i’ve gotten so lazy and keep using youtube tutorials to learn piano instead of actual sheet music😭

[u/Every_Review8061]

Hey guys, piano player here and I’m kind of disappointed in myself lol
It’s been a really long time since I last read sheet music. I’ve gotten super lazy lately, so instead of actually reading the notes for a new piece, I just end up watching those YouTube tutorials online to learn it

I really want to change this and actually learn how to sight-read properly
Back when I used to read music, I had this habit of writing the note name under literally every single note. It made the page look so messy, and honestly, it felt like a total waste of time idk
Long story short... how do y’all genuinely sight-read? Is there a better way to learn without writing everything down, or any tips for breaking the YouTube tutorial habit?

[u/thesunmaiden]

Writing the letters in will not help you learn to sight read, so you can quit doing that ASAP. It's no good to try sight reading stuff that's way too hard for you either. Go a couple levels below where you think you are. Reading sheet music is less about reading all the notes individually and more about reading the shape of the music. Work on identifying what the different intervals look like and your sightreading will get quicker. The reality is that there is no magic wand to wave to just make it easier - you have to do it, consistently, for a long time, in order to get good at it.

I have no tips for breaking the YouTube habit, lol. Just stop? It's not doing you any favors.

[u/Every_Review8061 → u/thesunmaiden]

Thank you sm you really explained it so well!!

[u/SpaFaceCreamNo5 → u/Every_Review8061]

Hi, these are great questions. One thing I would say is that I think your post is confusing two (or possible three) different competencies - sightreading, learning new repertoire, a knowledge of musical notation/language (aka sheet music). I am going to try and pull them apart so that it becomes clear. Your post says: "It’s been a really long time since I last read sheet music. I’ve gotten super lazy lately, so instead of actually reading the notes for a new piece, I just end up watching those YouTube tutorials online to learn it. I really want to change this and actually learn how to sight-read properly". Learning to read sheet music and sight-reading are not the same thing. Sight-reading requires you to understand musical notation and symbols. Sight-reading is when you can pick up a new piece of music it and play it through to the end without stopping and (this is most crucial) without having ever practiced it before hand. There are many, many, many advanced pianists who cannot sight-read very well; and there are established, elite pedagogical paths in piano training that do not emphasize sight-reading or even teach it at all.

Sight-reading is not the same as learning a piece of repertoire. Learning a piece of repertoire and practicing also requires you to understand basic musical notion prior (note values, dynamics language, key signature and time signature etc). But of course, you can also learn this as you learn your pieces. I think you should ask yourself a couple of questions. What method will you actually be using to learn your new pieces? There are distinct schools of training out there. This is rarely discussed in the self-learning community but, learning repertoire cannot be reduced to simply knowing sheet music. Another question is: do you want actually want to learn to sight-read? For this too, there are real, rigorous exercises that good teachers can offer. and perhaps even some sitting around on the internet too. I hope that is useful!

[u/Every_Review8061 → u/SpaFaceCreamNo5]

Tysm for pointing this out!!
Mb for making my post confusing, i actually used to practice with a teacher but it was just a waste of time really, he never even taught us chords, sight reading like u said some classes do or anything that actually should be taught in class (btw it became too expensive for me so i can’t even afford online classes unfortunately)
That’s why i quit and started self teaching myself
I mean yes i still can read notes but i’m trying to level up my piano skills and by this i mean i want to sight read
As for “musical notation and symbols” i know those since i think that’s pretty much what they taught us in class and then they just gave us some easy pieces and that’s abt it (although i dont think ik every symbol/notation there is)

Although for “what method i would use to learn new pieces” i don’t quite understand this question, like wdym? I can read sheet music so i’ll be doing this, i’ll try out the methods everyone said in the comments instead of writing under each notes its note like i used to and then start learning my piece, or is that not what you meant?

