Should have paid more attention as a kid 🤦🏻♀️ As an adult, do you recommend the non cartoon Alfred book that you listed to learn about harmony? Thanks!
CC bot: you have said "harmony/harmonies/harmonic analysis" 22 times. If you include only the instructional section (11:09-24:18) it's 19 times which is _once every 41 seconds_ 🤭 driving important points home!
My piano teacher was hungarian. She could sight-read anything. She used to say it's the same principles that apply in reading words: you've seen them a thousand times, you know how to pronounce them, you dissociate the mouth and the eyes, you decipher a section and anticipate the next. And the more you do it, the better you get. At the beginning you have to read slowly, but time and experience build confidence.
There's scientific research that has shown that different regions of the brain light up when reading music vs reading words. So I think it's disingenuous to say that sight reading music is like a textual language. Neurologically it is not.
I used to play classical piano when I was a kid until I was in 6th grade. it was my dream to be a professional pianist but I had to stop learning piano. I haven't touched my piano for about 14 years. one day I stumbled upon your channel and watching your videos makes me want to play my piano again! so I called a technician to clean and tuned my piano (don't even ask how dirty and out of tune it was) and I started to learn again! it feels like going back to when I was 5 and having my first ever piano lesson 😂 I just want to thank you because your videos have encouraged me to pick up and rediscover a passion I once had. I'm now in a whole different career path as an interior designer, but it feels so good to be able to play the piano again! wishing you a good luck ahead ❤️✨
Welcome to the club! Many people were inspired by Tiffany to take up piano, sometimes after many years. I spent 15 years without playing after my (early) retirement from the concert scene, and somehow watching Tiff made me start again. Good luck, and this time don't give up! 👍
Andres Gunther Hi, sorry I just saw your comment! tbh it's been quite hard to find time to practice because i have a full time job. but I'm glad practicing ended up being my quality time with myself and I'm able to clear my mind after a long day of work. I try to practice whenever I can, not that I want to be a professional pianist or anything, but I like the feeling of accomplishment everytime I learn new pieces 😊 also good luck to you for starting again!
@austin M Thanks for the interesting question, Austin... it was neither of those. I am a perfectionist, and my own worst critic, and that inner voice took over my musical life in such a way that I burned out. In addition to that came my emigration to America. When you come here as an immigrant you have to learn the language, adapt to the culture, get a job, and start out with bare essentials. As things were, I didn't get a job as musician but as technician- my sideline business had been pipe organ repairs; next to music I love to work with tools. I also joined a church choir. So I really didn't give up music; I simply worked from a different perspective. (Still working as pipe organ tech, BTW). As noted above, I started playing piano again a year ago. I even post on Instagram. But I am not allowing any pressure - from my "audience" or myself - to take over my life again. After all, I am 62 now ;-)
I helped move family piano (Baldwin Acrosonic upright, 1950s), with Dad and 2 brothers, to 3 different locations. As we had children , several took lessons, at different intervals.....original home had 15 stairs to come down out of front door.....whew!!!!!!
As a linguistics student, I should quote the sentence about learning music and learning grammar being alike. I may use that during my papers and if I have discussions in the future.
@@TiffanyPoonpianist As someone who does research in multilingual language acquisition, this comparison is indeed rather sketchy. Language acquisition is, if no evil forces like teachers intervene, 100% unconscious process. If you try to memorize grammar rules and turn language into math, you will never be able to use them on the fly. So if during sight reading you never analyze the score consciously, but rather it's all happening at the level of instinct -- then yes, it's similar to language acquisition. If, on the other hand, you are looking for patterns and consciously identifying chord progressions, telling yourself "here comes inverted supertonic of f# minor", then no, it's not at all like language since you are never consciously telling yourself during actual speech that "here comes a inflected verb since my subject was in third person singular and the tense is not progressive or perfect".
Here is the FIRST, and most important tip: 1) Practice playing pieces you already know (memorized)...and play them without looking. Play them with your eyes closed, play them in the dark, play them blindfolded - whatever. Do this A LOT. Because no one ever mentions one of the most important aspects of sight-reading: you have to do it without looking at your hands. Step number one should really be to get comfortable with the *topography* of the keyboard. What does this chord "feel" like, how far does this leap "feel" like? Everybody's hands are different, so get to know how it feels to play the piano without having to look at your hands. Develop this skillset first, THEN we can talk about what you're eyes are looking at on the page. (Perhaps I should make a video about this.)
This is perhaps the most. I remembered when I was still learning the piano that this was one of the things my teacher always told me, especially when learning new pieces.
@@studiosnch This was literally the way I learned to play the piano when I was 5. My teacher would cover up my hands, make me keep my eyes on the music and count out loud while playing. This is basically the essence of sight-reading: the ability to play music, in time, without looking at your hands.
I guess everyone will eventually get this even without any special practice. How could you don’t know the “topography” of the keyboard after spending years with it? So I guess although it might be important, it’s the easiest part of “sight-reading”
@@allenhu1744 It's a good question, but think about it. Playing a piece memorized, where you do you naturally look? Down at your hands, right? Whether it's a recital, competition, audition, the tendency is to look at your hands. When you're actually learning a new piece, probably some combo of looking at music and then your hands. But rarely is the habit to force your eyes to STAY on the music and be able to play without looking at your hands much. That's the skill that needs to be strengthened, in my humble opinion. I wouldn't say it's the "easiest" part, but probably the most overlooked part of the equation.
*"Know your harmonies"* ^THIS ... is exactly why music theory is important and can be so helpful with sight reading. Understanding the basics of and being able to visualize "functional harmony" (Thank you Bach) should be a fundamental goal for anyone that wants to read, write, and understand musical composition. It helps with recognizing musical structure by taking visual queues and applying what you know instantly from memory. You look for structure and markers rather than focusing on every single note and/or every single measure. -just as Tiffany has demonstrated in this video. In my case, ( I am nowhere at the level of Tiffany) before I sit down and work on a new piece, I spend an hour or so *JUST LOOKING AT THE MUSIC* before a single note is played. When I do sit down and I am ready for the first note, in my mind .. _-I already know the key / relative key of the piece_ _-I already know the harmonic scales in said key_ _-I already know the harmonic chords in said key_ _-I already have some structure of the music by noting the 2-5-1, 1-5, 5-1, 1--4-5 ect. progressions in the piece._ (We've witnessed Tiffany herself do this from time to time)
Love your music and channel , I became a Jazz Pianist after studying classical music for years and still have a lot of “classical” influences in my playing.
The best Jazz pianists I've heard (Art Tatum, Bill Evans to name the top two on my list) had a classical training background. My to this day best kept secret is that I studied to become a jazz pianist, but as my country of origin went under and I moved to America that project "went south".
@@mikedelferro No, "Gabri" was already touring and concertizing abroad when I still was a student. But she surely is a legend, and one of the few concert pianists who is able to improvise. This BTW is a skill that unfortunately got lost in all areas of classical music except concert organ. My theory why is that (classical) music teachers scold their students when they start improvising and say it's taking time from their learning. (I am retired concert organist, and used to improvise quite a lot, that was part of my church job).
