There are a lot of misconceptions when it comes to reading music! Here are some of the biggest ones and how to overcome them: - My biggest trick - 1:05 - How to practice - 2:58 - Landmark notes - 3:40 - Memorizing is ok - 4:22 Don't forget to download your music from the description!
You describe my experience exactly! I used to memorise things before I ever got a chance to read them properly… I thought I was cheating too. I read all the books about sheet music and sight reading that I could, I knew all the rules, rhythm and harmony et cetera… But as soon as I started to try and play something, even at a slow speed, all that would disappear and I would just be left looking at a load of lines and dots… Having watched your video, I’m tempted to go back to it one day, but at the moment I’m desperately trying to learn to play by ear! Many thanks Steve
The greatest tip I ever got to improve sight-reading and to play off sheet music, in general, is to learn your major scales playing/practicing them off of sheet music. My trombone teacher would give us staff paper. He had us write in the key, clef(both tenor and bass) and notes on the staff paper, and then have us write the arpeggio for each of the notes of the major scale on the following line. So you'll play the scale up and down single note and then again arpeggiating each note up and down the scale reading off of the sheet. Do this for a month and you'll be a sight-reading God!!! This will only take a month, I promise you. Major scales or so easy to learn because your ear and fingers will pick up the pattern quickly! If you're interested in Jazz piano extend this technique to minor, harmonic minor, pentatonic, blues, and the rest of the modes.
Okay, will try this. So you're saying for example, If it were a C major scale. First I will go up cdefgabc then down cbagfedc. then for the arrpegiao I will play ceg, egb and so on till the ceg above and then come back down how? also, did you do a 3 note arpeggio or more? any help would be appreciated.
treble is FACE, bass is ACEG, so it's a 2 note shift. just focus a little on it and you will get there. or just add a ledger line to both treble and bass. that will make both the same - FACEG, FACEG
There are plenty of apps u can use say 10-15 ?in per day as a supplement if you want. I found them useful for starting out basic treble and bass cled with ledger lines. Vivace is a nice basic app if u like.
Good advice here! I was a horrible sight reader until I realized that performance skill and sight reading skill are different. It's ok to sight read beginning pieces if you can play intermediate music. Second, is slow the tempo until you feel comfy sight reading. The brain-muscle comprehension/reaction has to develop like reading.
This is actually how people sightread. The same way one does not read books letter by letter, but word by word making phrases, so it is with music notation. We should be able to identify individual notes. YES! But you first see the key signature, then you identify starting notes per block (a certain numbers of bars, pages, whatever), everything else is actually understanding: oh, now it's a broken chord on the second degree, oh now I am arpeggiating, oh, now I have a couple of inversions, here comes a fifth, and so on so forth. So, by knowing the starting note and the patterns that are following, we are sightreading. It is beyond "no shame". It is the way it should be done. Sightreading note by note is actually no sightreading at all. It is like spelling instead of speaking words.
I used to play clarinet when I was younger and sight reading for that was almost impossible (even though it was a requirement for passing grades.) When I joined the British Army Regimental Band for my regiment in my late teens, I was sent straight into a tour of the Northeast of England, where my regimental band were already touring, playing military music. I don't know if any of you have ever played military music, but I can promise you it's some of the fastest, most difficult music to play, let alone sight read! :D Since getting older (much older!) I started playing keyboards and have slowly realised how much easier it is to visualise intervals, chords and the music notes, because I'm also more of a visual/spacial awareness kind of person. The teaching in this video is so helpful for people like me who have always struggled with sight reading. So, anyway, that was a very long-winded way of saying that since watching PIANOTE videos and teachings, I've learned so much more as far as music theory goes and my keyboard playing has greatly improved since. So THANK YOU, Lisa and the team at PIANOTE! :D Please keep up the fantastic work of passing on your amazing knowledge and skills to the world.
Thank you, I am a 70 year old absolute beginner. I've wanted to learn to play the keyboard for a very long time. I started with a teacher about four months ago and she was really good. I wont bore you with the why, but for the last month I have been in another city and without my keyboard or my basic books, (and will be for the foreseeable future).I only have the notes that I was taking. Your short tutorial are excellent and have given me the impetus to get back to learning. Thanks again
I had always just watched other people's hands as they played the piano and repeated their movements, but lately I've been trying to get better at actually reading the music, so this helps A LOT! Thank you!
Another trick I use is: play the correct rhythm, fudge the notes. Which is basically what you said about notes ;) Love your channel, it has given me lots of idea for teaching music!
There’s always something new to learn from your piano lessons. Please continue to share your knowledge and experience. People like me who can not afford a piano teacher are benefiting the most out of your videos.
I am 68 years old, a multi-instrumentalist. I started no trumpet, I could sight read anything, I played al Beethoven symphony parts and many world championship coronet parts with ease. I could not improvise at all only read, I never tired to memorise tunes and could not do so. On saxophone I wanted to improvise, so I learnt harmony. I memorised tunes. Because my memory improved, I found that I could not improve my sight reading. I realised that because the tune was memorised I could not re-sightread anything. Now I play piano, I can’t sight read at all on this instrument, again after memorising a real book number I never get the chance to sight read. If I did not remember the piece so quickly, then second time around I would still be reading and therefore practising sight reading. Now, I just use my ears, this tells me what to play, the tune is really just a starting block which I reharmonise anew every time I play it. I don’t have much interest in playing the same thing twice, also notation cannot catch all nuances. Play back a MIDI score and you will hear, it may be totally accurate, but it will be bland lift music
I took years of music lessons, and I was taught you have to know all the notes. You are just awesome in how you teach my goodness! Thank you!! learning sooooo much. I just love your energy that you have in your lessons too. You are a true talent!
