Complete Guide to Sight Reading Music

[@BradHarrison]

If you're interested in any one-on-one help with any of these or other musical topics, I teach lessons online! Get in touch at www.bradharrison.ca/lessons

[@MorriganNoel]

I’m a pro that knows all these tips, but seeing them put together like this is SO helpful for my teaching! Sometimes when we know these things intrinsically, we can forget what order to present them to student. Thank you!

[@BradHarrison]

Excellent! Never hurts to review the basics, for all kinds of reasons!

[@BibleSongs]

I don't know why, but I also value the validation of hearing someone else say it. As though I now have back-up when I stress the ideas.

[@DNS0875]

Thank you for pointing out the importance of being precise when it comes to execution of the sheet music. I’m a classical saxophonist playing in an orchestra and my instrument and position serve a specific purpose which I need to respect. There’s no place for ego, we all need to respect the language the composer uses in order to tell the story as it was meant. Because we play for the public who wants to feel deep emotion and experience something divine and unforgettable…

[@MoraNom-kd8xz]

It’s finally here

[@JackisJay]

Yess

[@ayanangshusaha1892]

How much effort has gone into making this video... Thank you for helping people out.... No amount of words can express the gratitude...

[@MoodyKat]

Four years on piano and just started learning sheet music thanks for the video

[@harveyroper5526]

It took me 12 years of guitar before I started to read, its never too late! Good luck

[@averageSkykid]

this is my 10th yr, i did quit 2 yrs ago but i still play for fun now. honestly i never knew how to sight read perfectly, youd catch me doing that FACE or every good bird etc etc lmaoo

[@Mister_non]

Wish I had this video in high school but glad I do now! Thank you!

[@BigA1]

The best comprehensive study on sight reading I've seen.

[@DatabaseAdministration]

I'm at 3 minutes, your saying about sight reading is similar to language learning made me subscribe. Very simple but extremely powerful statement.

[@XXmatt18XX]

Wish i found this at the start of my self-taught, adult begginer piano journey. Oh well, hopefully i’ll be able to share it with an enthusiastic beginner one day

[@BradHarrison]

I’d say a lot of these still apply to intermediate and advanced! Especially the later ones.

[@joyceyang6976]

Thank you so much for sharing, this is very helpful for me to play in the orchestra. Even my teacher is not able to teach me this, Gratefully 👍🙏💕

[@lshwadchuck5643]

Thanks. I didn't even finish this video before getting SRF. After half an hour at the bottom level, I love it already! I've spent four years doing simple piano fluency exercises around the circle of fifths, developing my inner rhythm and playing no pieces, so I think I can really benefit from this with my high tolerance for simplicity.

[@BradHarrison]

Glad to hear it! It’s a really solid site. Enjoy!

[@jennybarton6057]

Informative and entertaining - I love your humour.

[@mayanmoon999]

Such a good teacher,you rock Brad!❤!

[@debrafshoemaker7071]

This is already one of my favorite channels. 😊

[@farhanislam7377]

As a fellow Torontonian, I had never considered that the eyeglasses symbol thing (see 27:56) might be specific to Toronto. I had always learned to do that in my music, but after moving to the states, no one seems to have ever heard of it. Neat!

[@BradHarrison]

Yeah! I can’t remember what made me think it may be a regional thing but I don’t think it’s ubiquitous. Very useful though. Another one, I know locals will refer to “lifting” a solo and an American jazz clinicians wasn’t familiar with the term. He used the term “transcribe” but I would use the terms interchangeably.

[@SunnyOfficialYT]

best music learning channel ever 💝🎶

[@BradHarrison]

Thanks so much!

[@Novvadiaries]

Thank you very much!!!. This video it´s so helpful

[@charliegordan6354]

Amazing resource, thank you Mr.Harrison

[@aryolala1748]

This is really informative. Wow. I'm so grateful I found you!!!

[@RAMelancon50]

Very comprehensive!

[@BradHarrison]

I hope so! I've been collecting these tips for a long time. Some a fundamental, but some a really useful little mental hacks that I've used over the years.

[@YaelEylatTanaka]

You're a great teacher, Brad! Very clear and to the point. I haven't seen any videos on your site addressing chords, specifically why a 7th chord is built on the dominant. I simply can't understand that concept: "Built on the dominant."