This is incredibly eye opening for an amateur to watch and listen to because it shows how many years of work you need to learn all your scales, recognize patterns so quickly, and so and on and so on. Things that come very naturally for you now seem light years away for someone like me, BUT by explaining your process you actually do make it seem at least possible to get somewhat close to to the same planet of playing that you're on;)
Another tip to becoming a better sight reader is to read lots and lots of music but make sure it is 2 or 3 levels under your normal lesson pieces. Reading church hymns from a hymnal is excellent practice as well as you have to find multiple notes at a time. That is where your interval training will be useful. Always read from bottom to top when reading chords and don't feel like you must play at performance tempo right away. I speak from a lifetime of experience and have been a proficient sight reader from an early age. I have been teaching piano for 51 years now and am only 64. I enjoy all your videos.
This is why i am inspired by you. I am a horrible sight reader and easily discouraged, but this video has helped me alot. I learn to never compared and keep believe and be myself.
Apart from watching a tv series, you inspired me to turn back into the piano. I have played piano since primary 2 but during this pandemic I haven't touched my piano for 4 months. Thank youuu Tiffany :) It really feels nice to be back with my piano
I encountered a similar problem in that I was a poor sight-reader even after 11 years of playing. What it was with me was that when I began playing at age 6 I had a great ear and memorization ability from the start, memorization was instant and easy. Because memorization was something I didn't have to learn but reading fluently was something I would have to learn, I found at this beginning time that I could learn pieces very quickly by reading once and committing to memory, then discarding the music permanently and practicing/learning the piece without the music. I wouldn't even need to play it through while reading to memorize, I'd just sit at the piano and read the music then throw it away and start learning the piece with it already memorized in my head, it was the fastest way to learn the piece and doing it that way I did learn very fast. My father was my teacher but didn't see a problem with this due to the fact he was the opposite, a good reader but poor memorizer. He admired my ear and memorization ability and thought what I was doing was good, like a high way of practicing. But it wasn't good as I didn't need to practice playing from memory as that ability was unlimited without practice. But reading was not. So I got to diploma level without even being able to play with music. Even when I started on a conservatorium full scholarship my con teacher didn't correct me, I suppose because my performing was relatively good anyway and that was all she was interested in. And perhaps also because she was like my father, much better reader than memorizer. But I decided I wasn't happy, I felt very incomplete as a pianist, for all my natural ability I couldn't do something that virtually every average joe player could do. I could of course sight read to a degree, but it was poor enough that I couldn't perform at all with music. People remark how it is that one can play without the music. For me it was how can one play with music, I admired that ability in others, and especially admired good sight readers. Anyway I decided that most of my practice from then on was going to be with music and I was going to spend a lot of time sight reading, I started practicing the total opposite of how I used to practice. Just spending time reading improved my reading, the more I forced myself to play with music the better I got at reading. If anyone can't sight read well, then spend more time reading than you have been, practice makes perfect. Since becoming better at reading I've also found I enjoy my music much more, only being able to commit things to memory is very one-dimensional and puts great limits on what one can practice and enjoy. Because at the end of the day if you can do both, sight reading is a faster way of enjoying music than learning from memory. It was only because I couldn't read that memorizing was an easier way of playing music.
I accidentally discovered classical piano music when I stumbled on a Tom and Jerry cartoon episode when the cat was playing the Hungarian Raphsody on the piano. Curious about the music I searched for the whole version and this led me to your version and liked it and that was the beginning. Thanks for inspiring us to discover classical piano music.
In _Claire de Lune,_ there's also a 3-chord (actually, in arpeggio form) progression that gets returned to a lot: D♭ major - F minor - E (F♭) major, 1st inversion This is something you might not be expected to pick up on, when sight-reading for the first time, but it should become apparent after a full pass through the piece. It's something that, as a listener, acts as a kind of anchor to pull you back to the same place. It sort of unifies the whole thing. Plus, it's just *sooo* beautiful! About the polyrhythms in CdL, what I did when first learning this piece, was find the lowest common denominator - 16th notes - and count them out by 6's (three 6's to the measure). Then every note fell on some count. After enough times through that, I could dispense with the numbers, and just imagine clicks, like from a metronome. After a longer time, I could play around with the tempo to put expression into it. To your question at the end: "Does that make any sense?" - YES, it DOES! You put it perfectly, IMHO. Fred
"it's not rocket science"... HAH. Studying "rocket science" myself, but what goes on in a pianist's mind to process something like this at speed is what completely baffles me. This here is the real black magic. I hope you'll let us pick your mind about the subject further in the future.
Its as simple as reading a novel and typing everything your read on the computer keyboard at the same time. Actually its easier than that because typing keyboards have far smaller keys and you also read a sentence much faster than you can type it. So, if you can read a good book and type on your keyboard, there is no excuse for not learning sight reading.
Sight reading tips for those not at Tiffany's level (knowing scales, arpeggios and chords is great, but what if you don't)? 1. Note the key and, even more importantly, the key signature. If there are lots of flats or sharps in the key signature, make a mental note of which notes are natural; 2. Note time signature; 3. Note any accidentals and where they occur; 4. Note any unusual clef changes in left or right hand (also, note any hand crosses); 5. Tap out the rhythm using both hands; 6. Note any scales, arpeggios, chords, cadences and other repeated patterns (e.g., alberti bass) that you recognize; 7. Note any modulations. That is the list I give my students, anyway. For practice, I have them write these things in before they play and do not limit the time at first.
since i watch your videos about sight reading, i did all of your tips before this videos is up and those tips really help me get a bigger picture (as you said!) of the piece (I did it for Chopin Etude op 25 no 9 & 12) AND that strived sight reading really gave me satisfaction and more energy and enthusiasm! really change the way I start practicing a new piece and it's a good thing for me. thank you for those tips and for the new ones!! fyi, you are totally qualified for giving tips for us amateurs!
BRILLIANT. MANY thx Tiffany. I am an adult learner (1 1/2 years only) and you make MANY assumptions (for my level of playing), but I absolutely understand where you are going...and just confirms that I need to learn MUCH more about harmony, scales, arpeggios etc etc.
hi, been watching your videos for approximately a year now and I just wanted to let you know that I love your vlogs and they’re really inspiring. I’m self-taught at piano and your videos have helped me make tenfold progress with your tips and watching how you approach music and analyse it while you play, ughhh your humility makes it all so much less-intimidating as well, thank you so much for everything 🥺 peace and love from the UK 🇬🇧
Pray for it! You'll definitely have it one day. Mine is fresh bought from an answered prayer. Im just started learning the violin. And it was veryyyy fun. All the music theory and stuff. You'll love it, too.
i have a question, if you guys don't mind :))) i really want to learn playing the violin, without any goals of joining in an orchestra nor to create any career with it. playing classical music on a violin is one of my dreams now. any advice for a 16-year-old me on how to pursue what i want??? :((((
@@floorgang600 oh sure, age is not a hindrance of becoming one. youre still young and with that age you can improve as the years go by. I do really believe that you can make it. with that perseverance... and as i read ur comment it's what you are, u dont know why you wanted it and the uncertainty because deep inside it's ur passion. Its not yet too late. Go for it ;) mine is for the Lord, i'm praying for it months ago and He answered it. I'm using it for His glory. :) i pray that you pursue ur passion.
