The Five Levels of Piano Sight-Reading

For today’s video, Ian Coulter has given Matthew King the challenge of sight-reading five pieces at the piano. Matthew has not seen the music prior to the camera rolling. The pieces have been graded in terms of difficulty, and are as follows:
1. Mozart: “Ah vous dirais-je Maman’ ('Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’) (00:45)
2. Yann Tieren: ‘Comptine d’un auto été - l'après-midi’ (2:45)
3. Oswald Russell: ‘Papillons’ (4:45)
4. Andrew Wrangle: 'Rush E’ (6:25)
5. Sorabji: 'Opus Clavicembalisticum' (8:11)
Matthew explains, during the video that neither the Mozart nor the Tieren are entirely unfamiliar to him. He once heard John Ogden play Sorabji’s Opus Clavicembalisticum, in a recital in London, when he was 19 years old (it took 5 hours) but has never played it himself. Matthew also explains how his Aunt Grace crocheted Sorabji’s lampshades.
No one finds sight-reading easy. Matthew found it difficult as a child, but made himself better by attempting to sight-read Beethoven sonatas, when he was a young teenager, and gradually he became more proficient at it. He freely admits that there are, no doubt, many professional pianists who read as well or better than he does. After this middling performance, Matthew is keen to emphasise that he is a professor of composition, not piano!
Please feel free to suggest ideas and topics for future videos in the comments.
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#sightreading #piano #musicprofessor
Edited by Ian Coulter ( www.iancoulter... )
Produced and directed by Ian Coulter & Matthew King

[@sloppysorabji]

also one peculiar fact i noticed about playing too much Sorabji is that he doesn’t have keysignatures and every accidental is tied solely to the note it’s in front of (exceptions for repeated notes/phrases). which means whenever i go back to play normal stuff my brain doesn’t adjust to maintaining accidentals right away 😂

[@themusicprofessor]

Yes, this is also a problem with post-war serial music. It becomes quite tiring reading accidentals in front of every note.

[@axyspianostudio]

omg sorabji big fan

[@MateusLopesBr]

@@themusicprofessor I agree! At first it is hard and tiring to read every accidental on every note, but, the advantage is that it allows us to read notes by position on the keyboard. All keyboard notes are always represented by the same signal, it never changes, so, with practice, you read a note and you play the correspondent key position, without using your time and thinking process to remember the key signature, and translate the written note signal to the correct musical note on the keyboard.

[@russell_szabados]

This is how most film scores are prepared for their recorded performance in Hollywood, and I assume London. No key signatures, just accidentals. I have no idea if performances recorded elsewhere follow this.

[@CatkhosruShapurrjiFurabji]

​@@axyspianostudio same 😁

[@Guilhermedetiuki]

Bro I love your channel. You play really well and I like your sense of humor and editor! Everything perfect!!

[@themusicprofessor]

Thanks so much!

[@opussy]

No one ever expects the Spanish Inquisition and I never expected Sorabji! Wow!

[@oneirdaathnaram1376]

I couldn't even sight-read the "Twinkle twinkle little star" theme as fluently as you ... 😞

[@loganm2924]

Regarding the Sorabji, which also tripped me up while reading the first movement, the accidentals don't carry over from one note to another! They only apply to the note they're attached to, which you haven't respected.

[@themusicprofessor]

Hopefully not a matter of respect! I think I realised this during the attempt to read it...but perhaps too late.

[@loganm2924]

@@themusicprofessor ah I don’t so much mean respect as in respect for the music, perhaps ‘heed’ (or some derivative) would’ve been a better word

[@doublenickel1000]

You're a brave man!😄

[@jasonmp85]

Did you play down bow on those intro octaves though?

[@GeorgeBletchly]

Can't this helped me much with my sight reading but it was an interesting introduction to some composers I've never heard of.

[@dmitriymatison5234]

I am glad to watch your videos, made as punches sometimes. Short and impressive. I believe that your knowledge and vivid attitude may also shine in a different type of content. A bit more about more serious and fine; beautiful, but demanding pieces of music. The story which you currently tell is more entertening than overcoming. With love from Russia.