THIS is what I have been doing since I started Pianote a month ago. I am TERRIBLE at site reading, so I started doing this on my own. NOW, that I know YOU do it, I feel relieved. I have been using apps to help train my brain when I see a note. Well, I may just move on now with my lessons. I was stalled in level 2, lesson 1, waiting for my brain to catch up. Thanks!
Cool method! Sight-reading is a problem for many. I have had also those problems while being a kid. But this is not a problem if you find a right approach
What has helped me tremendously is to sit down and label every note on the sheet music so I can better recognize the notes when practicing the music. This was one of your suggestions earlier. Thanks!
This has definitely been my approach forever! No shame in it either, lol. I work the piece out, memorize, then use the sheet music as a guide to not get lost!
Miss Lisa I feel your pain believe me it took me forever to learn to read. But also I'm a huge fan of Michelle Legrand God bless his soul and I picked up one of the pieces that he wrote more famous song that went with a famous movie Brian song and I just fell in love with the song. I couldn't put the sheet music down I just studied constantly. My piano teacher God bless her soul Miss Gina day told me it sheet music is like reading a story. You're really want to take your time when reading sheet music because the composers actually telling you the story. To all you pianist beginning two intermediate practice your reading it pays off in the end believe me. Miss Lisa I love your lessons keep up the great work. Happy playing Teddy.
I cannot read music. I almost always play by ear and just use trial and error to 'play' parts and sections of songs. I just got a keyboard and your videos are SO helpful for beginners like me. Thank you for this one! That is more how my brain works...counting lines makes sense to me.
I used to take piano lessons when I was in 7th grade,and then stopped after about 5 years.. Then I found your channel and my ability to play the instrument has improved so much it's hard to explain! You are amazing!!!
I’m the opposite! My sight reading isn’t too shabby but I struggle to memorise. This video was still helpful though, it helped me consciously identify some of the techniques I have been intuitively using. Thank you!
I totally identify with this video. I took lessons over 25 years ago, never really learned to sight read, and thought there was something wrong with me. I would do exactly what you described. Count out each note, find them on the sheet, but then I would record my teacher playing the piece how it was supposed to sound, then play my Walkman dozens of times, till I had it down from memory. I am starting over at age 67. You are a wonderful teacher and I am so happy to have found these lessons.
I have been attempting to teach myself to play piano for a bit of time now (still very terrible) and 2 of the most challenging elements are finger speed and sight reading. I know chords, triads, inversions, 1/2 step, whole steps; however, I am very - very slow at sight reading and translating that to my fingers. BTW, I am 60 (I might be too old and just won't admit it). Your tutorials have been of the BEST help I have found. Thank you for all of your help. You are awesome (just in case no one has told you today).
I just started learning few days ago n Yes it’s killing me! I even lining my sheets many many times, wrote them down n try to remember. Thank God I watch this I love you 🥺
You have put me at ease, slightly, about my lack of speed in note reading. When playing and reading I awfully slow. I believed that they more I practiced my reading and playing the better and faster I would become.
Thank you, Lisa. I have been learning with a classically trainer teacher for about six months. I feel like I am finally turning the corner and getting more confidant with sight reading. Playing is now even more enjoyable because it doesn’t take me as long to read the notes. I don’t think it’s humanly possible not to “memorize” finger placement, especially after practicing a piece for a few times. The landmark key advice is very helpful. I really enjoy the Pianote videos, especially as my skill levels increase.
Im a beginner. And yes reading takes some time to absorb especially when i started at a very late age together with my daughter. I love ur videos tq so much! And yea today's syllabus. We were taught the step up n down. The skip up n don. And "FACE" for the treble clef's spaces. And bass i remember bass C & G the most🤭. I am still figuring out. However i believe for beginners during lessons i do learn songs to songs by spontaneous reading & play. Now i feel trouble with my fingers. Im gonna watch ur lessons on fingers!😊 tq so much for teaching and make it easy for us to understand!
Oh thank God I'm so glad that someone who's so professional admits shes not great at sight reading. Now I don't feel so bad ive never had the quick eye to read sheet music. I learn most of my songs by ear. The school I went to everything music was done by ear sheet music was virtually nonexistent in my high school. I tried to learn how to read sheet music after I got out of school but I found it harder to learn as I got older till this day I still don't know sheet music
Treble shows where the G is and Clef where the F is from their I know that those are the notes I can focus on where the others are and since middle C is easy to spot I can apply the correct hand finger coordination using this handy trick my piano teacher helped me with that when I learned that from Alfreds piano books.
You are a great teacher -- you present things different than others -- makes it fu n to learn. It's like you give insight into the tricks of making music easier. Thank you ! Want to see video of you performing some great popular classical piece !
Excellent! Very useful ideas to begin our journey into reading the "dots"! I think many pianists whatever their playing experience, struggle with sight reading. One tip I use is to practice one bar ahead of where you are reading, so practice bar 2 then go back to bar 1, and so on. That way you are always reading into stuff that is already familiar! Cheers!