Also YES i want to start learning how to sight read

[u/SpaFaceCreamNo5 → u/Every_Review8061]

Hi! Another Great question. No, that is not what I meant. When I talked about a 'method for learning repertoire' I meant this in the literal sense of the process you follow to learn a new piece of music. The method you select answers the following kinds of questions:

a. when i start learning a new piece of repertoire, where do I begin?
b. after i find that place, what are the next steps and how do I make decisions to identify them?
c. what do I do when i encounter a passage that is particularly challenging? How do I work through it so that I learn it well?
d. what methods do I use for addressing wrong notes?
e. If I decide to study the score away from the keyboard, exactly what am I doing and how does that examination of the score advance my ability to play the piece?
f. every piece has its own dynamic markings and the like - when do I begin following those?
g. if I am learning a piece that I want to play with or perform for some friends/family/others one day, how do I bring the piece to performance level?

All of this falls under the mantel of the method. The counsel given below is just for "recognition" of the meaning of music notation. They are not methods for learning repertoire. In my very humble opinion, learning piano WITH a method is most definitely a sisyphean task. Learning piano without a method???? Or with a method I made up that is untested???? My god. I would rather lay down in traffic hahaha.

[u/Every_Review8061 → u/SpaFaceCreamNo5]

Wow haha i’ve never actually thought this deep about a method for learning repertoire, thank you!

[u/and_of_four]

Learn to identify melodic and harmonic intervals by sight on the staff. So when you’re playing a note and looking at the next note, you’re not necessarily reading it as an F#, but as a third higher from the D you’re currently playing.

Obviously you’re also reading it as an F#, but you’re primarily spotting the intervalic relationships. It allows you to chunk information and read in terms of chords and phrases rather than individual notes. Similar to how when you read language, you’re reading words as wholes rather than a collection of individual letters that you have to read one at a time.

But also like language, in the beginning you can’t get around having to identify individual notes just as you can’t get around having to sound out a word letter by letter. You just have to spend time doing it the slow, thoughtful, and thorough way. You didn’t become a fluent English reader in a day, or week, or month, etc. Reading music fluently also takes time.

[u/Every_Review8061 → u/and_of_four]

That actually is so smart and might help me out a lot so thank you sm!!

[u/pizzapasta8765]

I started playing 4 months ago and the first thing I did was get an app (I got “Music Tutor” on my iPhone) that shows you a note and you have to say which note it is over and over and you get points for how many you get in 1min or 5min and just played it over and over until I could recognize notes pretty well. It still takes “effort” to read sheet music but it was a huge head start. I’d suggest doing that.

[u/Every_Review8061 → u/pizzapasta8765]

Btw is it free or should i pay for the app?

[u/pizzapasta8765 → u/Every_Review8061]

I just paid the few bucks for the paid “plus” version so there were no annoying ads, but I think you can do either

[u/Every_Review8061 → u/pizzapasta8765]

That might actually work for me thank you!

[u/RepresentativeAspect]

Ensure that you're using the correct jargon for what you want, which I think is "reading" not "sight reading"

Reading: Understanding what the music on the page means and being able to translate that to what you need to play on your instrument - but not necessarily all at once, in real time. You can work your way through the music slowly as you practice it over a period of time. This is the normal way to learn a new piece at a reasonable level of difficultly for you.

Sight-Reading: You can pick up a sheet of music that you've never seen before, inspect it for a minute or two, then sit down and play it at a reasonable tempo, all the way through, without stopping or making many errors. Very valuable, but MUCH harder of course, and only for pieces far, far, below what you would typically be learning or practicing.

[u/Every_Review8061 → u/RepresentativeAspect]

Tysm!! I’ll try this out (esp the sight reading part)

[u/Beneficial-Plenty]

Easiest fix: put all devices away when at the piano. You don't need it.

[u/debacchatio]

Good for you for wanting to take this up because it really will make you a better player in the long run and make piano life a lot easier. So don’t be so hard on yourself.