[@jasonmp85]

Treats Rush E with the respect it deserves (none)

[@zeroossi5967]

Dear Prof your Content is great could you pls do a viedo on how to play chopin ocean etude ? thanks! and how did you reach such a level in sight reading?

[@themusicprofessor]

Sight reading is not an easy skill. I learned to sight-read well as a teenager. I was a poor sight reader as a child but I wanted to play Clementi sonatinas and then Beethoven sonatas, Chopin, Scott Joplin, Debussy and Bartok etc. and I gradually learned to read through practice. The secret is to sight-read music that you are interested in playing and want to learn. It seems very difficult at first but slowly you get better.

[@saibhandari]

better than i could do!

[@TranceCore3]

I'm really bad reading sheet music. What I do is work out what I'm reading then practice it on the keyboard. When my ears hear something wrong, I look back at the sheet music and see if I read something incorrect or not.

[@pietroriccardotarateo]

Hi! I've just recently discovered your channel and I must say I really like your content! It is both entertaining and informative, a pleasure to watch. To answer your question about topic suggestions, what about a short analysis - like the one you guys did with Ravel's Ondine - about Rachmaninoff first piano concerto's Cadenza? The 1919 revised version.

[@themusicprofessor]

Thank you for your encouraging comment. Interesting suggestion.

[@Guilhermedetiuki]

i loved the last one

[@phish1]

I can’t even comprehend sight reading like this. It seems impossible! I’ve been playing guitar for 30 years, went to Berklee, but just started learning piano in the last few months. Any recommendations for good beginner sight reading books?

[@themusicprofessor]

I learned to sight read because there were all kinds of pieces I wanted to play on the piano so I just started reading them. It was very hard at first (Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata first movement seemed incredibly difficult!) But gradually as I did it more I slowly improved. I wonder if the best thing for you is to identify guitar repertoire that you really like but haven't played (any style) and just start reading it...for pleasure. I guarantee, if you do it a few times a week, you will make slow progress towards being able to read better.

[@pan8319]

hello professor, is it better to develop sight reading skills rather than deciphering the notes and memorizing it? i just started my piano journey with a teacher. I had a background on piano (self-taught) but not about reading notes..I can compose, improvise , know some theories and a fairly decent develop relative pitch. oh ye today is the 1st day of my piano session and taught me about the basics like staff, and the types of notes.

[@themusicprofessor]

Sight reading is a very important and useful skill for a developing musician. Aural skills, memorisation, improvisation (+ composition), harmony and counterpoint are also important, but I think your teacher is sensible to talk about notation at the start. See how it goes.

[@GuGus963]

thank you for the video, may I suggest you wear a microphone ? the audio volume is very irregular.

[@themusicprofessor]

We are looking to invest in better equipment soon

[@jamesmitchell6925]

5:15 doesn’t the C# in the left hand remain sharp throughout the entire measure?

[@themusicprofessor]

Yes. Sight reading error.

[@rolandcombes]

It's highly discouraging for us non-professional piano players to have Mozart's Ah vous dirai-je variations placed in the very easy column (yes, even the first variation). You would have been less bruising to our self-esteem had you chosen something like his famous Sonata in C. That's the problem with skilled pianists: they forgot how easy and natural it is for them to read and play music and how the unexpected variations throw beginner pianists for a loop. "Very easy" should only be ascribed to music that is consistent, predictable and easy to play. Those variations are anything but.

[@themusicprofessor]

Sorry - it wasn't meant to be discouraging. This was just me responding to pieces that were pout in front of me. You're right that I should have been more sensitive in my language. I completely understand that the variations are difficult to play. Mozart is always difficult, even the easiest pieces.

[@tatertot8081]

Liszt is so good at sight reading he actually perform chopin pieces just by looking at his composed score.

[@themusicprofessor]

Yes, he was a brilliant sight reader, by all accounts.

[@myklkay]

The man sight read Brahms scherzo op 4 from the manuscript when I still try to figure out if the dots are notes or ink stains....

[@lotto5883]

wow

[@harshancl5360]

As a beginner, this is the closest thing to wizardry…wow

[@benjamincourtois2204]

How did you learn to read so easy ?

