Rumor has long maintained that ear players never become good sight readers; facts prove just the opposite. Although there are exceptions, the large significant units of sound which the ear player uses encourage him to grasp notation in the same manner. The note reader tends to grab note-note-note; once the ear player has become familiar with the notation he grasps large handfuls of notes and comprehends whole phrases at a glance. This contrast immediately suggests to the ear player his method in learning to read easily at sight.

Do not look at single notes. Grasp the appearance of the chord with which you are familar and remember it as a total chord—not as a mosaic of little notes. Arpeggios and broken arpeggios should appear as chords—the units by which you learned them.

Don't allow yourself to read laboriously. If you are laboring you are going too slow or the material is too hard for you. Go fast; do not be afraid to skip notes here and there, just as you did when playing by ear. Keep going and get the general idea of the music; you will gradually acquire accuracy.

Before beginning a piece, observe the key. Play the scale in both hands for a couple of octaves. Play the complete cadence and thus get the familiar feel of the key. Glance through the piece without trying to play it and see what the general nature of it is. Then play it as best you can without stopping.

Get both hands ready before you begin, even though one of the hands does not enter right away. Do not leave the hands on the chords longer than necessary; use the pedal to sustain the chords and immediately place the hands and fingers on the next chord or passage. If there is extra time, wait only after you have the hands in the new position.

Put the right finger on the first note so that you can play as far as possible without shifting the position of the hand. Easy sight reading requires that you do not shift the hands from one position to another any more than necessary. When you must shift to a new position, do not hesitate to lift the hand from the keyboard and come down with the best finger on the first note of the next position. Think the shape of that position while your hand is in the air and come down with the entire position formed; do not find the posi­tion one note at a time after you have a finger on the first note of the new phrase.

Overemphasize the phrasing; it helps to feel the next phrase and gives time to get adjusted for the new position.

Notice whether the chord you are playing is a major, minor, diminished, or familiar seventh chord. If you do not recognize your notation in the same units by which you learned your ear playing, your progress will be no faster than any note reader's.

Accompanying is the best of all practice. Here one must keep going and get the over-all idea regardless of whether or not he strikes all the tones. Vocal accompanying is the easiest, but any accompanying is good practice. Big groups are easier to accompany than soloists, who are likely to take great liberty with the printed score. When accompanying, watch the solo part as well as your own; this helps you to keep with the soloist and makes your own part easier.

Read a great deal—just through once. Do not stop to correct the mistakes any more than you stop to correct pronunciation when reading to yourself. If you do repeat a composition, improve upon the interpretation—not just the little details.

When you find something that you wish to learn, get every note and detail right, but memorize it—that is, put it into your ear—as fast as you can. Notes are a necessary evil in learning new music!

Do not expect to get the satisfaction from reading that you do from ear playing; it is always somewhat tedious. Remember how long it took you to learn to read English, even though you were very proficient at talking.

At first read things which you have heard and recognize; your familiarity will make it unnecessary to concentrate on all the details.

Playing duets is good experience in sight reading. The other fellow helps you part of the time and you help him part of the time.

WHAT TO DO Play at sight. Play at sight. Play at sight.

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