Sightreading material - a rant

ShiroKuro · 2026-04-22T10:51:57+00:00

Starting in January this year, I worked through a piano hymnal as sightreading practice, and it was really beneficial. So now, as my semester piano class is...

ShiroKuro

lilypad The keys are on the easier side - C, G, D, F, Bb major and A ,E ,B ,D, G minor

BTW, this is perfect. I'm fine with playing pieces with 5 flats or 5 sharps, but I don't necessarily need that much for reaidng practice.

What I don't like though, is when every single piece is in the key of C. Worse is when it's pieces I know, but everything has been arranged into C. I once bought a collection of easy arrangements of Christmas carols to use for sightreading practice during the holidays, and every piece was in the key of C! Argh, I hate that!

So this collection would not have that problem!

ShiroKuro

I just googled and this was the first video I found. Very pretty! This would be great for reading practice

twocats

Maybe you could buy some old RCM books of an appropriate grade level on eBay or Thriftbooks? They change it up every few years to force families to buy the new books, just like textbooks. But it means that there are a lot of old ones out there!

ShiroKuro

twocats that's a good idea too. I wish I had a better idea of the grade levels...

Could you, or anyone else in this thread, comment on the grade level of:

the pieces in the Olson book (there is one sample page
the level of the Over the Rainbow arrangement I posted above
the level of any of the pieces in these three books:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/8350113634?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1495070999?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1705137091?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

I know that's a lot to look at, so thank you in advance to anyone who has time to take a look.

twocats

ShiroKuro the level of the Over the Rainbow arrangement I posted above

My guess would be RCM grade 4-5. I think those two grades would be a good level for your sight reading practice.

ShiroKuro

twocats thanks, I'll take a look for some RCM books!

BTW are these "sightreading" books or just books of approved rep for the rcm grade tests?

Simonb

Hi ShiroKuro

Yes that version of Over the Rainbow is much easier. A lower grade - maybe ABRSM grade 2, whereas that page I posted together with the rest of the piece (which is an arrangement of Honeysuckle Rose btw) I'd say is around grade 5 or 6.

Niki Iles has a lovely version of Over the Rainbow in her set of books inspired by Keith Jarretts famous Version(s). But again much more difficult than the version you've posted. Though not as difficult as Keith Jarrett's!

I'd recommend the Niki Iles books regardless. The arrangements are authentic for somebody wanting to play Jazz without having to worry about improvising etc. She doesn't even provide chord symbols, which for me was a disappointment! The tunes are mainly great American songbook or Jazz standards.

So it sounds like you want something inbetween those 2 levels. I'll have a think about it.....

Cheers

ShiroKuro

Simonb Niki Iles has a lovely version of Over the Rainbow in her set of books inspired by Keith Jarretts famous Version(s). But again much more difficult than the version you've posted.

Yeah, that's probably too hard for sightreading/reading practice.

I'd recommend the Niki Iles books regardless. The arrangements are authentic for somebody wanting to play Jazz without having to worry about improvising

OTOH, this sounds quite nice as a way to pick some repertoire pieces! I found this, maybe I can listen and if I find some I especially like, I can pick a piece or two to learn over the summer:

if you have other recommendations for videos of her arrangements, please share! (I like to choose rep pieces based on listening and finding pieces I want to play)

twocats

ShiroKuro BTW are these "sightreading" books or just books of approved rep for the rcm grade tests?

They're just normal grade level books!

Sophia

HarryLikas 1,400 playable solo‑piano arrangements

Side note: how on earth did you manage to arrange so many songs?!? I mean even if you do one a week, that would take 26 years! That is some kind of prolific, respect 😃 I'm still tempted to purchase it, because there are so many songs that I would love to play, but of course almost all books are still above my level. Yours isn't sight reading material for me, but I think most are within my ability to learn within two or three weeks. Temmmptaaattionnnn!

(sorry Shiro for the temporary thread derail)

Edit: what the heck. Live dangerously... purchased 😃 WOW even scrolling through the titles takes ages! I will never be able to complain about having nothing to play ever again 😱

TLH21

twocats

Samples for each level can be seen on https://rcmusic-kentico-cdn.s3.amazonaws.com/rcm/media/main/documents/publishing/celebration%20series/cs6-sampler-web.pdf

Edited to add that this is the current series, but you should be able to pick up older editions on Craigslist or similar for not much money (check how much they have been marked up!), and the grade level assignment should be consistent across editions. The full repertoire list probably has the pieces that were published in previous editions anyway, they just 'curate' a selection for publication but (I think) students can pick anything from the full syllabus for the grade level as long as their exam program meets the minimum content requirements.

HarryLikas

Sophia, yeah, when you stretch it out like that it does sound a bit insane 😄
But the truth is, I’ve been making one or more arrangements (sometimes 3-4) daily for the past four years, so they add up pretty quickly.

And you’re actually describing exactly how I intend them to be used—not really sight-reading material, rather chord learning material, something you can realistically learn over a couple of weeks and then own. If they sit just slightly above your current level, that’s the sweet spot.

twocats

TLH21 ooooooh SK could just print some of these! Ok I think her Rainbow excerpt is probably Grade 5, maybe 6. Probably not 4.

TLH21

twocats Maybe. It's certainly not something I'd do a smooth job of sightreading. I remember sweating bullets for weeks to learn this level 4 piece, which seemed to be one of the harder ones at that level, and I could not sightread it now if seeing it for the first time.

twocats

TLH21 I used to play that piece!

BartK

TLH21 It's certainly not something I'd do a smooth job of sightreading. I remember sweating bullets for weeks to learn this level 4 piece, which seemed to be one of the harder ones at that level, and I could not sightread it now if seeing it for the first time.

Sonatinas like this are actually excellent sight reading material. They always have lots of patterns like scales and broken chords and good sight reading consists of recognizing these patterns quickly as one unit. I can highly recommend reading lots of sonatinas to improve your reading skills.

ShiroKuro

@TLH21 thanks so much for that link!

That Diabelli piece is level 4? (I feel like I’ve played that before too, years ago… and not as a sightreading piece!) Anyway, that is a much more involved piece than the arrangement of Over the Rainbow.

Anyway yesterday I ordered 4 books from Amazon, with the assumption that I’d pick one or two and return the rest. ~~But who am I kidding, I’ll probably keep them all because I have a problem~~ 😃

They’re supposed to be delivered today so I’ll share comments when I get them.

TC3

ShiroKuro That Diabelli piece is level 4?

Apparently:

https://pianosyllabus.com/x-detail.php?ref=7249014

lilypad

ShiroKuro

ShiroKuro So, that's about grade four? Because the samples all look on the easy side (I mean that in a good way). And they're all written by Olson right? I'm not familiar with him at all. Are the pieces compelling?

Grade 4 is just my estimate. The book says "early intermediate". Somewhere on the internet, I read that was roughly equivalent to grade 4.

ShiroKuro Hmm, it's only $6 at Amazon, maybe I'll just buy it.

This is why I have too many music books.... 😅

I actually bought the book for just the Prelude in G minor, so that's a reason I have too many music books. I also liked and played the Preludes in G major and Bb major. The rest of the pieces will be future sight reading practice for me.

ShiroKuro

Well I purchased four books on Amazon, with the intention of checking them out and returning two or three…. But I want to keep them all…. 😅

TC3

ShiroKuro What did you end up with?

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