Teacher Dreamaurora - Piano Q&A

[waiyean]

Dreamaurora:

I always encourage students to practice the sightreading exercises i assign to them first then followed by finger exercises and scales. Personally for lower grade I would advise students to spend equal time practicing sightreading and exercises and their pieces e.g. 20 minutes for sightreading and exercises followed by 20 minutes of pieces. Aural normally no need to practice everyday, just on selective days.

Hi, I have read several times on this forum about \"practicing\" sight reading exercises. Isn't sight reading supposed to be unpracticed? Usually these sight reading exercises are 1-2 grades below, is it useful to be practicing them?

Thanks for your advice on the equal time between sight reading / exercises and pieces.

[Angelight]

How does one practise sight-reading exercises? From picking a piece of music and try playing without writing down the notes?


How can one improve on sight-reading?

[Dreamaurora]

waiyean:

Dreamaurora:

I always encourage students to practice the sightreading exercises i assign to them first then followed by finger exercises and scales. Personally for lower grade I would advise students to spend equal time practicing sightreading and exercises and their pieces e.g. 20 minutes for sightreading and exercises followed by 20 minutes of pieces. Aural normally no need to practice everyday, just on selective days.

Hi, I have read several times on this forum about \"practicing\" sight reading exercises. Isn't sight reading supposed to be unpracticed? Usually these sight reading exercises are 1-2 grades below, is it useful to be practicing them?

Thanks for your advice on the equal time between sight reading / exercises and pieces.

Angelight:

How does one practise sight-reading exercises? From picking a piece of music and try playing without writing down the notes?

How can one improve on sight-reading?

Yes, sight reading needs to be practiced. One good thing about piano learning is the vast amount of repertoire available, however because of our limited time in practicing there is no way we can expose ourselves to all different types of music available in the ouevre. For example, it is quite possible to finish grade 8 without playing a single baroque contrapuntal piece. So how will we able to sight read a baroque contrapuntal piece well then if we never even encounter it?

Hence, the necessity of sight reading exercises. These exercises can be from sight reading books such as Joining the Dots, Right at Sight, etc. Or they can be actual pieces 3-4 grades lower (according to UK exam board standard). These exercises will have to be read (without writing the alphabets) and practiced as actual pieces in order for the mind to assimilate the patterns and sounds. Practicing sight reading is not just attempting to sight read, the exercises have to be learnt to the point where they do not sound like you are sight reading. So sight reading exercises are kind of misnomer, they are more like appetiser pieces.

[waiyean]

Angelight:

How does one practise sight-reading exercises? From picking a piece of music and try playing without writing down the notes?


How can one improve on sight-reading?

Does your child learn new pieces by writing down notes?
I think sight reading can be improved by lots of practice.
My girl learns all new pieces by sight reading using both hands. This way, she gets lots of practice sight reading. Sight-reading is not just getting the right notes, but also play the right dynamics, articulation, phrasing, etc.

The sight reading pieces in the exams are much easier than the prepared pieces, hence it's ok to find difficulty in playing those new pieces.

[phtthp]

is it advisable to skip grade for piano ?

teacher recommend child to skip grade 1 and go straight to grade 2 or 3 next year.

[Angelight]

My DD just started learning piano (Yamaha JMC) past 6 mths, so her sight-reading still not that good. I have to write down the do-re-mi for her. If not, she can still recognise the notes but take longer time to read the notes and play at the same time.


As for myself (yes! I've been learning piano for the past 3 mths, partly for interest and partly to help coach my girl), I've completed Grade 1 and doing Grade 2 now. I find sight-reading not easy and have difficulty playing the scales with BOTH hands together. Somehow, my right hand and left hand find it hard to play the major and minor scales at the same time. Anyone had this problem when first learning piano?

waiyean:

Angelight:

How does one practise sight-reading exercises? From picking a piece of music and try playing without writing down the notes?

How can one improve on sight-reading?

Does your child learn new pieces by writing down notes?
I think sight reading can be improved by lots of practice.
My girl learns all new pieces by sight reading using both hands. This way, she gets lots of practice sight reading. Sight-reading is not just getting the right notes, but also play the right dynamics, articulation, phrasing, etc.

The sight reading pieces in the exams are much easier than the prepared pieces, hence it's ok to find difficulty in playing those new pieces.

[Angelight]

If I'm not wrong, I think you can skip grade for exams but not for learning.

phtthp:

is it advisable to skip grade for piano ?
teacher recommend child to skip grade 1 and go straight to grade 2 or 3 next year.

[Dreamaurora]

phtthp:

is it advisable to skip grade for piano ?

teacher recommend child to skip grade 1 and go straight to grade 2 or 3 next year.

standard answer for this: can skip exam but cannot skip grade. So yes, can skip grade 1 exam but cannot skip materials covered in grade 1 in lesson.

[waiyean]

Angelight:

My DD just started learning piano (Yamaha JMC) past 6 mths, so her sight-reading still not that good. I have to write down the do-re-mi for her. If not, she can still recognise the notes but take longer time to read the notes and play at the same time.

Personally, I feel that it's better to let your DD to work through the sight reading without writing the notes out. Otherwise the child may develop a reliance on that, and may not improve fast enough. Just my opinion though perhaps the teachers here can comment more.

Is it true that Yamaha focus more on listening, and less on sight reading for their junior programs?

[waiyean]

phtthp:

is it advisable to skip grade for piano ?

teacher recommend child to skip grade 1 and go straight to grade 2 or 3 next year.

I have heard of people who did grade 8 as their first exam.

Anyway, if the teacher recommend child to skip grade 1, the child probably is of that level already. How old is child and how long has the child learnt piano?