It takes time for some to be able to read sheet music, others will be able to pick out the odd note. Then there are those that play by ear and never read a note, my uncle could not read music yet was a good player of both guitar and piano. Though he told me I needed to be able to read music and not just play by ear. No shame in stating that you have difficulty reading music even after playing for all those years. :)
Thank God, I’m not alone! As a kid who had a teacher, it was essential that I developed the ability to sight read easily; but this made me hate learning how to play the piano. The upside in sight reading, for me now, is that I tend to memorise note placement. It’s painstakingly slow. But I have to.
I grew up playing viola, so learning to read sheet music was a huge part of learning to play the instrument. I learned by internalizing where the open strings are, and each note above those was 1st finger, 2nd finger, 3rd finger (and as a viola player, that's as far as I usually needed to go!). No sweat. Now, learning piano as an adult, not much of that really works. There's not really a single hand position that you can stay in and play a whole piece. Hands are moving around all the time. What helps me immensely is looking at (and making my own) fingering notations. And that's usually a key if I need to move my hands or not. It gets harder for me when sometimes 1-2 is a whole step and sometimes it's a third and sometimes it's a fourth, and sometimes it's major, sometimes minor, sometimes perfect/diminished/augmented/etc.
While learning to play the piano I find I have to play a piece so many times just to get my hands doing the correct thing that I will have memorised the piece without even thinking about it. I am still trying to include sight reading practice each day, but I do struggle.
Wow I totally had that issue when I was learning to play! I had such a hard time reading the music as I was playing that I would do exactly as you described and read it very slowly..and eventually memorize it. I actually felt bad, like I didn't really understand how to read sheet music like I was supposed to. I had 10 years of lessons and was self conscious that after that time I still couldn't read music as quickly as I thought I should be able to. This reminds me to not be so hard on myself and to be ok with the fact that we don't always learn the same way. My piano teacher could read sheet music like her life depended on it..she would put a piece of music in front of her that she had never played before and just go to town! I always felt like I needed to be that good at sight reading to feel accomplished. I'm not going to lie, I still yearn to achieve that level of mastery. However, after watching this video it dawned on me that she just learned to memorize and analyze the patterns and spaces in between like you mentioned, just at a much quicker rate haha. She was so familiar with reading sheet music that she became fluent in the language.
I started as adult (38yrs) and reading an arrangement is one aspect that NEVER improved despite much effort. Sadly, because of this I’ve never been able to play classical pieces and that’s a shame. I can read melody lines however, so I stick to lead sheets and make my own arrangements. My real trick to memorizing is to look at chord symbols (they’re in English) and understand how they fit in progression of piece. In early part of learning, I play slowly and softly say to myself what playing. Especially helpful in recognizing where music repeats. For example Cole Porter’s “So In Love”: I’m in key of Ab - I’m starting on the Fm 6th - I’m going to the C7 based on the 3rd - now back to the 6th - now to Bbm 2 chord - now to Eb 5 chord”. All 3 chorus’s are identical to that point. It takes a little while, but breaking it down by key and chords and verbalizing them to myself works for me.
Now I know I'm doing it in the right way, I was curious about that. Whats helping me a lot is those apps which shows u the line on sheet and u have to press key on virtual keyboard or by midi, just few minutes a day make it soo much easier.
In school, I would painstakingly "work out" the written notes, but once I had heard them, they were /are in my head and I just pretended to "Read " the music. I remember being the only kid watching the conductor at a school concert! I'm 64 now and still can't remember note names or "read" sheet music. I think different brains work differently, my mother passed lots of piano exams but couldn't play anything without sheet music. (and was a "mechanical" player) On the other hand, being able to sight read would be wonderful!
Thank you for the wonderful tips. Whenever I read a piece for the first time I struggle because I mess up the left hand notes wondering which is which. This is really going to help me play better.
If you’re playing the music AT ALL then memorizing is NOT cheating. Most people can’t even play an instrument! When you do something over and over again then you’re going to find short cuts! Thank you for this great tip 🙏 you blew my mind, I never thought about this concept
I'm above average when it comes to reading music. The main reason is that when I took piano lessons the teacher taught me how to read music and I even had music theory workbooks and had regular tests and quizzes. It came in very handy when I got to high school because music theory was a required class for freshmen.
Great lesson! My landmark notes are middle, high and low c. I also use the high A above the treble clef lines and the low E below the bass clef lines. All the others, I usually have to work out.
I too always was terrible at sight reading for piano. When I started doing choral singing, I was forced to develop sight reading strategies, and among the ones I developed are exactly what you showed here. As a result, my sight reading improved a tremendous amount, and this carried over to reading piano music as well.
i learned site reading in elementary school playing trombone. it's really a big advantage when you learn when you're young. when i did my part in the school orchestra it was more of a reaction than a thinking process. it was like, my hands went in this position and my lips made this sound without thinking what to do. i didn't think to my self "well what is this note? Oh, this is a - um - a "G" and a G is this slide position. the process just happened. i think it was the repetition of doing it over and over where it became automatic. we were expected to play what was in front of us and that's how they taught us.