Tiffany, I came across your youtube channel when COVID hit and we were all in lock down and was inspired by you. My last performance was for my graduate recital (I was a Piano Performance major) in 2000. I graduated and opened my own private teaching studio. For many years I doubted my abilities in spite of what other people were telling me. Eventually those doubts eroded my confidence as a pianist and I stopped learning, striving and practicing. I came across one of your videos where you were practicing and you normalized everything for me. I no longer felt alone.....mistakes are ok and they happen. Missing notes felt like the end of the world to me, so much pressure I couldn't function. Today I am playing better than ever with more precision and freedom. I've learned more music since February than I have in my 20 years of being in the "piano closet". Now I'm sight reading better than ever AND learning Gaspard de la nuit. I never thought I'd see the day that I would be learning this incredible work. I have to thank you for the inspiration and for making yourself vulnerable to us. You have given me and many others a reason to keep striving!!! THANK YOU!!!!
Very helpful, your explanations about harmonies, not "in spite of" repeating it but "thanks to" repeating it... makes it a lot clearer and not boring at all... And I totally agree with you about language learning : I've always had to and still am learning new languages, I'm learning music now as a new language. By the way, there are some interesting videos here on yt where Leonard Bernstein compares the components of linguistics with music...
I love how you have a soft thick blanket to lie under your piano, like a cat relaxing in a favourite comfy spot. It probably sounds amazing under there with your Spirio playing :D
There's a video with Glenn Gould practicing BWV 826 at home and struggling with the approach to the fugue; as genius as he was at playing Bach (alla sing-along, per the Gould style). He went over the first few notes of the Fugue section several times, got a bit of the way through, didn't like it, recollected himself, started the section all over again... another spot came up where he thought of how to approach a figure. He removed himself from the piano, he sang through it, and jumped right into it!
14:42 reminds me when you are in a calculus class and the professor says: "So, we have this equation with 7 variables and it is trivial to reduce it into this one small equation here so I won't bother explaining it"
I've learned piano and only know one or two pieces for many years. Sight reading ability has made me able to play more pieces and I'll continue to practice this skill and hopefully progress it along with my piano playing skill
Your own personal experiences are valid and when you share them here in your blog it encourages us. These days you should also find any apps or online resources for learning music theory, if their are any good ones. Love the under the piano view. Great job on choosing and answering the questions. Yes yes yes makes sense and verry helpful for us all.
Thanks Tiffany for the insightful video! Didn't know sight reading can be enhanced in this way, instead of using all our might reading each note or each bar, we could look for patterns, scales, ,harmonies... This encourage me to go back to the fundamentals, which is so important yet we often neglect. Thanks a million!
Being a jazz musician really helps with sight reading classical music because of our knowledge of harmony and chords! Great video Tiffany, you made me wanna go sight read ahaha
yay it's all about harmonies! Knowing the contour of the notes helped me a lot. It lets my sightreading keeps flowing, just what music is meant to be like.
I'm watching this after sight reading a prelude by Bach and I was demotivated because I felt like I made no progress, but your video made me feel better. I'll go back to Bach again tomorrow!
This is lovely and so kind of you to share with those looking to you for at-home proper technique without the elitism we encounter in conservatory environments. Very relaxing too!
Thank you, Tiffany, for this sight-reading video! Now I know the importance of music theory when I sight-read pieces and also how significant is to practice the scales, arpeggios! This is really helpful, thanks again 🥰❤️
It's not a question of authority but experience that gives you credit ! I learnt a phrase in french that I'll try to translate. "If there is something you don't know, ask around ! If there is something you do know, share it." Thank you for sharing. So much.
For music theory, as someone largely self taught I would recommend the Keyboard Theory series by Julie Mcintosh Johnson! It's progressive, focused on the piano, and as everything is a workbook you really helpful to have a way to practice when not in front of a keyboard. I would do them regularly as part of my lunch breaks and it was a significant difference.
I saw this video so i did all what you say and my french teacher told me he noticed me more enthusiastic and that i'm more faster reading notes. Thank you 🤚 you are my inspiration 🙏
I’ve played since 5 and thankfully, I got the sight reading gene. 😀 if you’re don’t know if you have it, then you don’t! J/K Anyway some of the things that helped me get better: practice hymns. Buy an old hymnal off eBay or whatever. Don’t steal from your local church! 😂😂 then you start paying attention to the notes that move within the chord. So if the soprano and bass notes stay the same, but the alto and tenor notes move, you start to ignore the non changing notes. This makes reading faster. And teaches you to discern the most important things to read. Also in high school, I found a Scott Joplin book. The good thing about his music is that the left hand jumps, and you can either read music or look at keyboard. But you can’t do both. This is when I discovered that I didn’t need to look at my hands. I knew where the notes were, just like a string player who knows where their fingers are supposed to be. Finally, like a foreign language, at the beginning, you hear something, translate to your native language, think what you want to say, translate it into the foreign language, and it’s exhausting. I don’t “read” the notes (A, B, C, etc), I just associate a note with one key on piano. That saves tons of time. I just go straight to playing it. All These things helped with classical because I could transfer the skills. Helps not take everything so seriously! Now I should go work on my scales!!! 😱
I really liked when you talked about difference between the impressionist and the other ones, it seems helpful and really interesting to know about the technical difference on that matter
What I do as a pianist turned bossa nova guitarist turned classical pianist again: I put the guitar notation on the score. It helps me to sight read, to understand and memorize. Example Brahms Intermezzo Op. 118 N° 2: A / D A / D / E7 A D6 / A E A7 / D E6 / B7 B79 / A6 B7 / etc... So when I see B7 I know in a flash that any or all of the following notes must be played: B D# F# A.
this was actually very helpful, as a pianist that’s still growing (almost 4 years) I’m kinda new that classical and getting better at sight-reading, listening to pieces and opening my interests to other things. So this really helped and got some useful tips on things and how I can approach my other future pieces. ps- I’m only 15, so I’m slowly getting there.
Bruce Erogan I feel like what would help from one pianist to another is that sightreading is/and can be scary but instead of looking at the bigger picture look that the smaller, and just focus on one page at a time. Is probably the best way that helps me personally. Just looking at one page and focusing on that for now and I feel like once you have that done it gets a bit easier.
Also as you progress add another page, so one day you sight read page 1 *and that only!*, then the next page 2 and so on (or how many ever pages the piece your playing has). hope this helped
Start by sight reading super simple pieces. Gradually start working your way up to a level lower, to the level your on. Obviously by sight reading on the level your on you might not play it perfectly, but that’s okay! Also if you don’t play one of the pieces perfectly, practice that piece until it is “perfect” and stay on that level the second time you sightread.
I love bach - actually, I am obsessed with his music - to the extent that I am doing my best at 64 to live long enough to render some of his Goldberg Variations in an acceptable manner. Do you have any fundamental advice, Tiffany to help me realise this dream? I would like to say that your rendition of Scarlatti's F Minor, K.466 Sonata brought me here.
