Updates on Summer Sightreading!
Hi folks! Thought I should check in on my Summer Sightreading Challenge! How are you all doing?? (Haven’t lived in Texas QUITE long enough to get the y’all down…)
So I was doing great for a couple of weeks. I sightread through almost all of my Debussy book. LOVED playing the entire Suite bergamasque and think I may have to learn that one one of these days. Some other faves were the Ballade and the Mazurka. Wasn’t a huge fan of Pagodes (that was kind of a beast). A week or so ago I got to L’Isle joyeuse (near the end of the book) and just didn’t have the heart to attempt it that night. I moved onto some simple and SHORT Handel pieces, which was SO fun and such a breath of fresh air after all the craziness of Debussy. I almost felt like it was cheating a little to count a Handel one-pager as one piece, just as I counted a 15-page Debussy as one, but I suppose it all evens out. 🙂
I am loving the sight reading! I think that no matter what level of sight reading you are at, you can always improve, and the only way to improve is just to do it. And do it often. And if you do this challenge or a similar one your sightreading will improve so much! I think it is also a great confidence-booster – knowing you have the abilities to play through so many pieces helps you realize that you really can learn any piece you put your mind to.
I hit a bit of a road block in my sight reading last week, being swamped with preparations for my piano camp I am teaching this week. We are still teaching the 3- and 4-year-old “Early Explorers” class that we have done in the past (and more lesson plans will be made available to purchase…just let me get past this next week or so!), but we are also teaching a brand new class for 5-and 6-year-olds called “Mighty Musicians.” Today went so well, I think the whole class is going to be a hit! Our theme today was “Night & Day” – we did a fun overview of all the musical elements used to tell a “story” with music, and did some super fun activities using Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite. Lots of fun.
Well tell me how your sightreading is going!
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p.s. I'm up to about 25 pieces….a quarter of the way there!
So glad you put this challenge out there – it was just what I needed to get my butt onto a piano bench and play for *me*! I'm up to 25 pieces now, although they were all short ones by CPE Bach. Not I'm working on the French Suites – going through my books in alphabetical order by composer…
This is awesome. I sat down two weeks ago and before I knew it, 2 hours had passed! I had dinner then went back for TWO MORE HOURS! Reminded me of the college days. Thanks for the challenge, and I hope I'm not too late to join!