[@themusicprofessor]

Quite gradually really. There's an explanation in the video description: 'No one finds sight-reading easy. Matthew found it difficult as a child, but made himself better by attempting to sight-read Beethoven sonatas, when he was a young teenager, and gradually he became more proficient at it.'

[@benjamincourtois2204]

Thank you for the answer, I've sight read the whole well tempered clavier and Mozart sonatas and am still struggling with sight reading 🤣 So good job to you guys ! And thanks for the content on this channel, I like watching it from times to times 🙏

[@themusicprofessor]

@@benjamincourtois2204 - I think most people struggle with sight reading, and some very able musicians find it difficult all their lives - George Gershwin was a famous case. The best method is always to find music you love and want to read, and just immerse yourself in reading. But it sounds like you're already doing that... it takes a while.

[@sloppysorabji]

@@themusicprofessorwhat the hell, the Beethoven sonatas as a kid are literally the reason im really great at sightreading, id ignore my actual practicing just to play through stuff haha. like i actually made a comment about that exact thing on some other channel a couple weeks ago somewhere so it’s funny i see you saying that here, maybe Ludwig is just really good at developing piano reading 😂 sorabji is a freaking nightmare to sightread but surprisingly a lot of the polyrhythmic stuff becomes a lot more intuitive with more exposure (which makes sense bc he’s much more a “vibes” composer than “play strict tempo and rhythm”). still doesn’t mean it’s not insanely dense and awkward fingering/hand-position wise

[@themusicprofessor]

@@sloppysorabji - I think L v B is REALLY good at developing sight reading at the piano. The piano sonatas are all so amazing and so varied, and he throws so many different harmonic and rhythmic and textural possibilities at the pianist all the time. And at the same time, they're not so ludicrously complicated as to be off-putting. The Moonlight Sonata is an interesting example: it's familiar (and familiarity is a helpful incentive and guide to sight reading) and it's playable (particularly the first 2 movements) and at the same time completely wonderful, and it confronts the reader with some challenges like double sharps etc.

[@nantericable]

Bonjour, Vous n'expliquez pas le principe de la lecture à vue.

[@themusicprofessor]

Non, désolé ! Ce n'est pas vraiment un guide de lecture à vue. Il s'agit plutôt de s'amuser en répondant au défi de lire à vue des pièces de plus en plus difficiles. J'essaierai de faire une vidéo plus instructive sur la lecture à vue à un moment donné dans le futur.

[@nantericable]

@@themusicprofessor mon piano mes doigts mes yeux et mon cerveau attendent avec hâte cette prochaine vidéo. Merci à vous

[@saibhandari]

I want the mysterious Ian Coulter to appear on the channel

[@themusicprofessor]

The mysterious Ian Coulter will appear soon!

[@CaptainCaveman782]

Sight reading drives me nuts . I have made ZERO progress in years despite level going up 3 grades and did everything teachers suggest. They have given up on me lol I have grown to hate sight reading

[@ewallt]

I had a professor in college that could sight read orchestral scores.

[@russell_szabados]

We all had professors in college who could sight read orchestral scores. That's why we're here watching his content rather than sight reading orchestral scores ourselves.

[@DrJohannPryce]

Don’t forget no matter how good you can read classical , a simple Tate mcrae song is Uber level difficult

[@militaryandemergencyservic3286]

9:25 - no, this is not at all hard.

[@composerjalen]

The left hand is a nightmare at tempo

[@josephgiuseppedegregorio4553]

Love your videos in general. this one very is very rich in insights, thank you. i'd love to partner with you on a new video, if you'd be open to it. as a worldwide performing Jazz pianist, composer & educator, one topic i'm really interested in (& have developed my own method on it) is: "Developing Jazz Variations".

[@themusicprofessor]

We really appreciate your lovely comment. Thanks for reaching out to us. Currently, we barely have time to collaborate with each other(!) so thanks for the offer but we're a bit too busy to take anything on currently. Good luck with your channel and thank you for the encouragement.

