The Top 5 Reasons You Are SO BAD At Sight Reading Music! (And How To Fix It!)

[@Pugzilla0]

as a pianist that learns from KZbin, i can TOTALLY relate :D Nice vid anyways

[@matticawood]

Maybe this is a sign to pick up some music! 🤔

[@arthurhorowitz5345]

Urmm... I am a musician who is very good at everything, thank you.

[@matticawood]

Speaking to women? 😉

[@suehill9679]

My problem is that I’ve only got to struggle though a tune a few times, then I remember it then practise from memory. What you are saying makes a lot of sense.

[@Antonio-nn2kq]

Very good! Bring more videos about sheet music, tutorials on how to read the basics. I've been studying music theory for a week now, I'm still illiterate in sheet music.

[@Dervig]

actually helpful video, cheers

[@matticawood]

No problem, I'm glad you found it useful in someway 🙂

[@DihelsonMendonca]

💥 I only find sightreading videos playing childish music. I already can do that. I want to sightreading a Liszt piece, a Scriabin sonata, a Prokofiev or Rachmaninov pieces, but how to do that ???? Do you know ? My current ability to sight reading or reading without memorizing is a Chopin waltz or perhaps some nocturnes. But this is not enough, specially because when I read music, I can't memorize at the same time. When I read, it's like always the first time. I'm a jazz pianist, my ears are better than my reading. My reading rhythms are not good for difficult ones. I prefer to rely on a recording of a piece, than learning to read without knowing. I know it's a big fault on me and I need to fix that. I can't stand the idea to play a piece for months in order to learn, I like to play a Scriabin prelude studying for 3 hours. More than that, it's very boring to repeat, repeat... Any tips ? Or am I a lost case ? 😮😮😮

[@KevinrosenOfficial]

Hello i started learning sheet music two weeks ago do you have any tips remember the notes/Lines

[@matticawood]

That’s great, how’s it going so far? I would recommend using the “Landmark Method” for remembering notes, it will also help you find where you are on the piano quickly. So pick 3-4 spaced out notes in each hand to really remember and then use those to find the notes around. For example in the right hand try and deliberately remember all the C’s and G’s and then you will be able to get to other notes that are near those very quickly. 😊

[@stellicpiano]

Great advice! Thanks

[@matticawood]

No problem, I'm glad you think so! 🙂

[@redastannsd3398]

Man I have to make exam to get to music college for 3 days and I'm still bad at sight reading. RIP

[@sandstormfeline3664]

Fantastic content as always. Do you have any videos on songs recommended for beginners? Most of the ones found in adult beginner books are a little boring and outdated, and I'd love to see your input on this with more modern recommendations.

[@matticawood]

Thank you! I haven’t done any videos on it so far, but it’s definitely a good idea for a future video! 😊

[@sandstormfeline3664]

I'd really like that, I look forward to maybe seeing it in the future :)@@matticawood

[@viso_exxtrad6479]

i have to look at the note, figure out what note it is then play it on the piano im finished :(

[@Jauro1234]

What piano do you have?

[@matticawood]

The one in the video is a Yamaha P45 😊

[@darkenaxe]

"A lot of people can get started with reading music pretty quickly" was a very hard statement to hear :( I am working my sight reading every day for a month now, and i still cannot play trebble and bass at the same time, even when it is extremely simple xD

[@matticawood]

That’s further than the part I was referring to 😊 You can find the notes, even if it’s slowly and hands separately, so you know how to work out what the notes are…knowing how to find the notes and how to work out what the notes are is the part I was referring to. Now you are in the harder part which is getting good at it and improving your instant recognition so that you can read hands together quicker 😊

[@darkenaxe]

@@matticawood Haha, ok thank you for the clarification :,)

[@zevelgamer.]

Im currently starting my 2nd year of playing piano. I've almost finished learning the arbesque by burgmuller, i have a problem which i don't look at the sheet, once i get the pattern i don't follow the music sheet. How do i fix it. I also have my 4th and 5th fingers so weak. My teacher just told me to playing repeated notes with the same finger with correct posture and hand raised. What do you think?