[@BradHarrison]

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed. I’ll be tackling 7th chords and jazz theory later this year, but for now check out the triads video. It’s a primer for 7th chords. But dominant chords aren’t too hard. If you’re in C, the dominant is the V(or 5), which is G. Build a chord on G(G B D F), and that’s the dominant 7th of C.

[@RosemariesWorld-c9i]

I am thrilled that I have found you.

[@leimaniax]

Excellent and inspiring. Thank you 🙏🏼

[@abandonedchannel]

my audition’s coming up in january. thank u!! and lol, my teacher for lessons uses sight reading factory, i just never knew what it was called.

[@KalebPeters99]

ur tha best, Brad!!

[@keyboard8173]

Great video!!

[@MadisonTheidel-y2q]

The surefire truth is that you have to do it a lot The best thing I’ve ever done was join my church orchestra, never practiced once except for Christmas and at rehearsals, I had more important concerts to prioritize. The music was fairly easy, but sometimes it was challenging. I don’t think I would be where am I now without it though

[@BibleSongs]

Great video! Thanks!

[@Lucas-sk5lu]

YESSSS THE ULTIMATE GUIDE

[@valle2601]

been in my local youth choir for 2 years and the pencil is a lifesaver. started with knowledge about sheet music but still cant sight read, but marking whatever I missed in practice made it so that I would remember it instead of reading It wrong on showtime

[@BradHarrison]

That’s the way to do it!

[@emiliabreaks2519]

I‘m working on becoming a better bass player because I make lots of mistakes all the time even though I write them down. I just can’t manage to read and play at the same time. I always avoided notes, but I feel like now it’s time to tackle that first before proceeding to sight reading. This video helped a lot, let’s act on it. Thank you 🎉

[@BradHarrison]

Glad you enjoyed! Start with simple stuff and build from there. It takes time but so much progress is made simply by repeated exposure. Good luck!

[@MarcLuc-pc3by]

Am still watching Better than tiring slap bass lessons on bass! As a bassist it helps!

[@matgaub149]

Really nice video bro,ill dowload it as well to see it again later.

[@gabi.coroian]

Very very good guide!!!!!

[@michael1sukenik]

Great video - thank YOU!

[@lawrencetaylor4101]

Great video, merci.

[@howitlookstome]

Thank you!⚫️

[@juiceman110]

Yes oh my gosh it’s finally here!!!

[@OKeefeMusicStudio]

This is a good video !

[@edi8746]

Tysm🎉🎉🎉

[@JohndeGroot-w1s]

Thank you!

[@Maestro_Ludwig]

Thank you. 😌

[@ryangiraldi5722]

1:11 I feel personally attacked 😂

[@Milo_Cereal]

YEEEEEESSSSSSS THANK YOU SOOOO MUCHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHGHHH

[@JevatJes]

Thank you!

[@shivakumarnarayanan1165]

Hey thanks a lot for the comprehensive video! I have a question about the moveable do/solfege part of it - the system of music that i learnt when i was young (indian carnatic) relies entirely on moveable do solfege (but with different names instead of do re mi..) and since this has been deeply ingrained in my head, i only ever make sense of music using scale degrees and whenever i listen to music i only hear the scale degrees. Now that im learning to sight read the piano (after around 4 years of playing), im confused as to whether i should identify absolute note names like A B C, etc (since the absolute note names make no sense / add no value to me trying to play the music) or whether i can get by only using scale degrees and intervals ? Will this at some point cause problems when i reach more advanced levels? Or is it okay to do it this way? And also im assuming knowing the scale degrees would mean having to memorize 7x the number of notes?

[@BradHarrison]

I would say you should definitely learn traditional note names(A, B, C, etc). It’s really crucial for communicating with other musicians. The fact that you have relative pitch is really amazing and super useful too! It might be good to learn to translate the syllables you know to the western syllables for communication purposes, but nobody is going to mind if you use the Indian names for yourself.

[@BradHarrison]

Learning all your major scales means learning 15 different combinations of notes, but it’s just based on the 7 names with sharps or flats, and the patterns aren’t too complicated to learn if you spend time practicing them. Just make it sort of your routine and you’ll learn them in a few weeks.

