Trying to upload here regularly to keep track of my progress. I realized it's actually a nice challenge, because you try to keep your sight reading as musical as possible when you know that people will listen to it.

11 days later

Digging this post up once again from the grave. I was looking through Heller Etudes and realized that the first two were quite sight readable. I apologize for the random AC noises, didn't realize it would be that loud when I was recording.

    ranjit I really like Heller's music.

      BartK Claire Huangci is a scary good sight reader.

          I just had this video popped up in my YouTube feed, and watched with fascination. Yes, a small part of it is recommending the Sight Reading Factory app. But the overall video is quite comprehensive, and the concepts presented seems very sound to me. A good road map as I am about to embark on this long journey.

            BartK Great video! Thank you for sharing this. I like the suggestion for very small sections at a time. I'd been trying to do 4 measures at a time, similar to what might be required in a piano exam and had limited success with that.

            I'm glad they covered a little bit on proprioception. It's probably my biggest barrier to keeping my eyes glued to the page. Hanon doesn't seem like it would have enough interval variations for that.

              iternabe Thank you. Adding it to my watch later list.

                ranjit Claire Huangci is a scary good sight reader.

                All of them are scary good sight readers. 😆 I wanted to see what Hamelin had to say but they cut him out. I need to get a Tonebase subscription.

                  a month later

                  Looking forward to the day I'm not embarrassingly bad at this... no matter how much I try, I find it hard to keep going without stops and my brain often fails to process the next chord in time.

                    You say that, but I'm still insanely jealous ranjit 🙂 I wish I played the way you sight-read 😃

                    ranjit Not that I have anything in my piano playing to be egotistical about, but I'd say of all the piano things I do, sight reading practice bruises my ego the most. I have good days and bad days for sight reading. The bad days are like I'm hopeless and why do I even bother.

                      a month later

                      I hope to keep posting my progress here. It is great motivation!

                      6 days later

                      Slowly getting better (hopefully).

                      a month later

                      BartK Thought I'd revive this original thread with my recent discovery of the usefulness of Sonatinas for sight reading practice.

                      They seem to be chock full of the kind of content that would be useful for recognizing patterns as opposed to individual notes and come in a variety of piano exam grades from 1 to grade 6.

                      A month or so ago I got the first book of Faber's Piano Sonatinas. It has Sonatinas ranging from piano exam grade 1 to grade 3. I've sight read through all the grade 1's and now have them flagged for future quick study pieces.

                      Sonatinas aren't my favorite classical genre to listen to, but they're actually a lot of fun to play.

                          Thanks for resurrecting this @lilypad !

                          I need to go back and read it again…

                          lilypad also I don’t play classical but maybe I should look at sonatinas as a sight reading source …

                            lilypad
                            Yes! Sonatinas are great when you reach a certain level because of the numerous patterns they contain. You have to learn to group the patterns and focus mostly on what is changing. For example, if there is an Alberti bass in the LH then you take a quick glance every measure to see what chord it is while you focus on the RH.

                            Of course, all music contains patterns but sonatinas and sonatas are so full of patterns like arpeggios and scales that they are very useful. They also train your ears to anticipate the modulations from sub-dominant to dominant to tonic, which are also a very characteristic feature.

                              8 days later

                              Here is the youtube page where Tiffany Poon Has quite a few videos showing her sight reading.
                              https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=tiffany+poon+sight+reading

                              1. In the first piece in the first video where she is sight reading To a Wild Rose, Notice in this very elementary piece she still looks at the keys 4 or 5 times. So I think the idea that one should never look at the keys is not correct and certainly not what happens in practice even for a professional. The important skill to learn is to be able to look at the keyboard and not lose your place in the score.

                              2. If you go down a few videos to where she is sight reading Chopin's Variations on La Ci Darem La Mano, a very difficult piece, notice that she looks down (sometimes by just moving her eyes) much more often, is not concerned about never stopping or slowing down when the passage gets more difficult or even stopping to correct errors. I think the ability to sight read without ever stopping or slowing down etc. Is only important for professional accompanists or amateurs who play a lot of chamber music or piano duets. And when amateurs play, they can and do just leave out a few beats or a measure if they get stuck but want to keep going.