This was REALLY useful. I can't sight read, but I know a couple of fundamental notes, like C, and I know the mnemonics, FACE and EGBDF. But this has helped me leap forward and make ENOUGh sense of the sheet music to be useful. Thanks as ever.
for me, i learned how to read it in 1 week. I just memorized the layout and every note on the sheet, then did basic sheets to play fluently and memorizing where the keys are while reading it.
Well you are not alone, I see patterns, when it comes to cords and notes it’s just knowing where they are, I don’t actually name the note. I know that b is center line on staff and I know where C is on and off staff. Am I fast reader NO, but I do pretty good on the melody. When the pattern is two notes together, I may read one note to know where they are. It’s crazy how our minds work!
This is freaking awesome! I have dyslexia so sheet music just looks like a pile of random incoherent rubbish to me. Of course the English language didn't make sense at first too, and I got through that obviously, but sight reading just seems straight up impossible. This makes much more sense. Thank you!
Im really good at sight reading Treble just because I started my musical life on the flute, moved to clarinet, and then sax so that was easy. It's when I started playing piano and adding the bass and now multipule notes to make a chord...that is where my challenge began. I cant just see a line of notes and say...oh thats a Dm7....:(
It's funny cause I was practicing earlier today and I was not able to read every note and play along at the same time and my brain made me do exactly what you mentioned your biggest trick. I come on youtube hours later and this video is suggested to me lol
Thank you so much for this lesson. I really love and desire strongly to learn how to play the piano. but anytime I start, then I get discouraged by the notes I have to read and memorize
thank you so much for giving this insight.. I've been wondering long time which better between locking into sheet music all the time and memorizing it. Now I know the answer. Besides, memorizing the song is much way better in enjoying each notes I'm playing because more time in engaging the rhyme than struggling to keep up the pace on reading music sheet while playing piano.
Holy shit i felt like i was kinda hitting a plateau and then she just came with this incredible solution to put some weight off of my shoulders. This really is a lifesaver for me
Im very advanced and i dont know how to read a single note I learn classical masterpieces without having any knowledge on reading. It just like a bonus thing in my opinion you dont really need it to become an expert
Hi, it's like 2 weeks since I started watching Pianote videos on RUclips. I like it when you change songs to key C mostly. I suggest that after every lesson and after changing to key C, you tell us the original key of the song at the end of the video. Thanks
Nice video. I tried both the landmark method and the interval method mentioned in this video. The landmark method helped me a lot more. I developed more landmarks now and I can call out 60% notes immediately. The goal is for every notes on the staff to be a landmark I think by then my sight reading will be greatly improved.
After My first and second piano class ten years ago I played the song by memorizing it when my instructor asked me to repeat the song Ive learnt from the book. but then My piano teacher notice I wasn't reading from the note(music sheet), she told me to play by reading the notes from the book all over again.
This is really good. Reading music has scared me off quite a while. ACEG phrase is new to me. I put Gold Finch and Black Amsel (Blackbird) on little notes above the music stand for the tops of the treble and bass clefs. Also memorize the center line as B and D in both clefs. Along with your good tips I think I'll vanquish this beast.
I play flute and dabble in piano. Learning bass was and is still hard for me. I’m constantly “translating” from treble to bass. But I also do the spacial recognition trick , more for bass than treble.
There are a lot of misconceptions when it comes to reading music! Here are some of the biggest ones and how to overcome them:
- My biggest trick - 1:05
- How to practice - 2:58
- Landmark notes - 3:40
- Memorizing is ok - 4:22
Don't forget to download your music from the description!
You are an intelligent Beautiful Soul your brain is not crazy. Thank you you are brilliant
Thanks you rocks
You describe my experience exactly! I used to memorise things before I ever got a chance to read them properly… I thought I was cheating too. I read all the books about sheet music and sight reading that I could, I knew all the rules, rhythm and harmony et cetera… But as soon as I started to try and play something, even at a slow speed, all that would disappear and I would just be left looking at a load of lines and dots… Having watched your video, I’m tempted to go back to it one day, but at the moment I’m desperately trying to learn to play by ear! Many thanks Steve
Thanks ma'am. This was helpful.
I am presently working on my sight-reading both for the piano and the violin.
Thanks again for this tip
omg I always thought that I was cheating whenever I tried memorising a few bars of the music. This was such a relief!!!
ME TOOOO!!!
I know im three years late, but THANK YOU. This makes so much since!
I absolutely love your positive energy! Thank you for making piano learning fun by leaving out the stuffy, judgy, teaching strategies.
The greatest tip I ever got to improve sight-reading and to play off sheet music, in general, is to learn your major scales playing/practicing them off of sheet music. My trombone teacher would give us staff paper. He had us write in the key, clef(both tenor and bass) and notes on the staff paper, and then have us write the arpeggio for each of the notes of the major scale on the following line. So you'll play the scale up and down single note and then again arpeggiating each note up and down the scale reading off of the sheet. Do this for a month and you'll be a sight-reading God!!! This will only take a month, I promise you. Major scales or so easy to learn because your ear and fingers will pick up the pattern quickly! If you're interested in Jazz piano extend this technique to minor, harmonic minor, pentatonic, blues, and the rest of the modes.
Okay, will try this. So you're saying for example, If it were a C major scale. First I will go up cdefgabc then down cbagfedc. then for the arrpegiao I will play ceg, egb and so on till the ceg above and then come back down how? also, did you do a 3 note arpeggio or more? any help would be appreciated.