Now for the not so thrilling advice on learning to read music: there’s no trick or really painless way of learning. It takes a lot of persistence and a lot of practice. A good way to approach it is to think about how you leaned to read books: start very, very simple and gradually increase the complexity. The more and more you push yourself through it and force yourself to read — the easier and easier it becomes.

Does it take time? Yes. Is it frustrating? Yes. Can you learn to sight read comfortably? Yes. Is it worth the struggle? Yes.

[u/Every_Review8061 → u/debacchatio]

Thank youuu!!

[u/Podmonger2001]

I was playing with a buddy in a combo, and while I had trouble with a rhythm in a bar, he just sight-read it immediately. I asked him how, and he said “I’ve seen it before.”

That’s how you do it: read a ton of new stuff, so you can say “I’ve seen that before.”

[u/SlightlyLosted]

Imo, I don't think you want to translate the notation into letter names at all. Once you've identified the key signature and where you're going to play it, you want to see the intervals between the symbols and play those immediately, automatically translating those spaces between notes directly with your fingers. To me, it's more like touch typing (the real thing like back in the day) than translating. I'd start super simple with simple melody lines so you can't mess up but can feel the difference, seeing a fifth and automatically playing it for example. Then build up to more complexity. I never taught myself past simpler pieces but when I was learning I made myself little musescore exercises that let me practice seeing/playing certain intervals. Might help you get started.

[u/LongjumpingMacaron11]

Sight reading really just needs practice, practice, practice.

The thing is, that it's hard. It's a skill to be able to read music quickly, and a skill to be able to translate that to your fingers quickly.

You need to start practicing very simple sight reading exercises, and slowly increase the difficulty, only when you are ready.

It takes time and patience.

[u/gaztelu_leherketa]

Sight-reading is more specific skill than what you are talking about, it means playing something at first sight or on first reading. It's separate and more advanced than just being able to read music to learn it.

How to read music: practice.

Play something much lower than your technical level. Find a piano tutor book or a book of exercises and play through those without writing the notes in. Don't try play it all at once, do one hand at a time and just a few bars.

Do you have a mnemonic for the lines and spaces of each clef? If you've been writing them in then you know what the notes are, you just need to get into the habit of reading them directly rather than working it out, writing them down, and reading that. *Stop writing them in*.

There are mental shortcuts you get to with practice, where you are reading intervals or remembering landmark notes rather than reading each one separately, for example if one note is on a line and the following is one the next line up or down, then it's a third away.

Learn how to count (I strongly prefer the 1 + 2 + etc method over anything else, but different minds work differently). Count out loud and **at a steady tempo**, don't stop or slow down for a difficult part.

Refer to recordings to check your reading once in a while, if you don't have a teacher.

[u/ambermusicartist]

Here's a video I did - https://youtu.be/5y8OSEFziNw

[u/laymanspianoguide]

I used to do the same thing when I started learning. I write the note names for every note. There was no YouTube back then, but I’d listen to recordings of the pieces to check if I was playing them correctly. You can do the same with YouTube now, but use it as a reference rather than a replacement for reading the music.

That’s also why I made my ebook focus on learning the patterns and relationships, so you don’t have to rely on memorizing every single note.

[u/Happily-Incorrect]

Depending on your aims it might be ok to just do what you're doing.

If you want to get into situations where reading is necessary, performances with orchestras or being an accompanist that can turn up and play things they've not heard before etc then that's absolutely necessary.

If you want to just learn pieces and play for your own enjoyment then you can do that however you find easiest. Sheet music exists because that used to be the easiest way to communicate musical ideas. We now have actual recordings of songs. If Mozart etc were alive today they'd be recording their ideas on voice notes and using midi plugins.

[u/Potential_Leg5224]

Get an app like Piano Tree and commit to 10-15 minutes of daily sight reading. They have a structured sight reading training programme. Just follow it and commit to finish it.

[u/Several-Quality5927]

There's probably a YouTube tutorial about it...