

But it is possible to spend hours practising a piece, and learning it bit by bit, so that in the end you can play it from the sheet music. So you have to learn to read music on the piano first.

You cannot sight-read music if you haven’t already learned to read traditional notation.

Is Sight Reading Different To Learning To Read Music? It is a test where you read and perform a piece of music or song in music notation that you have not seen before. You might also see Sight-reading referred to as a prima vista (Italian meaning “at first sight”), It is the same thing. However sight reading can be notoriously difficult – in many cases players may even think their difficulty with sight reading means they can’t really read music, even though they have a grasp of standard music notation. The better your sight reading skills, the more pieces you can tackle and the more enjoyment you will get out of playing. It is a valuable essential skill for all players – beginners and advanced. Sight-reading is the ability to take a page of music you’ve never seen before and play it in time and with the correct notes and expression.