I find it very easy to read the treble clef but when it comes to the bass clef it takes me a while to figure out the notes ://
Same here
treble is FACE, bass is ACEG, so it's a 2 note shift. just focus a little on it and you will get there.
or just add a ledger line to both treble and bass. that will make both the same - FACEG, FACEG
There are plenty of apps u can use say 10-15 ?in per day as a supplement if you want. I found them useful for starting out basic treble and bass cled with ledger lines. Vivace is a nice basic app if u like.
same here
@@toomanysebastians oh tnx
Here’s the super humble woman.
she is. an amazing piano player and teacher and yes, she also sucks at sign reading just like us. hehe
Thanks for the helpful tips because I struggle a lot too, and need all the help I can get!!!
Good advice here! I was a horrible sight reader until I realized that performance skill and sight reading skill are different. It's ok to sight read beginning pieces if you can play intermediate music. Second, is slow the tempo until you feel comfy sight reading. The brain-muscle comprehension/reaction has to develop like reading.
This is actually how people sightread. The same way one does not read books letter by letter, but word by word making phrases, so it is with music notation. We should be able to identify individual notes. YES! But you first see the key signature, then you identify starting notes per block (a certain numbers of bars, pages, whatever), everything else is actually understanding: oh, now it's a broken chord on the second degree, oh now I am arpeggiating, oh, now I have a couple of inversions, here comes a fifth, and so on so forth. So, by knowing the starting note and the patterns that are following, we are sightreading. It is beyond "no shame". It is the way it should be done. Sightreading note by note is actually no sightreading at all. It is like spelling instead of speaking words.
What I was going to say.
YOU..... ARE.... AWESOME! You make everything so simple to understand without the extra garb. Thank you. Please don't ever stop.
So I am not the only one lacking reading music level 😅
Practise goddamnit
I try to improve too, It takes time. I practice on easier pieces 🎶
I too struggle with reading sheet music, you're not alone
I used to play clarinet when I was younger and sight reading for that was almost impossible (even though it was a requirement for passing grades.) When I joined the British Army Regimental Band for my regiment in my late teens, I was sent straight into a tour of the Northeast of England, where my regimental band were already touring, playing military music. I don't know if any of you have ever played military music, but I can promise you it's some of the fastest, most difficult music to play, let alone sight read! :D Since getting older (much older!) I started playing keyboards and have slowly realised how much easier it is to visualise intervals, chords and the music notes, because I'm also more of a visual/spacial awareness kind of person. The teaching in this video is so helpful for people like me who have always struggled with sight reading. So, anyway, that was a very long-winded way of saying that since watching PIANOTE videos and teachings, I've learned so much more as far as music theory goes and my keyboard playing has greatly improved since. So THANK YOU, Lisa and the team at PIANOTE! :D Please keep up the fantastic work of passing on your amazing knowledge and skills to the world.
Thank you, I am a 70 year old absolute beginner. I've wanted to learn to play the keyboard for a very long time. I started with a teacher about four months ago and she was really good. I wont bore you with the why, but for the last month I have been in another city and without my keyboard or my basic books, (and will be for the foreseeable future).I only have the notes that I was taking. Your short tutorial are excellent and have given me the impetus to get back to learning. Thanks again
I had always just watched other people's hands as they played the piano and repeated their movements, but lately I've been trying to get better at actually reading the music, so this helps A LOT! Thank you!
Girl u made it so much easier for me thank u so much
Another trick I use is: play the correct rhythm, fudge the notes. Which is basically what you said about notes ;)
Love your channel, it has given me lots of idea for teaching music!
There’s always something new to learn from your piano lessons. Please continue to share your knowledge and experience. People like me who can not afford a piano teacher are benefiting the most out of your videos.
Damn, that do dot low c. That's genius. Thank you
I am 68 years old, a multi-instrumentalist. I started no trumpet, I could sight read anything, I played al Beethoven symphony parts and many world championship coronet parts with ease. I could not improvise at all only read, I never tired to memorise tunes and could not do so. On saxophone I wanted to improvise, so I learnt harmony. I memorised tunes. Because my memory improved, I found that I could not improve my sight reading. I realised that because the tune was memorised I could not re-sightread anything. Now I play piano, I can’t sight read at all on this instrument, again after memorising a real book number I never get the chance to sight read. If I did not remember the piece so quickly, then second time around I would still be reading and therefore practising sight reading. Now, I just use my ears, this tells me what to play, the tune is really just a starting block which I reharmonise anew every time I play it. I don’t have much interest in playing the same thing twice, also notation cannot catch all nuances. Play back a MIDI score and you will hear, it may be totally accurate, but it will be bland lift music
I took years of music lessons, and I was taught you have to know all the notes. You are just awesome in how you teach my goodness! Thank you!! learning sooooo much. I just love your energy that you have in your lessons too. You are a true talent!
Love that little trick counting the keys rather than trying to remember which key relates to which note
Getting much better than before. Getting faster at “identifying” notes!
THIS is what I have been doing since I started Pianote a month ago. I am TERRIBLE at site reading, so I started doing this on my own. NOW, that I know YOU do it, I feel relieved. I have been using apps to help train my brain when I see a note. Well, I may just move on now with my lessons. I was stalled in level 2, lesson 1, waiting for my brain to catch up. Thanks!
