Never again learning a wrong note!

I don't recommend relying on Synthesia as a learning tool. I think it may seem helpful initially, but ultimately, it will be very limited, esp. as you start playing music that is more complex. I see that @Animisha is still reading the score, but using Synthesia to alert you to wrong notes. I suppose that's ok, but you will probably benefit more in the long run by learning how to find those trouble spots yourself. For example, even with music you don't know (i.e., you won't "hear" the mistake), you can probably guess which spots will be easy to make this kind of mistake. Look through the music, identify those spots. Then play the tricky part, listen to it, note how it's different from another passage (like your example of the chords), play them HS etc. so you can hear it.

And spend time drilling that into your fingers -- and your ears.

In the long run, by doing this, you'll continue to get better at score reading and at hearing.

If you use Synthesia, you will just continue to be dependent upon the app.

This is just my opinion of course, I know a lot of people like Synthesia, and that's fine. But if you want to improve your score-reading ability and improve at playing from a score, Synthesia will be counterproductive.

I suspect the falling notes appear more intuitive because the music follows the orientation of the keyboard. Whereas the sheet music is more like the keyboard turned 90 degrees counterclockwise.

So I have a follow-up question. For people who eventually developed fluent score reading ability, do they somehow mentally turning the staffs to match the keyboard, or form some other kind of positional association that makes the link between notes on paper and keys under finger more direct?

iternabe For people who eventually developed fluent score reading ability, do they somehow mentally turning the staffs to match the keyboard, or form some other kind of positional association that makes the link between notes on paper and keys under finger more direct?

I am a very confident score-reader, and a pretty good (relatively speaking) sightreader.

I do not mentally turn the staff, I never did.

I'm trying to think if I have anything helpful to say in terms of how I got so comfortable reading....

Read a lot? Also maybe do some HS practice while reading, to reinforce the notes on the page with the place on the keyboard, without having to be overwhelmed by the two staves?

ShiroKuro I'm trying to think if I have anything helpful to say in terms of how I got so comfortable reading....

Read a lot?

That's pretty much it. I know this answer is not satisfying for us adult overthinkers but there isn't really a better one. Just read a lot of music and over the long term your reading skills will improve.

@Animisha I feel sorry for nudging the topic of this discussion from note/chord/error recognition to sight reading. They are different, and we already have a sight reading thread. But I am glad, as always, I elicited some very helpful insights on sight-reading from forum members.

One thing @ShiroKuro mentioned strikes me as so true is the need to consciously read the notes on the sheet after the piece is already mostly memorized by hand. The reason I worry about committing wrong notes into subconscious memory is exactly because I only read them closely during the very early part of learning a piece. Pretty soon after there become a point where the fingers retained enough muscle memory (not by intention) that my brain no longer fully register and scrutinize those notes on the sheet even when my eyes are alway looking at them. It's like a "fake" state of reading while playing.

So, maybe add to her great advice: "Read a lot of new music"?

iternabe For people who eventually developed fluent score reading ability, do they somehow mentally turning the staffs to match the keyboard, or form some other kind of positional association that makes the link between notes on paper and keys under finger more direct?

I definitely have a positional association. If I see a chord on a grand staff, I will automatically feel in my hands how I'd play it, and I visualise where it would be on the keyboard. I don't consciously rotate the score in my mind, but I think this idea can help when learning to read piano music.

Animisha I have never heard of your recommendation "Read from the bottom staff up, rather than from the top staff down" and I never sight read like that.

Nor do I. I think I read more from the outsides inwards: if I'm sight-reading a tricky piece, it is usually most important to get the melody and the bass notes right. When things are flying by too fast, I fake what's happening in the middle.

iternabe One thing @ShiroKuro mentioned strikes me as so true is the need to consciously read the notes on the sheet after the piece is already mostly memorized by hand. The reason I worry about committing wrong notes into subconscious memory is exactly because I only read them closely during the very early part of learning a piece. Pretty soon after there become a point where the fingers retained enough muscle memory (not by intention) that my brain no longer fully register and scrutinize those notes on the sheet even when my eyes are alway looking at them. It's like a "fake" state of reading while playing.

I know many beginners learn like that (including myself several years ago) but muscle memory is very weak and very unreliable. A good way to practice is to go so slow that you disengage the auto pilot. Try to read the notes conciously and be aware of everything while going glacially slow. If you know some theory you can also play in blocked chords and say the chord you are on at the same time. All of that makes you rely less on muscle memory and makes it more likely that you will notice if you missed something.

MRC When things are flying by too fast, I fake what's happening in the middle.

That is probably a very good skill, esp. for sightreading truly new music!

When reading a new piece, I have a hard time leaving out notes or, for example, an inner voice. If I'm learning something and decide not to play one chord note (say because it's beyond my reach) that's one thing, but I usually can't make that decision in the middle of prima vista sightreading.

BartK disengage the auto pilot.

This is very important!! And something I tried to do in the weeks leading up to the concert I played in last week, because, as you say, muscle memory is very unreliable. But auto pilot is very... insistent. It's like the brain wants to go into auto pilot, that's the default mode.

My advice, which is worth what you paid for it!, is to avoid Synthesia - it is teaching the wrong things. Might as well light up the keys you need to press on the keyboard. The fact that it tells you when you make a mistake is not helping you - you need to develop the skill to hear when you have made a mistake yourself. And the only way to do that is to make mistakes and correct them yourself. Practice reading music 15 minutes a day, every day, and your skills will improve.