why sight reading is important

June 29, 2010 Jennifer Boster

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I believe that sight reading is one of the most important skills we can teach our students. Sight reading ability is a great indicator of the student’s overall understanding of music and music theory. If a student is a good sight reader, chances are they are pretty musically-literate overall!

In fact, sight reading is a big part of my own teaching philosophy. One of my three main objectives in my teaching is to help my students become musically-literate sight readers.

Being able to sight read well is of the utmost importance if one wants to be a proficient pianist. Students should learn all of the necessary concepts and skills to become good sight readers and well-rounded musicians.

So why is sight reading so important? Here is a list I came up with:

Good sight readers…

…are able to accompany somebody or make music in a group at the drop of a hat.

…are very good at recognizing and naming notes quickly.

…can probably learn new repertoire quickly.

…are good at looking ahead while playing.

…can become familiar with a lot more repertoire without necessarily needing to study it in depth.

…are well-rounded musicians!

It is one thing if our students can study a piece for weeks, months or years and then play it amazingly well (and this is definitely good!) But if they cannot sit down and play a new piece of music placed in front of them, are they truly good, well-rounded musicians?

we’re in the same boat.

June 29, 2010 Jennifer Boster

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Who else enjoyed this week’s poll? I surely did, because it made me feel a little better knowing I am not alone in the fact that I struggle finding the time to practice as much as I’d like. I do, however, feel inspired to do better in that department – hopefully some of you feel the same as well! Here are the poll results:

How often do you practice the piano?

Are you currently taking piano lessons?

This week we’d like to discuss Sight Reading – why is it important, how important is it really, how do you teach it, how do you motivate your students to do it….well you get the idea. 🙂 Have a great week!

oh and psst, don’t forget to take our two new polls, found on the sidebar or here and here! If you have ideas or suggestions for topics you’d like us to cover, let us know here or head on over and take our reader survey.

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