Cool method! Sight-reading is a problem for many. I have had also those problems while being a kid. But this is not a problem if you find a right approach
What has helped me tremendously is to sit down and label every note on the sheet music so I can better recognize the notes when practicing the music. This was one of your suggestions earlier. Thanks!
I love the energy of this girl! ☕😊🎹
This has definitely been my approach forever! No shame in it either, lol. I work the piece out, memorize, then use the sheet music as a guide to not get lost!
Miss Lisa I feel your pain believe me it took me forever to learn to read. But also I'm a huge fan of Michelle Legrand God bless his soul and I picked up one of the pieces that he wrote more famous song that went with a famous movie Brian song and I just fell in love with the song. I couldn't put the sheet music down I just studied constantly. My piano teacher God bless her soul Miss Gina day told me it sheet music is like reading a story. You're really want to take your time when reading sheet music because the composers actually telling you the story. To all you pianist beginning two intermediate practice your reading it pays off in the end believe me. Miss Lisa I love your lessons keep up the great work. Happy playing Teddy.
My sight reading story is disastrous. But I’ve been watching your videos and they’ve greatly encouraged me to continue persevering!! Thank you!
Young wanted to play piano and needed a teacher. Dad told back want to play, play. Fell on your clips and am at it with pleasure.
I cannot read music. I almost always play by ear and just use trial and error to 'play' parts and sections of songs. I just got a keyboard and your videos are SO helpful for beginners like me. Thank you for this one! That is more how my brain works...counting lines makes sense to me.
I used to take piano lessons when I was in 7th grade,and then stopped after about 5 years.. Then I found your channel and my ability to play the instrument has improved so much it's hard to explain! You are amazing!!!
Acoustically Toned I love this channel too 😊 very informative and straight to the point !
@@PianoHeal thank you so much. I really appreciate that :) :)
I’m the opposite! My sight reading isn’t too shabby but I struggle to memorise. This video was still helpful though, it helped me consciously identify some of the techniques I have been intuitively using. Thank you!
Same ! 😊
I totally identify with this video. I took lessons over 25 years ago, never really learned to sight read, and thought there was something wrong with me. I would do exactly what you described. Count out each note, find them on the sheet, but then I would record my teacher playing the piece how it was supposed to sound, then play my Walkman dozens of times, till I had it down from memory. I am starting over at age 67. You are a wonderful teacher and I am so happy to have found these lessons.
OMG. The three C's just blew my mind. I never realized/visualized them like that.
I have been attempting to teach myself to play piano for a bit of time now (still very terrible) and 2 of the most challenging elements are finger speed and sight reading. I know chords, triads, inversions, 1/2 step, whole steps; however, I am very - very slow at sight reading and translating that to my fingers. BTW, I am 60 (I might be too old and just won't admit it). Your tutorials have been of the BEST help I have found. Thank you for all of your help. You are awesome (just in case no one has told you today).
I just started learning few days ago n Yes it’s killing me! I even lining my sheets many many times, wrote them down n try to remember.
Thank God I watch this I love you 🥺
I bought flash cards😀😀
You have put me at ease, slightly, about my lack of speed in note reading. When playing and reading I awfully slow. I believed that they more I practiced my reading and playing the better and faster I would become.
Thank you, Lisa. I have been learning with a classically trainer teacher for about six months. I feel like I am finally turning the corner and getting more confidant with sight reading. Playing is now even more enjoyable because it doesn’t take me as long to read the notes. I don’t think it’s humanly possible not to “memorize” finger placement, especially after practicing a piece for a few times. The landmark key advice is very helpful. I really enjoy the Pianote videos, especially as my skill levels increase.
Im a beginner. And yes reading takes some time to absorb especially when i started at a very late age together with my daughter.
I love ur videos tq so much! And yea today's syllabus. We were taught the step up n down. The skip up n don. And "FACE" for the treble clef's spaces. And bass i remember bass C & G the most🤭.
I am still figuring out. However i believe for beginners during lessons i do learn songs to songs by spontaneous reading & play.
Now i feel trouble with my fingers. Im gonna watch ur lessons on fingers!😊 tq so much for teaching and make it easy for us to understand!
Oh thank God I'm so glad that someone who's so professional admits shes not great at sight reading. Now I don't feel so bad ive never had the quick eye to read sheet music. I learn most of my songs by ear. The school I went to everything music was done by ear sheet music was virtually nonexistent in my high school. I tried to learn how to read sheet music after I got out of school but I found it harder to learn as I got older till this day I still don't know sheet music
Treble shows where the G is and Clef where the F is from their I know that those are the notes I can focus on where the others are and since middle C is easy to spot I can apply the correct hand finger coordination using this handy trick my piano teacher helped me with that when I learned that from Alfreds piano books.
Love this. Gave me some motivation to practice going back to reading music and not just playing chords and by ear.
You are a great teacher -- you present things different than others -- makes it fu n to learn. It's like you give insight into the tricks of making music easier. Thank you ! Want to see video of you performing some great popular classical piece !
Excellent! Very useful ideas to begin our journey into reading the "dots"! I think many pianists whatever their playing experience, struggle with sight reading. One tip I use is to practice one bar ahead of where you are reading, so practice bar 2 then go back to bar 1, and so on. That way you are always reading into stuff that is already familiar! Cheers!
