Analyzing the Music
Check the music’s time signature first. Look for the set of 2 numbers to the right of your treble or bass clef (depending on your instrument). This tells you how many beats there are in each measure and which type of note value is being counted. If you see a large symbol that looks like a “C” instead of numbers, that stands for “common time” and means the time signature is 4/4. A large “C” with a vertical line through it indicates you’re in “cut time,” or 2/2. The time signature is the most important thing to look for before you begin sight reading since it establishes the beat or pulse of the music. Being able to recognize and maintain a steady beat is extra important if you’re sight reading in an ensemble setting with other players.
Look at the tempo and scan the piece for unfamiliar rhythms next. Now that you’ve established the beat, skim the entire piece or section you plan to sight read for complicated or rhythms. If you spot something you haven’t seen before or that looks too complex to play correctly on your first try, take a moment to work through that rhythm in your head before you start playing or singing. The tempo marking tells you how fast the beat or pulse of the music is. You may see a number indicating beats per minute, or an expressive marking like Andante (“walking tempo”). Keep in mind that you don’t always have to sight read at performance tempo unless you’re in an ensemble or performance setting.
Check the music’s key signature. The key signature tells you which notes will be sharp or flat and which major or minor scale matches the key of the piece. Look for a set of sharp (#) or flat (♭) symbols on the staff between your clef and the time signature. For example, if you see flat symbols on the B line and E space of the staff, you’ll play B-flats and E-flats throughout the piece. This would match up with a B-flat major or G minor scale. If you see no sharps or flats, that means all the notes are natural and you’re in C major or A minor. The key signature will appear all the way to the left of the staff on every line of music.
Review all the notes on the page and identify familiar groupings or scales. Now, scan every note you’re about to play. Are there any very high or low notes outside the staff that look unfamiliar? Do you see any accidentals (flat, sharp, or natural (♮) symbols outside of the key signature)? Do you need to review your fingerings ahead of time? Look at the patterns of notes you see. Your music may have familiar scales or arpeggios in it that you’ve drilled before. Check for passages with large jumps or skips and identify you’re starting and ending notes if needed.
Look at the piece’s overall structure or “roadmap.” Now that you’ve looked at the fine details, zoom out and observe the piece or section as a whole. Can you see obvious sections? Look for things like repeat signs, 1st and 2nd endings, melodies that repeat, or more complex structure symbols like D.S. al Coda or D.S. al Fine markings. Then, look for any big changes in things like your time signature, key signature, style, or tempo. They don’t always stay the same throughout an entire piece!
Scan the piece for expressive markings, articulations, and dynamics last. These are the elements that give the music its character and tell you what kind of energy to put into your playing or singing. Is the piece soft and lyrical with long and gentle articulation? Or is it loud and bombastic with accents and sharp articulation? Does the style change anywhere in the piece?
Sight Reading Performance Tips
Scan the music and go through your sight reading checklist first. When you first see the piece, look it over without your instrument. Try tapping out the rhythm, reading the notes, and looking over the structure to see which bars will be repeated. Every time you encounter a new piece of music, go through your basic checklist in your head. If you’re sight reading for a grade or in a jury setting, you may feel pressure to start playing right away. Most teachers will let you look over the music for a minute and encourage you to start when you feel ready. If you have permission, make notes on your sheet music with a pencil to help you with unfamiliar notes or rhythms.
Play through the piece in your head. Take a moment to sound the piece out and look for patterns within the music. See if there are places where the melodies repeat themselves. Study the piece as hard as you can before ever picking up your instrument. Even if you don’t know exactly how the new music will sound, follow the contours of the melody line. Is it rising or falling? Is it rhythmic and active, or sustained and lyrical? The more familiar you are with the music, the easier it will be to sight read when you actually have your instrument in hand.
