Why You Need to Be a Good Sight Reader

By Anne Sullivan 

You’ve heard about opportunity knocking. It’s not just a saying, it happens. I know because it’s happened to me, and I see opportunity come along for harpists every day. When opportunity comes your way, I want you to jump on it and embrace it. But for you to be able to do that, you need to be ready. 

There isn’t always a lot of warning when opportunity knocks. Sometimes you have to be ready right then to substitute for a harpist who got sick or to play with a group that needs a harpist at the last minute. That’s a powerful reason to practice your sight reading.

Sight reading is an essential part of musicianship. When a musician can sight read fluently, he can learn music faster, saving practice time and developing more confidence at the same time. And while most musicians know they should be practicing sight reading, it can be difficult to know how to go about it.

One tried-and-true method is the obvious one: sight read a piece every day. Choose the pieces carefully so that they are within your ability and maintain your tempo strictly. This method only works, however, if you have been developing three underlying skills.

You see, sight reading isn't so much a skill in itself as it is a demonstration of your skill level in three key areas. The stronger your skill in these areas, the better your sight reading will be.  Conversely, if  one or more of these skills is weak, it will make fluent sight reading nearly impossible.

The good news? Each one of these skills is easy to practice. In fact, you probably are practicing them already, but you may need to be a little more intentional if you are serious about improving your sight reading.

Through the month of October, our Harp Quest blog posts will focus on one of those three skills you need to keep sharp. We’ll talk about what you need to be able to do and how to practice it. I will also give you my favorite ways to practice sight reading. So keep watching the blog this month. That way, when opportunity knocks, you’ll be ready to open the door.
 

For now, pick up one of your old music books from when you first started and try some sight reading. You might also want to check out a podcast episode I recorded on sight reading: Sight Reading Should Be Easy: 4 Simple Strategies