Cool. Thanks! I'm gonna try that
It takes time for some to be able to read sheet music, others will be able to pick out the odd note. Then there are those that play by ear and never read a note, my uncle could not read music yet was a good player of both guitar and piano. Though he told me I needed to be able to read music and not just play by ear.
No shame in stating that you have difficulty reading music even after playing for all those years. :)
Thank God, I’m not alone! As a kid who had a teacher, it was essential that I developed the ability to sight read easily; but this made me hate learning how to play the piano. The upside in sight reading, for me now, is that I tend to memorise note placement. It’s painstakingly slow. But I have to.
Don't worry Lisa ,we still love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I grew up playing viola, so learning to read sheet music was a huge part of learning to play the instrument. I learned by internalizing where the open strings are, and each note above those was 1st finger, 2nd finger, 3rd finger (and as a viola player, that's as far as I usually needed to go!). No sweat.
Now, learning piano as an adult, not much of that really works. There's not really a single hand position that you can stay in and play a whole piece. Hands are moving around all the time. What helps me immensely is looking at (and making my own) fingering notations. And that's usually a key if I need to move my hands or not. It gets harder for me when sometimes 1-2 is a whole step and sometimes it's a third and sometimes it's a fourth, and sometimes it's major, sometimes minor, sometimes perfect/diminished/augmented/etc.
While learning to play the piano I find I have to play a piece so many times just to get my hands doing the correct thing that I will have memorised the piece without even thinking about it. I am still trying to include sight reading practice each day, but I do struggle.
Daniel's Adult Piano Progress your channel is cool 😊 It’s nice to see your progress 🎶🎹
That really helps!! I absoulutely am stuck on trying to memorize the notes, its stopping me from moving ahead, I think this will help. Thank you
Wow I totally had that issue when I was learning to play! I had such a hard time reading the music as I was playing that I would do exactly as you described and read it very slowly..and eventually memorize it. I actually felt bad, like I didn't really understand how to read sheet music like I was supposed to. I had 10 years of lessons and was self conscious that after that time I still couldn't read music as quickly as I thought I should be able to.
This reminds me to not be so hard on myself and to be ok with the fact that we don't always learn the same way. My piano teacher could read sheet music like her life depended on it..she would put a piece of music in front of her that she had never played before and just go to town! I always felt like I needed to be that good at sight reading to feel accomplished. I'm not going to lie, I still yearn to achieve that level of mastery. However, after watching this video it dawned on me that she just learned to memorize and analyze the patterns and spaces in between like you mentioned, just at a much quicker rate haha. She was so familiar with reading sheet music that she became fluent in the language.
Thank youuuu!!! I think it is só difficult! Bought a piano but didn't get the chance to start my lessons, due to... you know.
dear C O V I D
I started as adult (38yrs) and reading an arrangement is one aspect that NEVER improved despite much effort. Sadly, because of this I’ve never been able to play classical pieces and that’s a shame. I can read melody lines however, so I stick to lead sheets and make my own arrangements. My real trick to memorizing is to look at chord symbols (they’re in English) and understand how they fit in progression of piece. In early part of learning, I play slowly and softly say to myself what playing. Especially helpful in recognizing where music repeats. For example Cole Porter’s “So In Love”: I’m in key of Ab - I’m starting on the Fm 6th - I’m going to the C7 based on the 3rd - now back to the 6th - now to Bbm 2 chord - now to Eb 5 chord”. All 3 chorus’s are identical to that point. It takes a little while, but breaking it down by key and chords and verbalizing them to myself works for me.
Now I know I'm doing it in the right way, I was curious about that. Whats helping me a lot is those apps which shows u the line on sheet and u have to press key on virtual keyboard or by midi, just few minutes a day make it soo much easier.
Are you using 'simply piano' right now.
I’ve always done the same thing! Glad to hear I’m not alone ✌️
In school, I would painstakingly "work out" the written notes, but once I had heard them, they were /are in my head and I just pretended to "Read " the music. I remember being the only kid watching the conductor at a school concert! I'm 64 now and still can't remember note names or "read" sheet music.
I think different brains work differently, my mother passed lots of piano exams but couldn't play anything without sheet music. (and was a "mechanical" player)
On the other hand, being able to sight read would be wonderful!
A genius .... Totally getting in my nerves .. such a genius .. love it.
Thank you for the wonderful tips. Whenever I read a piece for the first time I struggle because I mess up the left hand notes wondering which is which. This is really going to help me play better.
I have been doing music lessons since grade school, I'm 34 years old and last year I realized what sound middle c makes
Thanks for the video( even though I don't really suck at reading sheet music 🎶.
Thank you, I just memorized the notes for both clefs and I’m starting to see patterns in sheet music.
If you’re playing the music AT ALL then memorizing is NOT cheating. Most people can’t even play an instrument! When you do something over and over again then you’re going to find short cuts! Thank you for this great tip 🙏 you blew my mind, I never thought about this concept
Thanks for saying that!
I'm above average when it comes to reading music. The main reason is that when I took piano lessons the teacher taught me how to read music and I even had music theory workbooks and had regular tests and quizzes. It came in very handy when I got to high school because music theory was a required class for freshmen.
You are such a sweetheart for sharing these secrets! Thanks!
I never had a crush on my teacher before.