I hope Tiffany doesn't mind my second comment 🙏 with some extras: When running into big chords (with God forbid some nasty accidentals): Know your harmonies to get the modulation / progression picture, but play the "bare bones" of the chord instead of squinting trough all those notes, and move on. Perfect sight reading skill is a BIG help, but only essential if you are a serious accompanist or chamber music player. This as an encouragement note for all those who struggle with sight reading no matter what. Basso Continuo in baroque music: Know your harmonies and what those little numbers mean! But don't sweat it too much. a) The instruments usually play the same harmonies as you. b) the basso accompaniment is relatively unimportant, in most cases the audience only hears a 'plink' from piano or harpsi, or a 'hoot' from the chamber organ. (Some pros will crucify me, but it's true) Chamber music from Mozart onwards: Whoever expects that you sight read & play that stuff to perfection 30 minutes before dress rehearsal a day before the concert should be fired. Go ahead and fire them. Hope this helps:)
Very helpful , thanks . Having not taken any formal trainning i think this gives a good insight into the kind of tools that would be tourt and needed for reading . I'm not sure who's more lucky Tiffany , or us being tourt by Tiffany . As theres such a cluster of semiotics and " lexicalally musical semantics " for want of a better word than semantics alone , in the approach to reading as well as playing . I mean I'm quite fasinated as a begginer , in what it takes and how my own progress allows me to remember or forget things so conveniently .
OMG, yes. The answer about having the skills but just needing to push through was great. I used to hate sight reading, but then I was thrust into an accompaniment role (I actually had to learn the accompaniment to a choral piece two hours before a performance in high school). It was scary, but it tore down the wall that made me scared of sight reading. After that, I was sight reading all the time. Now I absolutely love sight reading (maybe more than actual practice lol).
Got quite some ideas from the basics I learned as a kid from my teacher, and later by trying stuff myself, so the way you describe it makes so much sense :D Definitely going to read some of the books in the description... Never knew where to start, but I guess this'll be it then :P
That was so fun! I'm only just starting to learn piano, it's fun to see you talk about all this stuff. I'll probably never be able to play any of these, but I know them so it's still interesting. Maybe I'll just pick one and focus on it until the day I die and I'll eventually get it!
I love your shirt!!! You DO have something offer!!!! You’re amazing!!!😊❤️👏👏👏👏 I’ve been playing flute for 16 years and I still struggle with sight-reading!
Maybe it might appear as an obvious thought, but in my case at least I had a huge step forward when I began studying pieces which I REALLY liked... It made me study more and I was more self confident and happy. Now I still struggle a lot but I definitely improved significantly when I started choosing the pieces to study.
Hey Tiffany, I’ve been playing piano for around 7 years and I aspire to become a concert pianist. I work so hard every day but I always feel like nothing I do is good enough. Was there a time your life when your were like this? I feel like I will never improve and I’m scared about failing so much that I practice probably 8-9 hours a day. I don’t know what to do.
Thanks for the video. In my current journey of learning the piano, I'm at that stage now where I suddenly realize I could sight-read, but also there are still some parts where I still have to stop playing to be able to understand the passage :)
With your point about music theory being essential, Victor Wooten has a video with Music is Win called “playing wrong notes with Victor Wooten”, and I think that video is brilliant where Wooten makes this analogy saying music theory is like keeping a toolbox in your car when you drive. In reality, you don’t want to use that toolbox, but sometimes your car has problems: and you have to fix it. Theory is only used when something goes wrong, but maybe more accurately, theory should be there when you need it. I think all musicians are different, especially depending on the genre, but I think this is an interesting point that anyone can learn from. Thanks for the vlog!
Thanks for the tips and teaching advices. I appreciate this new style in your videos. Please continue making videos with tips to all level of players (I'm a total beginner:)
I would like to share that if you are new into sight-reading music -you may start with reeeeally easy pieces -using a metronome really slowwww to help you be sure about the rythms -And be ready to fail because dont take it too seriously. Take it as a warming part in you study routine. -Slowing increase the difficulty of the pieces you are sight-reading.
I used to move furniture cross country and moving pianos was one of the things we moved. Many upstairs. The worst was a player square grand piano. But the best was when we got the piano setup again, I would sit down and test the piano with some Chopin.
How many times did I say harmonies? 🤔😜 Read the description for some helpful info!
Now I want to watch again, counting them this time.
Hi Tiffany 😊🤭🤭
Should have paid more attention as a kid 🤦🏻♀️ As an adult, do you recommend the non cartoon Alfred book that you listed to learn about harmony? Thanks!
Don't forget the scales 🤭
CC bot: you have said "harmony/harmonies/harmonic analysis" 22 times.
If you include only the instructional section (11:09-24:18) it's 19 times which is _once every 41 seconds_ 🤭 driving important points home!
My piano teacher was hungarian. She could sight-read anything. She used to say it's the same principles that apply in reading words: you've seen them a thousand times, you know how to pronounce them, you dissociate the mouth and the eyes, you decipher a section and anticipate the next. And the more you do it, the better you get. At the beginning you have to read slowly, but time and experience build confidence.
I have never thought of it in that way, but your teacher was absolutely right
Amadeus Radio thanks for the insight
Your piano teacher is actually Franz Liszt
There's scientific research that has shown that different regions of the brain light up when reading music vs reading words. So I think it's disingenuous to say that sight reading music is like a textual language. Neurologically it is not.
@@Igneous01 stfu dude, nobody cares to what is neurologically right, its a good comparison
Pro Tip: just learn every piece there is. Everyone will be amazed at your "sightreading" skills :)
thanks.
super easy :DDDD
😂
Great now I need to “sightread” Beethoven moonlight sonata and Chopin torrent
Super easy, barely an inconvenience.
I used to play classical piano when I was a kid until I was in 6th grade. it was my dream to be a professional pianist but I had to stop learning piano. I haven't touched my piano for about 14 years. one day I stumbled upon your channel and watching your videos makes me want to play my piano again! so I called a technician to clean and tuned my piano (don't even ask how dirty and out of tune it was) and I started to learn again! it feels like going back to when I was 5 and having my first ever piano lesson 😂 I just want to thank you because your videos have encouraged me to pick up and rediscover a passion I once had. I'm now in a whole different career path as an interior designer, but it feels so good to be able to play the piano again! wishing you a good luck ahead ❤️✨
Welcome to the club! Many people were inspired by Tiffany to take up piano, sometimes after many years. I spent 15 years without playing after my (early) retirement from the concert scene, and somehow watching Tiff made me start again. Good luck, and this time don't give up! 👍
Andres Gunther Hi, sorry I just saw your comment! tbh it's been quite hard to find time to practice because i have a full time job. but I'm glad practicing ended up being my quality time with myself and I'm able to clear my mind after a long day of work. I try to practice whenever I can, not that I want to be a professional pianist or anything, but I like the feeling of accomplishment everytime I learn new pieces 😊 also good luck to you for starting again!
@austin M Thanks for the interesting question, Austin... it was neither of those. I am a perfectionist, and my own worst critic, and that inner voice took over my musical life in such a way that I burned out.