Divide the music into chunks that are easier to process. When you first begin sight-reading, it’s tempting to count every beat, divide every rhythm, and name every note right away. Relax! Every piece of music has hundreds of notes and trying to count and identify every single one can be exhausting and impossible. Instead, divide the piece into bigger chunks of music and try to read it that way. For example, you might cut each measure into 2 parts and note where the downbeats are. This is a method of interpreting the music in a more relaxed, musical way. Try to only look at several beats, an entire measure, or even a whole phrase at a time. This is a lot less chaotic than attempting to count each and every beat all at once. Once you’re confident in what you’re playing, try looking ahead to the next measure, phrase, or small chunk while you finish up your first section.
Choose a slower tempo that allows you to play more accurately. When you’re sight reading, you don’t have to play as fast as you can, or even as fast as the marked tempo. Instead, scan the piece for the most difficult measure and decide what tempo you can perform it well. Then, use that more conservative tempo for the entire piece to demonstrate a steady beat.
Take a deep breath and brush off your mistakes. Sight reading can be intimidating, but breathing can help you remain focused and can even keep you on tempo. Relax your body and your mind and try to concentrate on the work. Keep going if you make a mistake, because freezing up can only make the problem worse. Make a mental note to practice the part that caused you an issue, and then forget about it. There is more music to play, and you'd be surprised how often an audience misses a small mistake. If you are a singer or if you play a wind instrument, use a pencil to mark where you should take a breath (or identify some spots ahead of time if you can’t write in your music). Don’t beat yourself up if you don't read the music perfectly the first time. Sight reading takes time to develop, and unless you’re a pro, no one is expecting perfection on the first try! Being able to keep going even when you make a mistake is a critical sight reading skill, especially if you’re sight reading along with other musicians.
Give your full attention to the music in front of you. Clear your mind of your daily distractions and worries. Sight reading involves a lot of moving parts—you have to keep track of notes, rhythms, key changes, and many other variables. It’s impossible to sight read perfectly without focusing your entire brain on the task at hand. Distractions happen, so don’t feel bad if a loud or unexpected noise in the room throws you off for a second. Recovering and getting back on track is a valuable skill, too!
Sight Reading Drills & Practice Tips
Practice your scales and arpeggios. Practicing scales will help both vocalists and instrumentalists become more familiar with the names of each note and where each note falls on the staff. If you’re an instrumentalist, practice the scales without looking at your hands. This will take a lot of practice to master, but it’s essential for becoming a proficient sight reader. If you’re looking at your hands, you’re not able to let your eyes focus on reading the music. Most Western classical music is built on major and minor scales and chords. The more familiar you are with them, the more easily you can sight read this style of music. Instrumentalists should also practice sight singing, or the ability to look at and sing new music without an instrument showing you what it sounds like. This will help you work on phrasing, intonation, and musicality.
Drill your sight reading skills with simple music and sight reading exercises. The key to sight reading is practice, practice, practice! Start by sight reading music that’s a bit too easy or simple for you. Grab a cheap music book or look online, flip to a random page, and just start sight reading something. Just like with any skill, the more you sight read, the more confident and proficient you will become. As you feel more comfortable, you can start fine-tuning your skills. Some books and websites make music specifically for sight reading practice. Ask your music teacher if they have extra music they’d be willing to let you copy. Try looking at free online resources like PracticeSightReading.com. Sites like this generate sight reading samples you can customize by key signature, time signature, and more based on which specific skills you want to hone. Not only will practice drills help you recognize certain patterns and memorize note types, key signatures, and time signatures, it will also help you become a more well-rounded musician.
Keep a practice journal to track your progress. Try to practice your sight reading for at least 15 minutes every day to really sharpen your skills. Write down what you practiced and how long you practiced in your journal to see which skills need work and which you’re succeeding at. Becoming an experienced sight reader takes time, but implementing good practice habits is something you can do right now. Practice sight reading slowly. You can always pick up the pace after you feel more comfortable with the music. EXPERT TIP Warren Lee Warren Lee Professional Pianist, Composer, and Music Educator Warren Lee is a Professional Pianist, Composer, and Music Educator based in Hong Kong. Lee is a concert pianist of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and is on both the Steinway Artist and Naxos Recording Artist rosters. Lee was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music in 2015. In 2017, he received the Ian Mininberg Distinguished Alumni Award from Yale University. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Music from the Royal Academy of Music and a Master's degree in Music from Yale University. Lee also holds an MBA degree from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and an LLM degree in Intellectual Property Law from the University of London. Warren Lee Warren Lee Professional Pianist, Composer, and Music Educator Music practice journals set goals and track progress to stay motivated. A practice journal can make learning music way more effective and fun. Writing goals and plans ahead of time helps students stay focused and motivated. Even a points system for progress can energize them to achieve more! This discipline pays off in music and life.