[@Lordversus44]

Wow!! Good job!! But guys.. i hate Sorabji

[@robertoconnell6589]

What is the purpose of this?

[@themusicprofessor]

Bit of fun

[@kevycanavan]

That second one is like a Glass etude

[@themusicprofessor]

A little bit, yes. Modelled on Glass's version of minimalism I guess. I prefer Glass though.

[@kevycanavan]

@@themusicprofessor me too

[@brigitpimm8488]

Sound effects way too loud

[@musical_lolu4811]

100th comment

[@jamesmitchell6925]

The audio is so bad! The sound effects are so loud compared to what you’re saying

[@GabeOwzer]

From age 5-7, I’d memorize my piano pieces, and if I had any issues I’d look up at the notes. But I couldn’t sight read - just decipher and memorize. At age 8, I got a new piano teacher who noticed this and made me start over from Book 1 except I wasn’t ever allowed to look at my hands. I was devastated of course, but decades later and I’m still a proficient sight-reader. Anyways… merry Christmas! PS. Half the battle on that last piece seems to be just seeing the notes (the font is so small)! I’m very familiar with that lean-in you did to get a closer look 😂

[@pavlenikacevic4976]

Great job! By the way, the top stave in Opus Clavicembalisticum is to be played an octave higher (that's what that weird sign instead of treble clef refers to)

[@zarath5411]

I was just practicing sight reading until this video came out. Lol. Thank you for the great content

[@themusicprofessor]

Thank you for your encouragement!

[@DihelsonMendonca]

Congratulations, professor ! 💥 I play the piano for more than 35 years. I can compose, improvise, even learn several pieces of music, but I can't sight read. I began in music by listening. It was late, at 14, I studied classical music for 3 years, and I discovered Jazz. Since then, I mostly play jazz, but I have played several piano concertos, I studied about 60 Chopin's pieces, among several other composers, but I can't sight read. Even my music reading is poor. I need time to learn very slowly. But reading is proportional to the difficulty. I can almost sight read a Chopin's waltz, but when I sight read, I can't memorize anything. Looks like the brain is rewired in such a way that the circuits used to sight reading prevents memorizing. After sight reading a piece, NOTHING seems to stay on my brain. I can't even remember the first notes, so, I'm sight reading forever. Every time is the first time. Abd If I want to memorize a piece, I have to study it carefully, divide in chunks, and memorize by parts. Well, everybody has their weakness, some in reading, some in listening, or composing, or improvising... We are never perfect, like Franz Liszt and some other guys who could do it all perfectly ! 😅😅

[@themusicprofessor]

Some people find sight reading very difficult (some of my own family do) and some famous musicians (Gershwin for example) found it very hard. I think it's good to try a bit every day, and it will very slowly get better (especially sight reading pieces you really love!) Maybe develop an exercise where you try sight reading a bar or two and then see if you can reproduce what you've sight read - that might help the memory thing.

[@DihelsonMendonca]

@@themusicprofessor Thank you very much for this excellent advice. I can assure it is, because I'm already doing it and have improved my overall reading and sight reading tremendously. One of the things that was preventing me from reading, ( I discovered a few months ago ) was because I always have played looking at the keys. I began to practice scales and arpeggios blindfold, to have a perfect sense of the distances, the position of the keys without looking at them. I discovered that when I read, I mostly know where the keys to press, but I had to look at the keyboard, specially in large jumps across. And this constant movement of the eyes, looking to the sheet music and looking down, was damaging my reading. If you want to read, you should keep your eyes at the paper. Another thing is to try to read ahead. This is a tremendous effort, but if you can read a bar or two ahead while you play, you could play anything. So, it's practice, practice slowly, at first. And with time and always practicing, comes the progress. I begin to feel I'm reading a lot better. Thank you so much, and once more, congratulations for this real treasure which is your channel. I'm becoming addicted to your excellent insights. 🙏👍💥❤️

[@themusicprofessor]

Thank you. Yes. It's a problem that a lot of players have because they've learned to look at their hands too much. It's a very good idea to develop strategies to play blind (there's a reason why some amazing piano virtuosi have been blind!)