In addition to that came my emigration to America. When you come here as an immigrant you have to learn the language, adapt to the culture, get a job, and start out with bare essentials. As things were, I didn't get a job as musician but as technician- my sideline business had been pipe organ repairs; next to music I love to work with tools. I also joined a church choir. So I really didn't give up music; I simply worked from a different perspective. (Still working as pipe organ tech, BTW).
As noted above, I started playing piano again a year ago. I even post on Instagram. But I am not allowing any pressure - from my "audience" or myself - to take over my life again. After all, I am 62 now ;-)
@@andresgunther Could I have your instagram to listen to your playing?
@@alantaylor6691 My handle is @gunther_andres . I was an organist, not a pianist back in the day, so my piano playing is not professional.
Moving a harp is difficult, but that intro with moving the piano... oh help
One, two... Three!!!
I helped move family piano (Baldwin Acrosonic upright, 1950s), with Dad and 2 brothers, to 3 different locations. As we had children , several took lessons, at different intervals.....original home had 15 stairs to come down out of front door.....whew!!!!!!
@@ronl7131 oh boy
@@DanielMartinez-nw1pn, yes. One... two... THREE!!!
As a linguistics student, I should quote the sentence about learning music and learning grammar being alike. I may use that during my papers and if I have discussions in the future.
Oh good! I almost edited that part out... 😊
@@TiffanyPoonpianist As someone who does research in multilingual language acquisition, this comparison is indeed rather sketchy. Language acquisition is, if no evil forces like teachers intervene, 100% unconscious process. If you try to memorize grammar rules and turn language into math, you will never be able to use them on the fly. So if during sight reading you never analyze the score consciously, but rather it's all happening at the level of instinct -- then yes, it's similar to language acquisition. If, on the other hand, you are looking for patterns and consciously identifying chord progressions, telling yourself "here comes inverted supertonic of f# minor", then no, it's not at all like language since you are never consciously telling yourself during actual speech that "here comes a inflected verb since my subject was in third person singular and the tense is not progressive or perfect".
Here is the FIRST, and most important tip:
1) Practice playing pieces you already know (memorized)...and play them without looking. Play them with your eyes closed, play them in the dark, play them blindfolded - whatever. Do this A LOT. Because no one ever mentions one of the most important aspects of sight-reading: you have to do it without looking at your hands. Step number one should really be to get comfortable with the *topography* of the keyboard. What does this chord "feel" like, how far does this leap "feel" like? Everybody's hands are different, so get to know how it feels to play the piano without having to look at your hands. Develop this skillset first, THEN we can talk about what you're eyes are looking at on the page. (Perhaps I should make a video about this.)
Yes exactly💫
This is perhaps the most. I remembered when I was still learning the piano that this was one of the things my teacher always told me, especially when learning new pieces.
@@studiosnch This was literally the way I learned to play the piano when I was 5. My teacher would cover up my hands, make me keep my eyes on the music and count out loud while playing. This is basically the essence of sight-reading: the ability to play music, in time, without looking at your hands.
I guess everyone will eventually get this even without any special practice. How could you don’t know the “topography” of the keyboard after spending years with it? So I guess although it might be important, it’s the easiest part of “sight-reading”
@@allenhu1744 It's a good question, but think about it. Playing a piece memorized, where you do you naturally look? Down at your hands, right? Whether it's a recital, competition, audition, the tendency is to look at your hands. When you're actually learning a new piece, probably some combo of looking at music and then your hands. But rarely is the habit to force your eyes to STAY on the music and be able to play without looking at your hands much. That's the skill that needs to be strengthened, in my humble opinion. I wouldn't say it's the "easiest" part, but probably the most overlooked part of the equation.
*"Know your harmonies"*
^THIS
... is exactly why music theory is important and can be so helpful with sight reading. Understanding the basics of and
being able to visualize "functional harmony" (Thank you Bach) should be a fundamental goal for anyone that wants to read,
write, and understand musical composition.
It helps with recognizing musical structure by taking visual queues and applying what you know instantly from memory.
You look for structure and markers rather than focusing on every single note and/or every single measure. -just as Tiffany has demonstrated in this video.
In my case, ( I am nowhere at the level of Tiffany) before I sit down and work on a new piece, I spend an hour or so
*JUST LOOKING AT THE MUSIC* before a single note is played. When I do sit down and I am ready for the first note, in my mind ..
_-I already know the key / relative key of the piece_
_-I already know the harmonic scales in said key_
_-I already know the harmonic chords in said key_
_-I already have some structure of the music by noting the 2-5-1, 1-5, 5-1, 1--4-5 ect. progressions in the piece._ (We've witnessed Tiffany herself do this from time to time)
Love your music and channel , I became a Jazz Pianist after studying classical music for years and still have a lot of “classical” influences in my playing.
The best Jazz pianists I've heard (Art Tatum, Bill Evans to name the top two on my list) had a classical training background. My to this day best kept secret is that I studied to become a jazz pianist, but as my country of origin went under and I moved to America that project "went south".
@@andresgunther What is your country of origin? Keith Jarrett and Chick Corea also have a classical background.Regards from Amsterdam.Mike
@@mikedelferro Venezuela 😭
@@andresgunther That's a difficult situation there....I am friends with Gabriela Monteiro, do you know her?
@@mikedelferro No, "Gabri" was already touring and concertizing abroad when I still was a student. But she surely is a legend, and one of the few concert pianists who is able to improvise. This BTW is a skill that unfortunately got lost in all areas of classical music except concert organ. My theory why is that (classical) music teachers scold their students when they start improvising and say it's taking time from their learning. (I am retired concert organist, and used to improvise quite a lot, that was part of my church job).
This is incredibly eye opening for an amateur to watch and listen to because it shows how many years of work you need to learn all your scales, recognize patterns so quickly, and so and on and so on. Things that come very naturally for you now seem light years away for someone like me, BUT by explaining your process you actually do make it seem at least possible to get somewhat close to to the same planet of playing that you're on;)
Another tip to becoming a better sight reader is to read lots and lots of music but make sure it is 2 or 3 levels under your normal lesson pieces. Reading church hymns from a hymnal is excellent practice as well as you have to find multiple notes at a time. That is where your interval training will be useful. Always read from bottom to top when reading chords and don't feel like you must play at performance tempo right away. I speak from a lifetime of experience and have been a proficient sight reader from an early age. I have been teaching piano for 51 years now and am only 64. I enjoy all your videos.
This is why i am inspired by you. I am a horrible sight reader and easily discouraged, but this video has helped me alot. I learn to never compared and keep believe and be myself.
Apart from watching a tv series, you inspired me to turn back into the piano. I have played piano since primary 2 but during this pandemic I haven't touched my piano for 4 months. Thank youuu Tiffany :) It really feels nice to be back with my piano
I encountered a similar problem in that I was a poor sight-reader even after 11 years of playing.
What it was with me was that when I began playing at age 6 I had a great ear and memorization ability from the start, memorization was instant and easy.
Because memorization was something I didn't have to learn but reading fluently was something I would have to learn, I found at this beginning time that I could learn pieces very quickly by reading once and committing to memory, then discarding the music permanently and practicing/learning the piece without the music. I wouldn't even need to play it through while reading to memorize, I'd just sit at the piano and read the music then throw it away and start learning the piece with it already memorized in my head, it was the fastest way to learn the piece and doing it that way I did learn very fast.
