I decided my summer goal was going to be sight reading more...every day. I found some old easy piano books at a used bookstore. Finally, I'm beginning to see a tiny bit of progress in sight reading. I do rely on my ear to help with rhythm. I can't look at music and play it with the right rhythm. I'm hoping this is a temporary problem. I write all over my music (copy) with counting notation. I think I'm a combo student, although I do memorize. A lot of this I attribute to not reading music until I started to learn piano. My reading skills are improving but this is all slow going.

It's me!! The zig zag practicing is definitely something I do. And I memorize pretty much without trying, but am terrible at sight reading. My piano teacher has had me focus on sight reading quite a bit, so I have gotten a little better at it, but it'll never be my strength!

As someone who relies quite a lot on ear (apparently, according to my teacher), one of the things that really messes me up is when there is dissonance in the piece. My ear always tells me I played a wrong note, so it tends to make me stop. In reality, the phrase just hasn't resolved quite yet and all I have to do is play another measure to get that resolution. A lot of the other ear pitfalls I tend to avoid because I don't listen to a lot of music. Instead, I for some reason like to listen to the same piece on repeat. There is also a pitfall in the ear player memory in that if you mess up during a performance, your memorization isn't complete enough to pick up just anywhere, usually you'd have to backtrack to the beginning of the section or phrase. I compensate for this with memory exercises like playing odds/evens or something to break up the memorized sections.

I've found it really hard going from 25 years as an ear player on guitar to trying to do it better on piano. It has gotten easier but the default state is hard to resist.

A needed reminder. As an ear player who just passed my grade 4 exam at a conservatory and is a day away from my access exam into professional studies (grades 5 onwards) I feel like a total impostor. Noting these down for summer holiday work!

Thanks!

One useful tip I picked up from this is to open one of my several books of studies and short pieces, and play four bars by sight every day. First one hand, then the other, then together. Maybe skip forward and find another four bars. I don't worry about playing musically, just improving sight reading.

You really nailed me down in this wonderfully helpful video, Allyssia! Deconstructed all my bad habits .... I completed your Path A and B courses a couple of years back and went on to take on my Piano Grades - now on Grade 5 having just got a Distinction in Grade 4! - but all those old bad practising habits remain... I'm an older guy who is a self taught keyboard player and have struggled through un-learning poor fingering etc., but now well into my retirement I'm picking up on a great deal of what you have to say on these EXCELLENT videos for which I thank you so much! (Note to self: TRY HARDER TO DO EXACTLY WHAT ALLYSSIA SAYS IN ALL HER VIDEOS!)

Top notch content delivered expertly. Words I needed to hear!

I have perfect pitch and I’m visually impaired so my ear is my best weapon, but these solutions are very helpful too!

There’s a fun question examined by Adam Neely and Tantacrul about how good western music notation really is, and the idea is western note-reading biases us to diatonic chords, single-note melodies, but undervalued scooped notes, crescendoes, and vocal expression. That doesn’t mean we should really try toss away note reading. It’s very good for describing complex harmonies and key changes. But it’s good to realize that both ear-training and eight-reading are just tools in the toolbox.

Playing be ear is usually good enough for pop/rock etc songs. It's amazing just listening to a tune and playing along and I will never stop it :D But yes, playing classics or completely unknown pieces, sheet music is great.

Great tips! So glad to see you come back, your videos motivated me to practice and explore non stop the piano and history of music, I have the issue of avoiding sheet music, seems to me that I can remember piano pieces, tone, scales etc.. but can't remember what I ate for breakfast 😂

You nailed Everyday point. Thanks.

For me the first step of practicing a new song is always to just read the sheet music while listening to the song. I read it a couple of times to let my brain link the visual to the audio input.

My goal is jazz improv. By definition, I have no music sheet to read when I hear a piano jazz song on Pandora or KZfaq. So I must play by ear if I want to replicate that particular song. I try create my sheet music by transcribing it, which is tedious and often frustrating but fun none the less. Yes, I can find the lead sheet music for a Jazz standard and improvise from that. But I like trying to learn a song played by a particular artist. That said, I found Allysia's insights helpful.

Love the studio and couch color!

Thanks that was a valuable lesson!

What’s the best public-domain classical music to build up sight reading skills but that’s also not boring? Clementi sonatinas?

What’s your advice to efficiently bring a piece up to speed from slow practice? I find that I internalize the slower tempo and then struggle greatly to sell the piece when bringing it up to speed.

Best place to be is to be able to read and play by ear!

Hello Madam! Just wondering if you are ever up to doing a video on Moskowski...😅

My younger brother had memorized all the pieces that my older brother and I played for our piano lessons. He relied on that and nevered learned to sight read.

This.

My problem is now that I can read pretty well, when we start a new piece I have no clue what it sounds like and it is super tough for me. The second I hear it, it’s game over. I’m trying to read and also hear it in my head. Taught myself to play by ear when i was 3

I'm guilty as charged... However, if you are only a composer, and don't play other peoples' works, and you work to polish-up each composition (the articulation, etc), I really don't think there are many down-sides. Rightly or wrongly, as a teenager, I learned that it was easier to make up my own music that sounded like the piano sonatas I so admired, than to learn to play those sonatas...

I know I'm an ear player because: 1) I play guitar 2) I haven't the foggiest idea about reading music

Thanks!