The Science

of
Sight Reading By Kenneth Saxon

S
cientific studies are revealing a
wealth of new information
regarding the visual habits
that contribute to good sight
reading. Articles in scientific
encountered are frequently exciting,
demanding and sometimes rather icon-
oclastic. Unfortunately, these lengthy
and often complex articles don’t regu-
larly make it onto the reading lists of
People...who sight-read well read
way ahead and their fingers follow
almost by heart while the eyes
already look at something new.
––pianist quoted in Wolf 1

journals such as Visual Cognition and busy piano teachers.

the Journal of Psycholinguistic Research This article will distill information Good sight readers keep the eyes
feature much that is new and com- from these sources and present it in a moving forward, never backward.
pelling. Such research might form the concise and friendly format while pro-
topic for some lively discussion among posing some simple ideas for utilizing The eyes must look on the printed
piano teachers. The articles I have the information in lessons. It will notes, constantly looking ahead.
encourage a greater emphasis on sight ––Martha Hilley 2
Kenneth Saxon reading in piano lessons and hopefully
is the coordinator may result in some reassessment of the Good sight reading can be promoted
of accompanying traditional methods via which sight by shielding the hands with a piece of
and the director of reading has been taught. cardboard or a book to prevent the
graduate studies in First, consider some of the conven- eyes from glancing downward.
music at the tional wisdom regarding sight reading:
University of Texas Good sight readers read far ahead of To insure that the eyes do not look
at Brownsville/Texas the notes being played. at the keyboard, slip a large piece of
Southmost College. Saxon earned a extra-thick cardboard under the
D.M.A degree from the University of music rack of the piano and let one
Alabama. half of it extend over the keyboard.
––Lorina Havill 3
22 JUNE/JULY 2009
 Sight reading cannot be taught.
Some pianists are good at sight reading
while others are not.
The result [of my teaching sessions]
was that people who seemed to be
gifted for sight-reading improved; and
people who seemed ungifted did not.
––Boris Goldovsky 4
These descriptions of “what makes a
good sight reader” do not necessarily
translate into a description for improv-
ing the skills of a poor reader. As John
A. Sloboda writes:
The question which many
musicians ask is “what makes a
good sight-reader?” This question
includes two separate
concerns––firstly, what can be
said about the characteristics of
the fluent sight-reader––and sec-
ondly, what must a poor reader
do to become fluent? It is an
unfortunate but unavoidable fact
that a reasonably comprehensive
answer to the first question does
not necessarily lead to prescrip-
tions for the second. For instance,
the finding that fluent readers
typically look further ahead than
poor readers does not automati-
cally yield the prescription that
poor readers should practice look-
ing further ahead. It may well be
that increased ability for preview
is the result of some other skill,
such as the ability to detect pat-
tern or structure in the score, and
that simply trying to look ahead
will not improve this skill.5
Conventional descriptions of good
sight reading consider the output skills
or the results of successful reading, but
the teacher who seeks to redress poor
sight reading must instead address the
development of good input skills.
Input skills are the skills a sight reader
uses to collect information and to
order that information prior to “out-
put” or performance. An expert per-
former with poor sight-reading skills
can demonstrate expert output skills,
while remaining weak at input skills.6
Input skills are a collection of simple
AMERICAN MUSIC TEACHER
skills that can be addressed individual-
ly. I call them sight-reading tech-
niques, and I encourage my students
to focus on improving their sight-read-
ing techniques rather than focusing on
sight reading as a whole. By focusing
on individual techniques, students
have the opportunity to make regular,
significant process.
The following is a list of skills that
students can use to focus their atten-
tion on the development of input skills
or sight-reading techniques:
n Keep eyes on the page.
n Count out loud.
n Keep going––steady beat.
n Read by intervals.
n Do not correct mistakes.
n Play the entire piece without stop-
ping. Never stop in the middle of
the piece and start over.
n Preview the music before
playing––the eyes have the first
encounter.
n Encourage chunking behavior.
n Practice using accessible music the
student can read.