[@matticawood]

That's a very common thing that people do start to do when you start to memorise the music. When you first start learning a piece of music, you have no choice but to look at the music because you don't know what the notes are....so when you learn a new piece, make a real effort to only glance down if you really have to for jumps and things like that. For the arabesque; focus on a feature of the music that you maybe don't know as well to keep your eyes on the page more naturally. For example, would you know all of the dynamics for the piece of music without the music in front of you? If not, then follow the dynamics with your eyes as you play. For the arabesque specifically, you could make a conscious effort to look out for the staccatos. The more things that you NEED to look at the page for, the more likely you are to not look at your hands. For weak 4th and 5th fingers, what your teacher said is fair, if you want specifics try Hanon: The Virtuoso Pianist in 60 Exercises - Exercises 6, 11, 12, 27 and 28. - If you practice those exercises, you will strengthen and gain control of your 4th and 5th fingers in no time! 🙂

[@zevelgamer.]

@@matticawood thank you! Luckily I recently bought the hanon exercises book. I'll try those tomorrow. Thank you 🙏

[@the_stefo]

Thank you for these amazing tips! I will try this tomorrow. You really deserve more subscribers!

[@matticawood]

Thank you, I appreciate that and good luck with trying them out 😊

[@camrywingler1013]

I have perfect pitch and admittedly, sight reading is not my greatest strength. I can read music, yes.

[@sarahr.902]

I am watching your videos for a month now and started beginning of February with piano lessons (total beginner to piano, only few things stayed in my brain from school). Is your sight reading exercise book a book for this kind of beginner? I tried to find some more information about that book but you only have the few infos on your website and I am not sure if this is good for my use case or not :D maybe you can make a short presentation video about your book (or do you already have one?)? In addition: Is it downloadable content or is it a physical book? didnt find information about this too :)

[@matticawood]

Hey, if you are a beginner interested in being able to read music the first time you see it (sight reading)…then it’s a good option. The book starts out with just the right hand and simple notes for you to read and count but gets progressively more difficult. The idea is that you read each exercise only once to improve your ability to recognise notes instantly. There are 420 exercises that work their way up to grade 1 level sight reading exercises so that you should be able to play them without having seen them before. I usually recommend practicing sight reading some music every time you practice to get good at instant recognition alongside slightly more challenging pieces that you are learning over a longer period of time. It is a digital download, if you decide to purchase the book you will be able to download it and you will also receive an email with a download link 😊

[@sarahr.902]

Thanks so much for your Quick Info! I will definately buy it! I would love to read through it as quickly as possible. Would you recommend reading three exercises per day? So one left Hand, one right Hand and one both? I am very enthusiastic and already totally in love (though i wait for the down later when i dont get forward in learning 😂). Thanks so much for All your Videos and your great Information you give us so often ❤❤❤❤

[@matticawood]

It depends on what you can stick to each day 😊 The exercises will maybe take 20-30 seconds to play…so a good goal would be to play a page of right hand and a page of left hand exercises each day (12 exercises), which would take about 10 minutes per day, then once you are 100% confident with each hand and your reading of each hand is equal then maybe try include the exercises that include both hands. But it’s more important to stick to it daily so you are regularly having to revisit recognising notes…so 3 of each per day or 1 of each per day is much better than 50 on day 1 and none for the rest of the month. 😊

[@DihelsonMendonca]

💥 You forgot the two main characteristics of a good sight reader: 1 - Never look at the keys. 2 - Read ahead, at least 1 bar, perhaps 2 to 3 bars would be Ideal. You mentioned a lot of important things, but seems you forgot the obvious. Thanks. 🎉

[@matticawood]

That’s because these two things aren’t required or things that always apply. When reading you will need to look at your hands on occasions and I would only say to someone “never look at the keys” if someone is overly reliant on looking at the keys. This is automatically fixed by only playing a piece of music once, because you can’t memorise something you’ve never seen before and therefore you have to look at the piece of music. Looking a bar ahead is also context dependant and isn’t really what happens when we sight read. We are trying to predict what’s next and glance ahead to see if that is what happens. For example if I see that the piece of music is outlining G7 (dominant 7th chord). Il glance ahead to see if it goes to a C major chord (which is what I would expect). That might be a bar ahead, or it might be half a bar ahead or 4 bars ahead. We don’t actually consistently read ahead of where we are. We look for clues, fill in the details and glance ahead. 😊

[@mysticniradyt]

Let’s gooooo 12 mins ago

[@matticawood]

Nice work 😃

[@dogMIDI]

not first

[@matticawood]

But you are here nonetheless! 😃