My father was my teacher but didn't see a problem with this due to the fact he was the opposite, a good reader but poor memorizer. He admired my ear and memorization ability and thought what I was doing was good, like a high way of practicing. But it wasn't good as I didn't need to practice playing from memory as that ability was unlimited without practice. But reading was not.
So I got to diploma level without even being able to play with music. Even when I started on a conservatorium full scholarship my con teacher didn't correct me, I suppose because my performing was relatively good anyway and that was all she was interested in. And perhaps also because she was like my father, much better reader than memorizer.
But I decided I wasn't happy, I felt very incomplete as a pianist, for all my natural ability I couldn't do something that virtually every average joe player could do. I could of course sight read to a degree, but it was poor enough that I couldn't perform at all with music. People remark how it is that one can play without the music. For me it was how can one play with music, I admired that ability in others, and especially admired good sight readers.
Anyway I decided that most of my practice from then on was going to be with music and I was going to spend a lot of time sight reading, I started practicing the total opposite of how I used to practice. Just spending time reading improved my reading, the more I forced myself to play with music the better I got at reading. If anyone can't sight read well, then spend more time reading than you have been, practice makes perfect.
Since becoming better at reading I've also found I enjoy my music much more, only being able to commit things to memory is very one-dimensional and puts great limits on what one can practice and enjoy. Because at the end of the day if you can do both, sight reading is a faster way of enjoying music than learning from memory. It was only because I couldn't read that memorizing was an easier way of playing music.
I accidentally discovered classical piano music when I stumbled on a Tom and Jerry cartoon episode when the cat was playing the Hungarian Raphsody on the piano. Curious about the music I searched for the whole version and this led me to your version and liked it and that was the beginning. Thanks for inspiring us to discover classical piano music.
In _Claire de Lune,_ there's also a 3-chord (actually, in arpeggio form) progression that gets returned to a lot:
D♭ major - F minor - E (F♭) major, 1st inversion
This is something you might not be expected to pick up on, when sight-reading for the first time, but it should become apparent after a full pass through the piece.
It's something that, as a listener, acts as a kind of anchor to pull you back to the same place. It sort of unifies the whole thing. Plus, it's just *sooo* beautiful!
About the polyrhythms in CdL, what I did when first learning this piece, was find the lowest common denominator - 16th notes - and count them out by 6's (three 6's to the measure).
Then every note fell on some count. After enough times through that, I could dispense with the numbers, and just imagine clicks, like from a metronome. After a longer time, I could play around with the tempo to put expression into it.
To your question at the end:
"Does that make any sense?" - YES, it DOES! You put it perfectly, IMHO.
Fred
This is fascinating!
WHY ARE YOU EVERYWHERE?!
Gay
Omg you’re even here???
@@phcamthi Seeing him here feels like seeing Ben Drowned in a completely different game.
"it's not rocket science"... HAH. Studying "rocket science" myself, but what goes on in a pianist's mind to process something like this at speed is what completely baffles me. This here is the real black magic. I hope you'll let us pick your mind about the subject further in the future.
Its as simple as reading a novel and typing everything your read on the computer keyboard at the same time. Actually its easier than that because typing keyboards have far smaller keys and you also read a sentence much faster than you can type it. So, if you can read a good book and type on your keyboard, there is no excuse for not learning sight reading.
Sight reading tips for those not at Tiffany's level (knowing scales, arpeggios and chords is great, but what if you don't)?
1. Note the key and, even more importantly, the key signature. If there are lots of flats or sharps in the key signature, make a mental note of which notes are natural;
2. Note time signature;
3. Note any accidentals and where they occur;
4. Note any unusual clef changes in left or right hand (also, note any hand crosses);
5. Tap out the rhythm using both hands;
6. Note any scales, arpeggios, chords, cadences and other repeated patterns (e.g., alberti bass) that you recognize;
7. Note any modulations.
That is the list I give my students, anyway. For practice, I have them write these things in before they play and do not limit the time at first.
Woah you answered my question by actually showing how to do it, thank you!!
Thank you for your question! It inspired this vlog idea 🤗
You’ve become my favorite classical music person hahah thank you tiffany for all your efforts to bring classical music closer to people💗
since i watch your videos about sight reading, i did all of your tips before this videos is up and those tips really help me get a bigger picture (as you said!) of the piece (I did it for Chopin Etude op 25 no 9 & 12) AND that strived sight reading really gave me satisfaction and more energy and enthusiasm! really change the way I start practicing a new piece and it's a good thing for me. thank you for those tips and for the new ones!! fyi, you are totally qualified for giving tips for us amateurs!
Oooo that's great to know! Woo-hoo 🥳
I feel 'offering your accumulated experience through developed skill' is a better mentality then...'authority' to offer 'tips'. Keep it up tiffany.
agreed, we learn from our past 👍 and become a better me
Super helpful! Thanks Tiffany! Looking forward to your concert! :)
BRILLIANT. MANY thx Tiffany. I am an adult learner (1 1/2 years only) and you make MANY assumptions (for my level of playing), but I absolutely understand where you are going...and just confirms that I need to learn MUCH more about harmony, scales, arpeggios etc etc.
hi, been watching your videos for approximately a year now and I just wanted to let you know that I love your vlogs and they’re really inspiring. I’m self-taught at piano and your videos have helped me make tenfold progress with your tips and watching how you approach music and analyse it while you play,
ughhh your humility makes it all so much less-intimidating as well, thank you so much for everything 🥺 peace and love from the UK 🇬🇧
Thank you again Tiffany for the weekly uploads!!
i'm not even a musician but you opened my eyes to see the beauty of classical music
floor gang You never know, maybe the right person will come along!!
if it's something you want, you'll find a way. :)
Pray for it! You'll definitely have it one day.
Mine is fresh bought from an answered prayer. Im just started learning the violin. And it was veryyyy fun. All the music theory and stuff. You'll love it, too.
i have a question, if you guys don't mind :)))
i really want to learn playing the violin, without any goals of joining in an orchestra nor to create any career with it. playing classical music on a violin is one of my dreams now. any advice for a 16-year-old me on how to pursue what i want??? :((((
@@floorgang600 oh sure, age is not a hindrance of becoming one. youre still young and with that age you can improve as the years go by. I do really believe that you can make it. with that perseverance... and as i read ur comment it's what you are, u dont know why you wanted it and the uncertainty because deep inside it's ur passion. Its not yet too late. Go for it ;)
mine is for the Lord, i'm praying for it months ago and He answered it. I'm using it for His glory. :)
i pray that you pursue ur passion.
Drinking game: take a shot every time Tiffany says ‘harmonies’
Joking, thanks for all the tips! Helps me sight read better!