For success, students should strive
for mastery of each technique. Don’t
proceed beyond “eyes-on-the-page”
and “count-out-loud” until a student
can demonstrate their capability and
willingness to read while counting out
loud with his eyes on the page. The
teacher’s role is two-fold: first, to pres-
ent each technique with concise lan-
guage that allows for great variety of
presentation and second, to help the
student remain on task until each
technique is mastered. Some sight-
reading techniques may require several
weeks of application from teacher and
student. Creativity, patience and
humor can mean the difference
between success and frustration for
both.
1. Eyes on the Page
Good sight-readers spent less time
looking at the keyboard, which indi-
cates that an important cognitive
component of skilled music reading
is an ability to form mental spatial
representations of the positions of
notes on the keyboard and/or an
ability to choose optimal finger posi-
tions which reduce the need to look
at the keyboard in order to find the
next note(s).
—Gilman and Underwood 7
A. Encourage eyes-on-the-page in
the most basic straight forward
way possible. For instance, ask
students, “Which hand plays
first, and what is the first pitch it
plays?” Notice how often stu-
dents look down at their hands
as if the music were written
there. Encourage students to
answer your questions with their
eyes on the page. Try to create a
process whereby the student’s
first encounter with the music is
with his eyes.
B. Even if there are mistakes while
reading, encourage the student
to keep her eyes on the page.
This is a significant step for
improving sight reading, and it
frequently requires some time to
accomplish. Instead of covering
the student’s hands with a barri-
er, allow the eyes to learn this
technique. If a student has diffi-
culty with this technique, she
can have a friend or family
member watch her practice and
alert her when she is looking
down. If difficulties persist, set
attainable goals. First, the stu-
dent plays two measures without
looking down, followed by four
measure and so on. Reward stu-
dents who continue playing with
their eyes on the page despite
making a mistake.
C. Students who consistently fail to
keep their eyes on the page prob-
ably do not count out loud regu-
larly. (See #2)
2. Count Out Loud
A student that can count out loud
will have no difficulty in keeping his
eyes on the page. It always works!
This tool is my “million dollar”
idea––the benefits for a student’s sight
23
The Science of Sight Reading
reading are always exhilarating––but,
I find this “million dollar” idea is dif-
ficult to give away. My 9-year-old stu-
dent, Johnny, informs me that it
“messes me up” when we count out
loud. I inform him that he’ll need to
practice counting out loud at home
before it will work in his lesson. My
older students are even more stubborn
about counting. So I cajole, convince
and connive constantly to keep stu-
dents counting.
3. Keep Going
Steady beat. See #5 and #6
4. Read by Intervals
Unlike the less-skilled sight-reader,
the skilled subject does not process
the melody ‘note by note.
—Goolsby 8
With regard to what subjects attend
to during their fixations,* it seems
surprising from the profiles to dis-
cover such a large number of fixa-
tions directed to areas between the
notes, where there is no available
information. These findings may
provide an indication that when
sight-reading, music readers strategi-
cally direct fixations to a position in
order to determine the interval as
opposed to processing the staff posi-
tion of one note and then the fol-
lowing note.
—Goolsby 9
*Fixation––brief snapshots the eye
accomplishes to view information.
These snapshots last approximately
250 milliseconds and provide clear
vision of a circle approximately one
inch in diameter. 3–6 fixations occur
per second.
—Sloboda10
A. Place more emphasis on intervals
rather than on note names in
reading. There is evidence that
the eyes do not look directly at
each note, but they, instead, look
between the notes to measure
their intervals.
B. Children like knowing and
24
repeating little maxims such as,
“a line to a line makes a third” or
“a line to a space makes a second”
and “skip a finger, skip a note.”
Have them verbalize these little
maxims (and others) regularly
and consistently.
C. Correct the interval rather than
the pitches. Let the student com-
plete an entire piece. When the
piece is completed correct any
intervals the student missed.
