Sight reading is an invaluable skill for all musicians. Learning how to become good at sight reading music is an important component of instrumental instruction.

How to Improve Your Sight Reading in 10 min Day –

Sight Reading Do It At Home Guide for Students

(and for teachers to show to their students)

It is possible to spend only 10 min a day and become a greta sight reader!

Learning how to become better at sight reading will actually shorten your practice! You will be able to do more with less practice!

The ability to sight read will also help you with music auditions preparation and when playing with orchestras and chamber music ensembles in the future.

Read below all tips and steps you need to know.

1. How to Start:

When doing sight reading, you always want to start with 1-2 grade levels below your own level. The sight reading needs to look slightly easier than your regular pieces. Start with something easy and progress every day. The Sight Reading Factory is a great place to start finding sight reading activities. The site is free, easy to use. It lets you choose the type of sight reading tune and difficulty level. What I like most is that you can keep generating new music to read on the website without “running out”. Also the music is all the way from beginning to professional level. You can pick your instrument.

So for home practice you have a few options to find repertoire:

Check out the Sight Reading Factory
Use some of your old methods books (like Essential elements). They will be easy to play, but perfect for sight reading
If you are a Suzuki student-pick your old reading book or if you have been given materials to supplement your Suzuki practice.

2. Consistency:

Sight reading becomes easier when practiced with consistency. Yes, you will only need 10 min a day. But it needs to every day. The more you sight read, the easier it will get! Block a few minutes in your practice time every day and do some sight reading. Don’t focus on repeating and getting things right from the first time. Instead, focus on doing a little bit every day.

3. What level of Sight Reading Should I Pick:

You always want to start at least one level below your actual musical level. Don’t be afraid to start with the easiest activities available. This is actually good for you because you can build it up and get even more practice while you fill in skills that you may have missed before. You also want to feel a sense of accomplishment from the very beginning. So starting easy and building your way up (but you would need to spend time every single day) will be a great way to go!

If you decide to use the sight reading factory, start with the simplest activities that only have quarter and half notes. Every day, choose one level up. You will be amazed that in no time things will start feeling so much easier. You will do this only with a few minutes a day.

I had a student last year who went through the process above. We had a very difficult concertos to practice. All of our private lesson time was devoted to learning it. So the students and her parent were using the sight to do some sight reading every day. The result: she got one of the highest chair at the youth symphony in town and I cannot stop getting compliments about her playing! Now it is your turn! Do the same!

4. When practicing how to Sight Read Music Make Sure:

When developing young “music readers”, the mental preparation before they play is most important. Being focused on the one sight reading line will make or break your result. Students need to learn to think more and play less. This is also SO important when preparing for auditions and music festivals. Here are some tips:

Always look at the time and key signatures first.
Take your time to think about the notes before you play.
Sing at least the first few notes in your head.
Determine a comfortable tempo. Precision is more important than speed.
Count out an empty measure.
Trust that you can do it, don’t give up!

5. When in trouble:

Rhythm is always more important that the correct pitches! Keep going and keep the rhythm! You may also start with sight reading activities reading only the rhythm on an open string (or one note) in order to get used to thinking about the rhythms only.

6. Benefits you will see:

Getting better at sight reading will help you in play in orchestras
It will help with music audition preparation
The more you practice sight reading music, the less you would need practice your pieces. It is just as easy as that- learning new music will be easier.
At the end, you will be having lots of fun with it!

7. Most important:

The more you sight read, the easier it will get! Keep practicing a few minutes every day! Have fun, share the article on your social media with your friends, and then let’s go practice!