I did my lesson and completed the day 400 today 😂😂😂
Tiffany, I came across your youtube channel when COVID hit and we were all in lock down and was inspired by you. My last performance was for my graduate recital (I was a Piano Performance major) in 2000. I graduated and opened my own private teaching studio. For many years I doubted my abilities in spite of what other people were telling me. Eventually those doubts eroded my confidence as a pianist and I stopped learning, striving and practicing. I came across one of your videos where you were practicing and you normalized everything for me. I no longer felt alone.....mistakes are ok and they happen. Missing notes felt like the end of the world to me, so much pressure I couldn't function. Today I am playing better than ever with more precision and freedom. I've learned more music since February than I have in my 20 years of being in the "piano closet". Now I'm sight reading better than ever AND learning Gaspard de la nuit. I never thought I'd see the day that I would be learning this incredible work. I have to thank you for the inspiration and for making yourself vulnerable to us. You have given me and many others a reason to keep striving!!! THANK YOU!!!!
Very helpful, your explanations about harmonies, not "in spite of" repeating it but "thanks to" repeating it... makes it a lot clearer and not boring at all... And I totally agree with you about language learning : I've always had to and still am learning new languages, I'm learning music now as a new language.
By the way, there are some interesting videos here on yt where Leonard Bernstein compares the components of linguistics with music...
It’s always good to repeat an explanation. It adds emphasis to the importance of the subject.
This is why it's so important for musicians to practice scales and learn music theory!
Tiffany, say what you want.... To me you are a Genius!!!!Congratulations! I love to see you reading and playing and explaining!
Absolutely not boring comments. This was very interesting and yes, we need to know our harmonies :) Thank you for the vlog
I love how you have a soft thick blanket to lie under your piano, like a cat relaxing in a favourite comfy spot. It probably sounds amazing under there with your Spirio playing :D
I love it when Tiffany makes long videos.. Its makes me feel motivated to practice when I watch her😁☺️
That grammar example at the end made so much sense! Thanks!
There's a video with Glenn Gould practicing BWV 826 at home and struggling with the approach to the fugue; as genius as he was at playing Bach (alla sing-along, per the Gould style). He went over the first few notes of the Fugue section several times, got a bit of the way through, didn't like it, recollected himself, started the section all over again... another spot came up where he thought of how to approach a figure. He removed himself from the piano, he sang through it, and jumped right into it!
This video is just what I needed right now! Those rhythm books seem useful, I just ordered a copy.. Ta ta ta 🎶
I've been waiting for these video for so long. Thank you Tiffany💕
14:42 reminds me when you are in a calculus class and the professor says: "So, we have this equation with 7 variables and it is trivial to reduce it into this one small equation here so I won't bother explaining it"
But what if I play Schoenberg ?
I wish you good luck 😅
Oh God😂😂😂
Lol just make it up no one will no the difference 😉
I've learned piano and only know one or two pieces for many years. Sight reading ability has made me able to play more pieces and I'll continue to practice this skill and hopefully progress it along with my piano playing skill
YES MY DAY HAS JUST BEEN MADE!! THANKS TIFFANY
Yes, it makes sense Tiffany! I play all these pieces, but this was helpful in terms of sight-reading. Thank you so much!
Your own personal experiences are valid and when you share them here in your blog it encourages us. These days you should also find any apps or online resources for learning music theory, if their are any good ones. Love the under the piano view.
Great job on choosing and answering the questions.
Yes yes yes makes sense and verry helpful for us all.
Talking under the piano makes us more relaxed and feel friendly! Nice!
Very very very helpful since without school these days, I have sooo many new pieces I want to learn! Thanks a lot!
Btw congrats on the new apartment!
Enjoyed visiting this video again with your thoughts on sight reading…. Makes much more sense a 2nd time around…
Thanks Tiffany for the insightful video! Didn't know sight reading can be enhanced in this way, instead of using all our might reading each note or each bar, we could look for patterns, scales, ,harmonies... This encourage me to go back to the fundamentals, which is so important yet we often neglect. Thanks a million!
i just struggled sight reading this afternoon. thank you so much tiffany😭💖
You can do it!! 🤗
Fantastic advice! Love Tiffany’s blogs. 💜🎹🙏🏼
The c minor partita Tiffany talks about I played a few years ago as an audition for Ashkenazy 💜🎹
the best moments are the moments when Tiffany uploads
Awwwww ❣️
Tiffany your editing has improved so much!
Being a jazz musician really helps with sight reading classical music because of our knowledge of harmony and chords! Great video Tiffany, you made me wanna go sight read ahaha
yay it's all about harmonies! Knowing the contour of the notes helped me a lot. It lets my sightreading keeps flowing, just what music is meant to be like.
I'm watching this after sight reading a prelude by Bach and I was demotivated because I felt like I made no progress, but your video made me feel better. I'll go back to Bach again tomorrow!
This is lovely and so kind of you to share with those looking to you for at-home proper technique without the elitism we encounter in conservatory environments. Very relaxing too!
Thank you, Tiffany, for this sight-reading video! Now I know the importance of music theory when I sight-read pieces and also how significant is to practice the scales, arpeggios! This is really helpful, thanks again 🥰❤️
Great share, just to be able to see someone who is so proficient even TRY to convey the process. You are very generous with your time and talent.
It's not a question of authority but experience that gives you credit !
I learnt a phrase in french that I'll try to translate.
"If there is something you don't know, ask around ! If there is something you do know, share it."
Thank you for sharing. So much.
For music theory, as someone largely self taught I would recommend the Keyboard Theory series by Julie Mcintosh Johnson! It's progressive, focused on the piano, and as everything is a workbook you really helpful to have a way to practice when not in front of a keyboard. I would do them regularly as part of my lunch breaks and it was a significant difference.
Love you Tiffany🌸
❤️
Dropped everything I was doing to watch this video! Loved it!
I saw this video so i did all what you say and my french teacher told me he noticed me more enthusiastic and that i'm more faster reading notes.
Thank you 🤚 you are my inspiration 🙏
So glad to have you back.
I’ve played since 5 and thankfully, I got the sight reading gene. 😀 if you’re don’t know if you have it, then you don’t! J/K Anyway some of the things that helped me get better: practice hymns. Buy an old hymnal off eBay or whatever. Don’t steal from your local church! 😂😂 then you start paying attention to the notes that move within the chord. So if the soprano and bass notes stay the same, but the alto and tenor notes move, you start to ignore the non changing notes. This makes reading faster. And teaches you to discern the most important things to read. Also in high school, I found a Scott Joplin book. The good thing about his music is that the left hand jumps, and you can either read music or look at keyboard. But you can’t do both. This is when I discovered that I didn’t need to look at my hands. I knew where the notes were, just like a string player who knows where their fingers are supposed to be. Finally, like a foreign language, at the beginning, you hear something, translate to your native language, think what you want to say, translate it into the foreign language, and it’s exhausting. I don’t “read” the notes (A, B, C, etc), I just associate a note with one key on piano. That saves tons of time. I just go straight to playing it. All
These things helped with classical because I could transfer the skills. Helps not take everything so seriously! Now I should go work on my scales!!! 😱
I really liked when you talked about difference between the impressionist and the other ones, it seems helpful and really interesting to know about the technical difference on that matter
What I do as a pianist turned bossa nova guitarist turned classical pianist again: I put the guitar notation on the score. It helps me to sight read, to understand and memorize. Example Brahms Intermezzo Op. 118 N° 2: A / D A / D / E7 A D6 / A E A7 / D E6 / B7 B79 / A6 B7 / etc... So when I see B7 I know in a flash that any or all of the following notes must be played: B D# F# A.