Now, have the student repeat the
maxims that might apply.
Method books carefully develop
a vocabulary of intervals, chords
and scales that help encourage
good sight reading, but to take
advantage of all that method
books have to offer, a student
must also learn to use good
sight-reading techniques.
5. Do Not Correct Mistakes
A. When sight reading, a student
should not stop and correct any
mistakes. Keeping eyes on the
page while counting out loud
will go a long way toward
accomplishing this goal.
B. To encourage my students to
keep going, I never correct mis-
takes in the middle of their per-
formance. I correct all mistakes
when the piece is completed.
6. Play the entire piece without stop-
ping. Never stop in the middle of the
piece and start over.
The habits that lead to good sight
reading can be encouraged throughout
the lesson. They need not be restricted
to a specific time set aside for sight
reading. This comes as no surprise since
sight-reading techniques help promote
good musicianship in general. Keeping
a steady beat and focusing on rhythm
and continuity are good sight-reading
techniques, as well as good musician-
ship skills. When a student plays an
entire piece without stopping––whether
a sight-reading drill or a recital
piece––the student is practicing good
sight-reading technique and good musi-
cianship. With regard to sight reading,
the student is enhancing her ability to
“keep going” with eyes on the page
while counting out loud. In terms of
musicianship, the student benefits from
the opportunity to think of the entire
piece rather than just the first page or
first line. The student can build confi-
dence and experience with performing
an entire piece, and is less likely to
repeat herself or go back to the begin-
ning of the piece in case of a stumble or
memory slip in performance.
7. Perform Effective Visual Preview Of
The Music
Skilled sight-readers appear to attend
more to temporal structures in pre-
view than less skilled readers, but
not to other structural features of
the music.
—Waters, Townsen, and
Underwood 11
Preview the music before beginning
to play, paying particular attention to
meter, rhythmic information, key sig-
natures and repeat signs. Help students
form a checklist of items to be pre-
viewed before sight reading. The
checklist should be memorized and
utilized every time music is being read.
8. Encourage Chunking Behavior
Chunks are:
a vocabulary of commonly occurring
note groups that can be rapidly
encoded and processed in reading.
—Waters, Underwood and Findlay 12
The sight-reader will recognize
familiar constellations of notes and
process them as single units, or
chunks of information. If he sees a
chord made up of several Fs, As, Cs
and E-flats, he will automatically
think “F7” even though the chord
may be composed of six or eight
notes. If he sees a sixteenth-note
scale passage, which extends from
the first beat of the measure to the
third, he can again process eight
notes as a chunk.
—Wolf 13
JUNE/JULY 2009

A. Beginners: Teach reading by
intervals. (See #4 A, B, and C)
B. Beginners and Intermediate:
Teach transposition starting with
method book pieces. Utilize
transposition consecutively with
I-IV-V7 progressions and pentas-
cales in all 12 keys. Sue Haug, in
her wonderful article, “Sight
Playing and Visual Perception:
The Eyes Have It,” suggests,
“Use transposition as a way to
focus attention to patterns. This
requires students to notice pitch
patterns such as the contour of
the melody or a harmonic pro-
gression.”14
C. Intermediate and Early advanced:
Use Czerny. Czerny is almost
entirely founded on a vocabulary
of chunking patterns. Transposing
Czerny may be effective in some
situations. Hymn reading at this
stage may also encourage chunk-
ing behavior.
9. Encourage confidence building by
providing students with music they
can read.
A. Sight-reading techniques will not
improve if the music is too diffi-
cult. As previously mentioned,
confidence building can occur
whenever a student improves one
or more sight-reading tech-
niques. Be sure to recognize and
reward the improvement of the
sight-reading techniques them-
selves so that the student may
grow in the patience and confi-
dence necessary to make ever
greater improvements.