[@russell_szabados]

I first heard of Sorabji in an article in Keyboard magazine in the mid 80's when I was in high school. I seem to remember they called his music the most difficult ever written and included one of those floppy 7" records that were often included in magazines (complete with "place coin here for better traction"). I *love* that piece by Oswald Russell. Thank you for introducing me to him!

[@lettersquash]

Wow, impressive. Like wizardry, except I have a vague idea just how much practice must have gone into getting that skillful. The Yann Tiersen reminds me of Opening by Philip Glass - similar harmonies, but without the polyrhythm. kzbin.info/www/bejne/hpSUfIBrbLGVorM

[@thegoodgeneral]

The little sound effects are obnoxious. At the very least they need to be at half volume since I'm already straining to hear your voice.

[@harmandon]

i thought i was okay at sight reading. oh my god. i am so bad!

[@RealLifeMassMultiplayerRPG]

9:20 rackmaninov "insert your password"

[@DihelsonMendonca]

❤ Professor, can I ask you to sight read some Scriabin pieces I'm struggling to learn ? For example, how do you read preludes Op 11 no 7 ( A major ), no 19 ( E flat ), Prelude Op 27 no 1 ( B flat ), Prelude Op 48 no 4 , Scriabin Sonata number 4 ? Thank you very much if you could do a video about these pieces. Certainly, the great Scriabin deserves a place in your outstanding hands. 🎉❤❤❤

[@themusicprofessor]

@DihelsonMendonca Thank you. Life is complicated and there are quite a few requests but I want to do Scriabin some time. I'll have a think about this.

[@DihelsonMendonca]

@@themusicprofessor Thank you very much, professor. I hope you find some time to record them. All Scriabin preludes are amazing. 🙏👍💥❤️

[@raaghavgoelpiano]

"silly piece" i loved that so much HAHAHAH

[@lshwadchuck5643]

Fun. Thanks.

[@lettersquash]

When it comes to Sorabji, I'd probably have more luck crocheting the lampshades.

[@Pleasure1964]

Wow !!!! I cant believe that with some considerable work, you could be almost as good a sight reader as me!!!!!!! Great job!!

[@Yadeehoo]

It sounded like pieces you knew but played horribly

[@themusicprofessor]

Cheers!

[@Yadeehoo]

@@themusicprofessor Pineapple ginger tea here, cheers

[@portwain]

Please use a lavalier mic. It’s very difficult to hear what you’re saying while not looking into camera. Thanks!

[@themusicprofessor]

Noted!

[@musimedmusi8736]

Kudos for giving the Sorabji a go!

[@CristinaMarshal]

Worry not sir - I happen to be the Grandma of music myself - the new kids on the block, I ain't got a clue who they be!

[@blindcanseemusic]

What I loved the most was the Mozart. I'm not a pianist, and I've never seen or heard his "twinkle twinkle little star" (though i've known for years that he was the author of that "nitrogen" melody- nitrogen-everyone breathes it whether they realize it or not), but have heard many people arrange some form of harmony or piece around the melody (including myself), and now that I've heard a bit of Mozart's version, of course, he wins... even with the theme alone, but that is no surprise. Thanks again.

[@harriette2000]

So enjoyable. Just love the way you put this video together. Thanks you two! I love the levity. Your challenge brings to mind someone to whom levity does not apply but who was an unbelievable in fact, savant-like sight reader. Check out the tragic story of someone else I much admire - John Ogdon. So very sad. Perhaps you can give a vignette of his life.

[@themusicprofessor]

Thanks for the kind words! Yes, John Ogden was an extraordinary musician. I heard him perform the whole of Sorabji's Opus Clavecembalisticum in London in the 1980s. It was one of his last performances.

[@harpsitardo]

The great news for us sight readers is that virtually every piece after the Mozart isn't worth playing - so don't worry about it! My personal opinion, of course. Has anything surpassed Shostakoviches Preludes and Fugues of the 1940s since then - and actually been enjoyable to perform AND listen to?

[@themusicprofessor]

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you...an opinion.

[@harpsitardo]

@@themusicprofessor *accepts bouquet and bows*