Sight reading issues

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d.todorov8306
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Jan 07, 2021 12:44 pm

Sight reading issues

Post by d.todorov8306 » Thu Jan 07, 2021 1:15 pm

Hello everyone

I've got a question and I hope I can find the answer here.
I've started learning piano about a month ago. I've got 50-60 hours of practice. I'm happy with my progress. I can play basic two hands songs with relative ease. My problem is that I can only do it if the fingering numbers are displayed above/below the notes on the staff. I can also memorise songs and play by memory. I feel like my sight-reading haven't improved at all. I find it so difficult that if I see music sheet without the fingering guide I can barely hit any note correctly and I need to literally count every note I see on the screen in order to find out which key to press. Is it that difficult or I'm the problem? Any tips that might help me? Is turning fingering guide off for good a good idea and just battle through until I improve at it or there are other ways for me to get the hang of it?

Many thanks in advance

Dimi

EFlatMajor
Posts: 147
Joined: Tue Dec 19, 2017 2:51 pm

Re: Sight reading issues

Post by EFlatMajor » Mon Jan 11, 2021 4:12 pm

Hello Dimi - you are right on every count!

Yes - the finger numbers are a great help as you start the rookie bootcamp.
After you watch the lessons on the mnemonics (FACE, All Cows Eat Grass, etc), you should turn off that number tool and start reading the notes themselves. It is slow going at first, and you do have the option of slowing the metronome down to a number that you can keep up with.

Until you do that, your sight reading will never improve. And when it does improve, it will be slowly.

There is a way to speed up your sight reading skills outside of PGS. Try one of the many Apple or Android sight reading apps. Basically they pop up random notes on the screen and time how fast you can identify them. Doing a few minutes of that every night can only help.

One other option (and I just found it a few minutes ago so I have no idea if it works) would be to try out this sight reading website:

https://sightreading.training/

This site claims to do the same thing as the other apps except this one says you can use your MIDI keyboard to identify the notes, rather than tapping or clicking on a screen. I think this is the best option and I will update this message if it does everything that it claims.

So, it looks like you are on track with the program - everyone has had this problem. It can be worked around. Once you do that, you'll find that you can learn new pieces of music much faster.

Good luck!

d.todorov8306
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Jan 07, 2021 12:44 pm

Re: Sight reading issues

Post by d.todorov8306 » Wed Jan 13, 2021 8:08 am

Thanks for your reply

I did a bit of research on those apps a few days back and I found a couple of which you can connect to the keyboard and do exactly as this website claims. I haven't tried any of them yet as I was away but I'm starting tomorrow and will post them here so other people like me can benefit from that too.

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