[@rubybear7029]

Hello, I’m glad I see your video today. My daughter is 5 and she just started her piano lessons. But, reading music notes can be so difficult even for adult like me, so it’s even harder for a 5 year old child. I am struggling with this and don’t know how to help my child to read music note so she can play songs. Any suggestions would be truly appreciated!!!

[@BradHarrison]

Hey there! That’s great that you have your daughter in piano lessons so young! I hope she really enjoys piano for a long time. I often like to say everyone needs a bit of piano experience, and then they can choose to move on to whatever instrument they like. But the piano is really useful and foundational. I don’t have a lot of experience with that age range but I think it’s common to not even deal with notes too much at that age. Hopefully her teacher has experience with young children. But fundamentally, whatever the age, start slow and build your confidence and experience over time. It takes a while but the biggest factor is time and consistency. And for more specific tips, just check out the video! Hope that helps!!

[@rubybear7029]

@@BradHarrison thank you for your response. I don’t want to overwhelm her but training her to have interest on learning piano that way she could go far away by herself instead of me pushing her. Thank you for your encouragement.

[@tenonakin9237]

Great video! Question; I'm wondering why you say learning the major scales is more important than learning the minor scales? Thanks!

[@BradHarrison]

They’re both important but I’d say most people learn major scales first. And most people understand minor scales as an extension of major scales.

[@tenonakin9237]

@@BradHarrison Okay thanks!

[@GMSlash]

Would you say it's okay to sometimes leave the counting behind to try and figure out certain fingerings and tricky parts?

[@BradHarrison]

Absolutely! But it also depends. The learning phase is different than performance. Notes and fingerings come first when learning a piece. After you get those figured out, add in rhythm, and then all the other details. Go for accuracy over speed, always. Don’t practice mistakes because you might learn them. But if you’re sighting reading in front of people, and especially if you’re playing with other people in a band, it’s usually better to just plow throw and maintain time and rhythm. People will forgive a few wrong notes much more than messing up rhythms, playing in rests, etc.

[@luvrism222]

you can play bach on an organ? I mean ik that probably obvious but can an organ sound baroque? idk anything about organ

[@BradHarrison]

Bach wrote so much music for organ!

[@Arbigale]

I suggest that SRF generate drum grooves/charts😊 nway, Super awesome vid and ty for this. I'll just practice with Gordon goodwin big phat band charts and cry at the end imagining a cymbal gettin thrown at me by Fletcher (whiplash movie)🤣 but jokes aside, awesomeness as always sir, ty

[@dernamenlose6200]

What about the harmony? What if the piece has two clefs (piano)? should you practice both at the same time?

[@BradHarrison]

Some people like to do hands separately and then together. There can be a lot of benefit to practicing that way. But the point of sight reading is to play the piece as intended. So, assuming the piece is of appropriate difficulty, you do want to learn to coordinate and read both at the same time. I talk a bit about this in tip 10 at 28:43 and specifically for piano at 29:32.

[@MarcLuc-pc3by]

Excellent ❤

[@MarcLuc-pc3by]

Am all for theory 😜

[@samich9010]

The tom Clancy shade 😂

[@Jennyshalfmusic]

I've been using sight reading factory and its great. I've gone up to B and Db major so now looking at the dreaded F#/Gb. Do you have to learn to sight read both or does only 1 come up?

[@BradHarrison]

I think you need to practice them all. The scales are the same for your fingers, but you still need to be able to quickly process them when you see them. Some keys are less common, but they all come up from time to time.

[@oscah_whisky]

I haven't even gotten past the 5 minute mark, and I'm excited. I am a "professional" musician, and I absolutely SUCK at sight reading... Like, it's really bad. I've defs lost at least one gig 'cause my reading is so bad...😐

[@drinkingsyrup5327]

I was wondering how to know what my sight reading level should be, I purchased sight reading factory but I find that level 2 is to easy, but level 3 takes a couple times to get down perfect. Is it ok to sight read even if I repeat the passage?

[@BradHarrison]

Of course! I’d recommend bouncing between the two and challenging yourself to get L2 perfect every time; but also stretch to L3. Also, work on L4 a bit, as slow as you need to, and you’ll find it makes L3 easier too. Stretching is good! But the more you read at any and every level, the better.

[@peaches_123]

ur a genius🤩

[@danielleeast5857]

can you explain solfège

[@BradHarrison]

I did a section on it in this video. Planning to do a deep dive in a few months.

