I work with the Alfred’s Basic Piano Library series of books and at each level, they have a sight reading book. I regularly use the Lesson (of course), Theory, Notespeller, Technic, Sight Reading and Composition (Composition book only if the student has interest in writing music).

I use the rhythm exercises in the Sight Reading book regularly to enhance the student’s knowledge of reading rhythm. I also make them “write-out” the rhythm in pencil on the rhythm exercises as well. They practice the exercises on their own first, then they slap them out on their legs during the lesson to show me that they understand the rhythm. If they do the rhythm wrong, I go over what was wrong until they express they understand it.

Additionally, if they require more help, I have created a number of “worksheets” with rhythm exercises and I give them extra work with this.

I also teach them a simple clapping tool I learned years ago which easily helps them with rhythm. I slap my leg on the down beat and slap my other hand on the upbeat … basically going up and down between my leg and other hand. I show them that they need to establish the beat of the music, the quarter note beat, and then to establish the 8th note patterns by inserting your other hand on the upbeat. This naturally helps them with 8th note patterns. I find that students who have problems with 8th note patterns resolve that problem when using this tool.

For 6/8 patterns, I would just make them count singularly for each 8th note, even if the song is played in “two”. You can always speed up the count/beat once learned.

Additionally, if the student is not clear on 8th note patterns in 4/4 time, they will have problems with 6/8 8th note patterns. Changing from quarter note gets one beat to 8th note gets one beat (i.e. 4/4 to 6/8) would be confusing.

I also keep a library of music at each level and from time to time, I spend the entire lesson doing nothing but sight reading pieces they have never seen before. These pieces are usually a little bit lower in level from where they are at musically, which should make it easier to sight read. The more they sight read music they have never seen before, the better they get at it and the better their understanding of rhythm gets.

Bottomline, one of my music teachers said that there are many roads to Jerusalem, you just take the one closest to you in order to get there. In other words, many teachers have different ideas on solving the problem, and I’m sure that all of them work. Different ideas, different paths. The important part is just getting the student there.

Belinda

Sigh-Reading:
As to how to actually approach learning sight-reading, I suggest a three prong approach.
- get Amy to join some sort of group where she needs to read music a lot. Piano in a big band at school, for example, or apprenticing with a church organist, or accompanying singers or other instruments. This achieves two things–it makes sight-reading practical and increases Amy’s buy-in and it makes it a regular thing that Amy must commit to.
- Teach Amy conceptual tricks to become a better sight-reader. Recognizing chord shapes, jumping ahead, summarizing the structure of a piece, planning a strategy for tricky parts, etc. This is just a start, as I’m not a piano teacher, and I’m sure others out there will have great techniques. The important thing is that Amy understand that there is a WAY to get better at sight-reading–it’s not just something some people can do and others can’t.
- Work on sight reading every lesson. When working in a lesson, make sure to have now music for her to sight read every time, and cover her hands with a sheet of paper to encourage piano “feel”

1. There would need to be an assessment about what the student wants out of lessons. The student must really want to learn to read.

2. I would have to move the student totally away from rep with which she is familiar. An effort must be made to find rep that cannot be easily found on a recording.

3. There should be a review of basic notational concepts.

4. The student should then have a section of every lesson devoted to sight reading. In this case, it’s most important to establish a strong rhythmic connection. Because of that, you can have a lot of fun. For example, the student could clap the rhythm, chant the rhythm, count it out loud, dance it (if they’re comfy with that), conduct it. Anything that helps the student really feel the rhythm that’s on the page is good.

I personally really like Zoltan Kodaly’s sight singing books. They are simple enough to sing easily but challenging and varied enough (especially rhythm-wise) to be interesting. Plus, his use of eastern European dance rhythms is often fun for the teacher and student. Perhaps they could be adapted in some fashion to other instruments.