written in that key. So he says if you learnt C major, you can play all pieces written in C Major, etc. (not sure what that means but sounds logical to me :)