Then I signed up for Pianote
Spacial Recognition. That’s adorable.
Great lesson! My landmark notes are middle, high and low c. I also use the high A above the treble clef lines and the low E below the bass clef lines. All the others, I usually have to work out.
I too always was terrible at sight reading for piano. When I started doing choral singing, I was forced to develop sight reading strategies, and among the ones I developed are exactly what you showed here. As a result, my sight reading improved a tremendous amount, and this carried over to reading piano music as well.
i learned site reading in elementary school playing trombone. it's really a big advantage when you learn when you're young. when i did my part in the school orchestra it was more of a reaction than a thinking process. it was like, my hands went in this position and my lips made this sound without thinking what to do. i didn't think to my self "well what is this note? Oh, this is a - um - a "G" and a G is this slide position. the process just happened. i think it was the repetition of doing it over and over where it became automatic. we were expected to play what was in front of us and that's how they taught us.
This was REALLY useful. I can't sight read, but I know a couple of fundamental notes, like C, and I know the mnemonics, FACE and EGBDF. But this has helped me leap forward and make ENOUGh sense of the sheet music to be useful.
Thanks as ever.
I have just learned something i have never known before, thanks, sister.
for me, i learned how to read it in 1 week. I just memorized the layout and every note on the sheet, then did basic sheets to play fluently and memorizing where the keys are while reading it.
Lisa love your "crazy brain"!
Well you are not alone, I see patterns, when it comes to cords and notes it’s just knowing where they are, I don’t actually name the note. I know that b is center line on staff and I know where C is on and off staff. Am I fast reader NO, but I do pretty good on the melody. When the pattern is two notes together, I may read one note to know where they are. It’s crazy how our minds work!
So glad I watched this. Always thought that reading music meant every note! Feel more relaxed about learning now. Thanks.
I'm taking piano lessons at the moment and my instructor said the same thing as you, he doesnt read the notes he just looks at the patterns 😀
This is freaking awesome! I have dyslexia so sheet music just looks like a pile of random incoherent rubbish to me. Of course the English language didn't make sense at first too, and I got through that obviously, but sight reading just seems straight up impossible. This makes much more sense. Thank you!
Im really good at sight reading Treble just because I started my musical life on the flute, moved to clarinet, and then sax so that was easy. It's when I started playing piano and adding the bass and now multipule notes to make a chord...that is where my challenge began. I cant just see a line of notes and say...oh thats a Dm7....:(
It's funny cause I was practicing earlier today and I was not able to read every note and play along at the same time and my brain made me do exactly what you mentioned your biggest trick. I come on youtube hours later and this video is suggested to me lol
Thank you for freeing me up and keeping learning piano fun! You rock! Love your encouragment and non traditional methods! :))))
You are so awesome. Honestly, I have had a hard time reading notes most especially ledger notes. Thanks for your tips. ♥️
I also do the same thing!
I'm very weak with sight reading, and tend to manage using the landmark trick!
Wow. Now that is awesome advice. Totally makes sense to me. Now I want to explore reading music a bit more. Thanks !
Great tips for reading sheet music! I can read it from taking lessons, but I struggle sometimes.
Thank you so much for this lesson. I really love and desire strongly to learn how to play the piano. but anytime I start, then I get discouraged by the notes I have to read and memorize
Love that tip, I’m very slow at sight reading
thank you so much for giving this insight.. I've been wondering long time which better between locking into sheet music all the time and memorizing it. Now I know the answer. Besides, memorizing the song is much way better in enjoying each notes I'm playing because more time in engaging the rhyme than struggling to keep up the pace on reading music sheet while playing piano.
Holy shit i felt like i was kinda hitting a plateau and then she just came with this incredible solution to put some weight off of my shoulders. This really is a lifesaver for me
I'll never forget low C. It's in the half-hearted clef and I Love Low-C. : )
Thank You, THANK you, THANK YOU!!
Im very advanced and i dont know how to read a single note I learn classical masterpieces without having any knowledge on reading. It just like a bonus thing in my opinion you dont really need it to become an expert
Hi, it's like 2 weeks since I started watching Pianote videos on RUclips. I like it when you change songs to key C mostly. I suggest that after every lesson and after changing to key C, you tell us the original key of the song at the end of the video. Thanks
Nice video. I tried both the landmark method and the interval method mentioned in this video. The landmark method helped me a lot more. I developed more landmarks now and I can call out 60% notes immediately. The goal is for every notes on the staff to be a landmark I think by then my sight reading will be greatly improved.
After My first and second piano class ten years ago I played the song by memorizing it when my instructor asked me to repeat the song Ive learnt from the book. but then My piano teacher notice I wasn't reading from the note(music sheet), she told me to play by reading the notes from the book all over again.
This is really good. Reading music has scared me off quite a while. ACEG phrase is new to me. I put Gold Finch and Black Amsel (Blackbird) on little notes above the music stand for the tops of the treble and bass clefs. Also memorize the center line as B and D in both clefs. Along with your good tips I think I'll vanquish this beast.
I play flute and dabble in piano. Learning bass was and is still hard for me. I’m constantly “translating” from treble to bass. But I also do the spacial recognition trick , more for bass than treble.
Trying to read the notes off the normal staff in each clef is a pain. I’m working on my flash cards!
Omg flash cards are such a good idea! Thankyou x