[@virtuetv2111]

Hi, how do I get the Srf?

[@BradHarrison]

Head to www.sightreadingfactory.com!

[@simontaylor2525]

But the accents idea for vowel sounds is a pretty good idea

[@BradHarrison]

Maybe, but then instead of 26 letters in English, you’ve got like 45, it looks like some Scandinavian language. People aren’t gonna like that.

[@simontaylor2525]

@@BradHarrison well lots of other languages seem to manage! Polish for example. Once you know the rules of their spelling, they don't change. I just thought you'd come up with a good idea-having helped 4 kids to learn to read you soon realise how non sensical English spelling is!

[@BradHarrison]

It’s true! But the whole point of that section is that people complain that music is complicated, and it is. But if you try to simplify it, you just introduce other complications. Same with language. You have to choose your complication. This is also a bit like the qwerty keyboard. There are better more efficient options, but it’s so ingrained, I’m not convinced we’re likely to ever move away from it.

[@simontaylor2525]

@@BradHarrison yep point taken! Thanks for the video, top man.

[@CindyMusicPianoWorkshop]

Is srf an app?

[@BradHarrison]

It’s a site, a web app.

[@CindyMusicPianoWorkshop]

@@BradHarrisonthank you

[@Matt-Wolf]

I find single note music goes really well, but i really struggle with the reading piano pieces that can have multiple notes on one beat (chords, up to 6+ notes) and then 2 melody lines at the same time in both the treble and bass clef. It's just 3 x the information than a single note line, which I struggle with getting any better at it.

[@BradHarrison]

So challenging, right? This is the big challenge with piano; sound production is super easy but you’re expected to parse and execute a ton of information in a short time. Go slow as you need to and build confidence and reading speed. Also, 6 notes in a chord is a lot! Maybe you should be sight reading slightly less complicated music? With triads? Then build up to more complex stuff. And learning theory and scales and chords will help with pattern recognition, so you’re not reading all those note individually, you just recognize them as a chord or scale you already know. Good luck!

[@Matt-Wolf]

@@BradHarrison Thank you for your reply. Yes Jazz chords are often 5 notes (guide tones in left hand, and 3 notes in the right hand), but it's very hard to sight read them, I often end up reading them note by note, and then memorizing the whole voicing, so when I see them next time I know, oh yeah that's 'that chord'. Indeed starting small with less complicated chords is the way to go. Thanks for the video!

[@BradHarrison]

Of course! Makes sense. In that case, are there chord changes? If so, I think most piano players aren’t reading the written notes, they just learn voicings for all the different chords. It’s a bit of up front work, but then you see patterns like Dm7 G7 Cmaj7 and your fingers just know what to do. And it doesn’t really matter functionally if you add or leave out the 9 or 13 or whatever.

[@Matt-Wolf]

@@BradHarrison yes good point, you can use standard voicings when reading leadsheets (melody + chords). But often piano pieces are written out in full to see how a famous pianist arranged it, and than you want to play those juicy voicings note by note as these are the most interesting places in the music ;)

[@BradHarrison]

Righto. Practising transcriptions is such good practice! But that kind of material can be so challenging, and you probably want to take time to notice and study the details, that I probably wouldn’t consider it sight reading practice, since that’s not the kind of thing you’d often be expected to do in a rehearsal or on a gig without preparation. But if you do enough of them, maybe you’d be able to!

[@yonatanhoresh2695]

3:55 Who on this Earth, when teaching rhythm, teaches that "A quarter note equals one beat"

[@BradHarrison]

I’d say most people! Most students start reading notation in 4/4 where a quarter is indeed one beat. 6/8 and such usually come later.

[@yonatanhoresh2695]

@@BradHarrison Oh that's terrible imo

[@BradHarrison]

Why?

[@yonatanhoresh2695]

@@BradHarrison Because down the road it leads to exactly the misconceptions you lay out. I mean it's not a huge deal, but I prefer (and this is how I was taught so I may be biased) teaching that a whole note is to a time sig. what one is to a fraction, and go from there. Of course, I've never had to actually teach so maybe that's less viable.

