The Fundamentals of Lute Playing, Episode 19: Sight-Reading

[@waylonwillie5736]

Interesting episode! I'm a beginning player, so I don't have immediate sight-reading goals. But I have a related question: Is there value in looking at the page while you play? I have some experience with other types of music where tab is just a reference, and you don't play from it. So, I tend to use tab to ingest a piece, but I'm not looking at it while I play. (And I'm still in the camp of trying to get my fingers in the right place.) Should I spend some practice time playing while looking at the music?

[@laudonschuett3019]

There are advantages and disadvantages to both approaches and I think it just depends on how you feel about it. If you decide to memorize, it allows you to look at your hands, to really get into the details and, at least for me, allows me to play a little faster. The advantage to reading is that you don't need to worry about memory slips (a serious concern when playing dense contrapuntal pieces) and, for me, I find it easier to add ornamentation and embellishments because I can see the structure of the piece in front of me. I usually tell students to try performing both ways and see what works for you! Keep in mind that what works in the practice room might be completely different from what works in front of an audience : )