B. Sight-reading material should be
challenging without introducing
more than one new concept at a
time. For instance, when a stu-
dent is ready to progress to
melodies with intervals of the
second and third, avoid intro-
ducing new rhythms or hand
positions until reading seconds
and thirds is comfortable.
Sight-reading techniques can pro-
vide students with the tools to become
AMERICAN MUSIC TEACHER
successful sight readers. Until the fun-
damental sight-reading techniques are
mastered, progress in sight reading
may be slow or nonexistent. This will
generally hold as true for the beginner
as for the advanced pianist. By master-
ing the sight-reading techniques, stu-
dents are ready to grow as sight
readers, and their sight-reading skills
may then improve at an equal pace
with their improvements in technique,
musicianship and memory.
Even if sight reading can be
improved through the utilization of
sight-reading techniques, why should
teachers take time to include it in les-
sons that are already packed with
method books, repertoire, theory and
technique? First of all, sight-reading
techniques can easily be incorporated
into the curriculum of the college
piano major, as well as the private
piano student. All that is needed is a
workable plan, a small sliver of lesson
time and a consistent approach. Once
sight-reading work becomes a regular
part of the lesson, the student will ben-
efit in every area. Students can experi-
ence significant improvements in
technique and memorization when
they consistently practice sight-reading
techniques. And, improved sight read-
ing actually bodes well for the future of
our students and our studios. The col-
lege piano major, upon graduation
needs to be ready to read regularly and
competently. In the majority of the
careers they may pursue (church musi-
cian, piano teacher, public school
teacher, accompanist) sight-reading
ability will be among the most vital job
skills. In private studios, improved
sight reading can enhance retention as
well as the pleasure and fulfillment of
our students. Students enjoy reading a
wider variety of music and may
become involved in additional activities
such as accompanying or just playing
for friends that can promote and bene-
fit their reading even more! Finally,
improved reading greatly lessens the
oppressive feeling that ensues when
poor readers commence to learn new,
more difficult pieces of music and the
The Science of Sight Reading
struggle with frustration and impa-
tience begins to overwhelm them
before all the notes can be learned. g
NOTES
1. Thomas Wolf, “A Cognitive
Model of Musical Sight-Reading,”
Journal of Psycholinguistic Research 5,
no. 2 (1976): 156.
2. Martha Hilley, “Shapes and
Abstracts: Their Use in Learning to
Sight-Read,” Clavier 16, no. 3 (March
1977): 64.
3. Lorina Havill, “Sight Reading
Can Be Taught,” Clavier 10, no. 2
(February 1971): 32.
4. Wolf, “A Cognitive Model of
Musical Sight-Reading,” 152.
5. John A Sloboda, The Musical Mind:
the cognitive psychology of music (Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1985), 68-69.
6. Andrew J. Waters, Ellen Townsend
and Geoffrey Underwood, “Expertise
in Musical Sight Reading: A Study of
Pianists,” British Journal of Psychology
89 (1998): 123-124.
7. Elizabeth Gilman and Geoffrey
Underwood, “Restricting the Field of
View to Investigate the Perceptual
Spans of Pianists,” Visual Cognition 10,
no. 2 (2003): 229.
8. Thomas W. Goolsby, “Profiles of
Processing: Eye Movements During
Sight-Reading,” Music Perception 12,
no. 1 (Fall 1994): 106.
9. Ibid., 120.
10. Sloboda, The Musical Mind: the
cognitive psychology of music, 69.
11. Waters, Townsend and
Underwood, “Expertise in Musical Sight
Reading: A Study of Pianists,” 130.
12. Andrew J. Waters, Geoffrey
Underwood and John M. Findlay,
“Studying expertise in music reading:
Use of a pattern-matching paradigm,”
Perception and Psychophysics 59, no. 4
(1997): 478.
13. Wolf, “A Cognitive Model of
Musical Sight-Reading,” 156.
14. Sue Haug, “Sight Playing and
Visual Perception: The Eyes Have It,”
American Music Teacher 40, no. 3
(December/January 1990–91): 71.
AMT
25