Thank you, thank you and thank you very much for your job Tiffany! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻❤️
Love your teaching Tiffany !
This video answered SO many questions that I have struggled to find answers for. Thank you!
this was actually very helpful, as a pianist that’s still growing (almost 4 years) I’m kinda new that classical and getting better at sight-reading, listening to pieces and opening my interests to other things. So this really helped and got some useful tips on things and how I can approach my other future pieces. ps- I’m only 15, so I’m slowly getting there.
I'm 4 years in too and tbh sight reading gives me anxiety attacks😞 Won't stop though
Bruce Erogan I feel like what would help from one pianist to another is that sightreading is/and can be scary but instead of looking at the bigger picture look that the smaller, and just focus on one page at a time. Is probably the best way that helps me personally. Just looking at one page and focusing on that for now and I feel like once you have that done it gets a bit easier.
Also as you progress add another page, so one day you sight read page 1 *and that only!*, then the next page 2 and so on (or how many ever pages the piece your playing has). hope this helped
@@NovaSuperior this is solid advice. Thank you very much
Start by sight reading super simple pieces. Gradually start working your way up to a level lower, to the level your on. Obviously by sight reading on the level your on you might not play it perfectly, but that’s okay! Also if you don’t play one of the pieces perfectly, practice that piece until it is “perfect” and stay on that level the second time you sightread.
I love bach - actually, I am obsessed with his music - to the extent that I am doing my best at 64 to live long enough to render some of his Goldberg Variations in an acceptable manner. Do you have any fundamental advice, Tiffany to help me realise this dream? I would like to say that your rendition of Scarlatti's F Minor, K.466 Sonata brought me here.
This is great info Tiffany! Just what I needed to hear actually😊thankyou.
I hope Tiffany doesn't mind my second comment 🙏 with some extras:
When running into big chords (with God forbid some nasty accidentals): Know your harmonies to get the modulation / progression picture, but play the "bare bones" of the chord instead of squinting trough all those notes, and move on.
Perfect sight reading skill is a BIG help, but only essential if you are a serious accompanist or chamber music player. This as an encouragement note for all those who struggle with sight reading no matter what.
Basso Continuo in baroque music: Know your harmonies and what those little numbers mean! But don't sweat it too much. a) The instruments usually play the same harmonies as you. b) the basso accompaniment is relatively unimportant, in most cases the audience only hears a 'plink' from piano or harpsi, or a 'hoot' from the chamber organ. (Some pros will crucify me, but it's true)
Chamber music from Mozart onwards: Whoever expects that you sight read & play that stuff to perfection 30 minutes before dress rehearsal a day before the concert should be fired. Go ahead and fire them. Hope this helps:)
This was not boring at all. Thanks for the tips Tiffany
Very helpful , thanks . Having not taken any formal trainning i think this gives a good insight into the kind of tools that would be tourt and needed for reading . I'm not sure who's more lucky Tiffany , or us being tourt by Tiffany . As theres such a cluster of semiotics and " lexicalally musical semantics " for want of a better word than semantics alone , in the approach to reading as well as playing . I mean I'm quite fasinated as a begginer , in what it takes and how my own progress allows me to remember or forget things so conveniently .
Thank you for answering my question. You are a very good teacher and I learned a lot.
Thanks for asking a great question! (not a teacher though 😅)
OMG, yes. The answer about having the skills but just needing to push through was great. I used to hate sight reading, but then I was thrust into an accompaniment role (I actually had to learn the accompaniment to a choral piece two hours before a performance in high school). It was scary, but it tore down the wall that made me scared of sight reading. After that, I was sight reading all the time. Now I absolutely love sight reading (maybe more than actual practice lol).
Got quite some ideas from the basics I learned as a kid from my teacher, and later by trying stuff myself, so the way you describe it makes so much sense :D
Definitely going to read some of the books in the description... Never knew where to start, but I guess this'll be it then :P
this was so helpful! thank you so much Tiffany!
That was so fun! I'm only just starting to learn piano, it's fun to see you talk about all this stuff. I'll probably never be able to play any of these, but I know them so it's still interesting. Maybe I'll just pick one and focus on it until the day I die and I'll eventually get it!
13:20 omgggg tiffanyyy yess it helpsss! thank you so much for answering my question T^T
Lovely 😍 I will try to use your ideas. Thanks Tiffany 💖
I love your shirt!!! You DO have something offer!!!! You’re amazing!!!😊❤️👏👏👏👏 I’ve been playing flute for 16 years and I still struggle with sight-reading!
Maybe it might appear as an obvious thought, but in my case at least I had a huge step forward when I began studying pieces which I REALLY liked... It made me study more and I was more self confident and happy.
Now I still struggle a lot but I definitely improved significantly when I started choosing the pieces to study.
Thank you so much for uploading this video, sight reading is an area that I struggle with more.
I love watching your videos it's just very warm and peaceful 💜💜
Hey Tiffany, I’ve been playing piano for around 7 years and I aspire to become a concert pianist. I work so hard every day but I always feel like nothing I do is good enough. Was there a time your life when your were like this? I feel like I will never improve and I’m scared about failing so much that I practice probably 8-9 hours a day. I don’t know what to do.
Thanks for the video. In my current journey of learning the piano, I'm at that stage now where I suddenly realize I could sight-read, but also there are still some parts where I still have to stop playing to be able to understand the passage :)
With your point about music theory being essential, Victor Wooten has a video with Music is Win called “playing wrong notes with Victor Wooten”, and I think that video is brilliant where Wooten makes this analogy saying music theory is like keeping a toolbox in your car when you drive. In reality, you don’t want to use that toolbox, but sometimes your car has problems: and you have to fix it. Theory is only used when something goes wrong, but maybe more accurately, theory should be there when you need it. I think all musicians are different, especially depending on the genre, but I think this is an interesting point that anyone can learn from. Thanks for the vlog!
Thanks for the tips and teaching advices. I appreciate this new style in your videos. Please continue making videos with tips to all level of players (I'm a total beginner:)
I would like to share that if you are new into sight-reading music
-you may start with reeeeally easy pieces
-using a metronome really slowwww to help you be sure about the rythms
-And be ready to fail because dont take it too seriously. Take it as a warming part in you study routine.
-Slowing increase the difficulty of the pieces you are sight-reading.
Tiffany blessed us with another video.
thank you for doing this! it was a very interesting and fun video to watch :)
I was gonna sleep then the notification popped up
Sleep is just an illusion
Then Tiffany is now responsible for your sleep deprivation.
yeaolon no he is lol
You are such a great inspiration, thank you Tiffany! 🤗
Now I should go to practice with all of that in mind 😉
I used to move furniture cross country and moving pianos was one of the things we moved. Many upstairs. The worst was a player square grand piano. But the best was when we got the piano setup again, I would sit down and test the piano with some Chopin.
You answered so many doubts I had, despite about sight reading :)