[@BradHarrison]

@yonatanhoresh2695 in my experience, it’s fine. Kids don’t care about the complications when they’re just starting out because it generally doesn’t affect them for many many months, maybe even a year or two. And when they do learn 6/8 and compound time, they’ve probably already made the assumption that a quarter note is a beat, because so far that’s always been true. Then they learn compound time and it takes a bit of getting used to but that was going to happen anyway. Here’s my playlist on rhythm if you’re curious how I actually cover all this stuff. I’m very clear that a quarter note equals a beat in 4/4 and push the concept of time signatures down the road. I cover it in part 3. Understanding Rhythms and Rhythmic Notation kzbin.info/aero/PLDaNGknQ_wTjWgPL0y7YYZcBH7uRquR4K

[@vvzrI]

i HATE srf. Thank you for including it.

[@brad349miller]

I'm not sure when sight reading became this but 20 years ago sight reading was taught to people who can't read music. It requires you to be given the key then you just use your do re mis. Sight reading is not reading music. Reading is reading. Infuriating that it's been hyped up to be this big grand bullshit. No. If you can read music then you can read music. It's not some INCREDIBLE thing that someone can play a piece the first time they read it. THEY LEARNED TO READ MUSIC!!!!! THEY PUT THE WORK IN!!!!!

[@BradHarrison]

This whole video is about how to put the work in. Maybe reading music came easy to you, or you had incredible teachers so this is all obvious, but reading is a big stumbling block for a lot of musicians. And it’s way older than 20 years. Also, lots of musicians don’t read, and they’re still great. There are lots of ways to be a musician. This video is for people who do want to read better. And sight reading is different than just reading. As I said in the video, it’s about playing at performance level the first time. Like the difference between reading a dialog and understanding it, versus an actor giving a performance while reading a text for the first time. It’s a different and more challenging form of the skill of reading. Finally, do re mis is most applicable to sight *singing*. Many instrumentalists are unaware of solfege even exists but may or may not read very well.

[@satoreslured]

Onion monger

[@learning-og4to]

Practice the things you don't want to practice ( I don't practice them )

[@BradHarrison]

It takes a lot of composure to do it, but it’s the best way to improve; to tough it out and spend time on those things.

[@brennansteen]

14:01 omg

[@BradHarrison]

The lick is everywhere.

[@ballefranz7059]

14:20

[@davidclark3603]

You don't read music, you recognise it. You can talk a load of sh!!!!! But to play music is something else!

[@BradHarrison]

What a very strange comment.

[@joostfloot5279]

This is not true at all, I hear music in my head when reading sheet music.

[@DravenDoyle-nm9ni]

fart nuggets 😂

[@Adushka1976]

it's like drawing right away on canvas portrait, and not using projector screen...

[@sillysnowboot]

This is an Osu reference. Play more

[@09Cosmiger]

Y

[@marco-ro6cl]

It's all fun and games until you need to sightread as a pianist

[@BradHarrison]

It’s all the same stuff! Practice and pattern recognition. I think you can put basically all of this video into practice for just about any instrument.

[@marco-ro6cl]

@@BradHarrison I suppose you’re right. I might just have a stigma against sight reading on piano because I just hate it. Never hated it on trombone but piano is just irritating. I’ll put the video to good use though. Thanks, sir!

[@exoticp0tato23]

fart nuggets

[@ДмитрийВербицкий-у7д]

White Jason Harris Matthew Clark Jose

[@eddiesikorski6673]

Fart nuggets?

[@BradHarrison]

You just couldn’t resist reading it. Smh

[@Tender121]

Reading music is hard but so is watching this video. A lot of time could be saved but apparently the director wanted the opposite in order to promote the product. I didn't see it all. Maybe this way I missed some useful things but I will surely find something more honest.

[@BradHarrison]

Did you even watch the video? It’s 21 different tips on improving reading. And I was super upfront about the sponsorship in the introduction. Skip to the more advanced stuff if you think you’re ready for it. Good luck!

[@respekt200]

To much talking

[@BradHarrison]

Lmafo! What did you expect? How worse would you make this video? It’s all tips and ideas.

[@ShadyNetworker]

w00! Maybe THIS time I'll finally start learning piano!😄🫡😶😟

[@BradHarrison]

Do it! Get started and keep at it! And also, don’t be afraid to try other instruments if you’re curious. Trumpet is my third instrument, but it’s the one that stuck.

[@hoodpianogirl]

Thank you!😊