Reviewing Music Theory & Literacy
Review the different note values and how many beats they get. When reading music, you will see whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, eighth notes, and sixteenth notes. There are more complicated note values than these, but these are the basics that make up the bulk of music: Whole notes receive 4 beats in any time signature with a 4 in the bottom. They take up an entire measure in 4/4 time. Dotted half notes receive 3 beats in any time signature with a 4 in the bottom. Half notes receive 2 beats in any time signature with a 4 in the bottom. Quarter notes receive 1 beat in any time signature with a 4 in the bottom. Eighth notes receive ½ a beat in any time signature with a 4 in the bottom, or 1 beat in any time signature with an 8 in the bottom. There are 2 eighth notes in 1 quarter note. Sixteenth notes receive ¼ of a beat in any time signature with a 4 in the bottom. There are 4 sixteenth notes in one quarter note. Review what each note value looks like on the page. Whole and half notes have open noteheads while quarters and beyond are filled in with black. All noteheads have a stem that goes up or down except for whole notes. Eighth notes have one “flag” on their stem, and sixteenth notes have two flags. Groups of eighths and sixteenths can be grouped or “barred” together.
Familiarize yourself with common time signatures. Time signatures appear on all pieces of sheet music and they tell you the amount and type of notes in each measure. To put it simply, time signatures tell you the beats of each bar of the song you will be playing. The top number of the time signature tells you how many beats are in each bar. In 4/4 time, for example, there are 4 beats per measure. The bottom number tells you what note value is being counted as the beat. In 3/4, for example, the quarter note would get the beat. A time signature of 3/4 means there are 3 quarter notes, 6/8 means 6 eighth notes, 3/2 means 3 half notes, and so on. Use a metronome to help keep track of tempo. A number of pieces will have an M.M. with a number and a note showing; this is the intended approximate tempo after it's fully practiced. Practice at a slower tempo at first, then gradually increase the tempo on the metronome as you get more comfortable with the piece.
Memorize key signatures. The key signature is a grouping of sharp or flat symbols that instructs you to play certain notes a half-step higher or lower than normal. Basically, the key signature tells you how many sharps or flats are in the piece, which tells you the key the piece is in. The key signature is found immediately to the right of the clef symbol on the staff. Memorization tip:To identify a sharp major key, look at the last sharp in the key signature and move a half-step above that. So, if the last sharp is a C, the key would be D major. Memorization tip:To identify a flat major key, look at the second-to-last flat in the key signature (read the flats left to right). If the second to last flat is E, the piece is in E-flat major. F major (or D minor) is the exception to this rule since this key signature only has one flat (B-flat). If the piece is in a minor key, determine what the major key of the piece would be and go down a minor third to identify the major key’s relative minor. For example, the relative minor of G major is E minor, since this is a minor third below G.
Review where each note falls on the staff. The majority of instruments play in either treble or bass clef (or both, if you play an instrument like the piano or harp). The position of the notes is different depending on which clef you’re reading. Learn the location of every note on both clefs and practice until you recognize the notes just by looking at them. In treble clef, the 5 lines of the staff spell out EGBDF from bottom to top. Use the mnemonic device, “Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge.” In treble clef, the space notes spell out FACE from bottom to top. In bass clef, the line notes spell out GBDFA from bottom to top. Use the mnemonic device, “Good Birds Don’t Fly Away.” In bass clef, the space notes spell out ACEG from bottom to top. Use the mnemonic device, “All Cows Eat Grass.”
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