How to Sightread New Music: My Best Tips and FREE Sightreading Checklist

Today I’m sharing my best sight reading tips: ways to strategically play through and quickly learn music that you’ve never seen or heard before, plus a free sightreading checklist you can use over and over again to become a sightreading pro!

Sight reading is something you might find on an audition: hearing someone try out new music for the first time can help a judge determine what their raw playing is like. You might also encounter sight reading in your day to day musician activities, if you walk into your ensemble rehearsal to find new music on the stand, or even if you just try a new piece of music that you want to work on.

The process of sight reading is looking at a new piece of music, preparing it mentally, and then trying to play it as accurately as possible on your instrument. I personally use a mental checklist to be sure I cover all of my bases before even picking up my instrument, and that’s what I’ll be sharing with you today.

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Download my Free Sightreading Checklist!

I’m so excited to share my personal sightreading strategy with you! Download the free sightreading checklist, follow along with the blog post, and then keep the checklist on your music stand so it’s easy to find the next time you practice sightreading!

Our Sight Reading Example

Today we’ll be using an example that I created on sightreadingfactory.com. This is a great resource if you want to practice sight reading! You can choose what instrument you’re sightreading on, and there are a few different levels to choose from, depending on what range of the instrument you’d like to focus on, and what key signatures you’d like to try (or avoid). It’s really customizable!

The Sight Reading Checklist

Download my free Sight Reading Checklist to keep on your stand while you practice sightreading. The more you practice, the better you’ll get at this skill, and eventually you’ll remember all the steps yourself!

Want to learn more about the free sightreading checklist before downloading? Watch this video introduction!

Find the clef

First, just observe the music. I like to go left to right, so first I see what clef the music is in. If you play an instrument that only uses one clef, like the violin, you should see a Treble clef. But, in my experience, you don’t want to assume anything in a sight reading example! Always look through thoroughly.

Find the key signature

After the clef, you’ll see the key signature. Our example today has one sharp: F sharp. What key does that indicate?

Finding a Key with Sharps

To kind the key of a piece with sharps, look at the last sharp in the key signature. This is the leading tone of the scale. In this case, our last (and only) sharp is F. This means F sharp is the leading tone of the scale. F sharp is a half step below G, so this key is probably G Major. If it looks or sounds like a minor key, find the relative minor by counting an interval of a 3rd below the Major key (keeping all sharps within the key). A 3rd below G is E, so if this piece had a minor sound, it would be in E minor. However, we can confirm that it’s in G Major because it ends on a G, and E is only used as a passing tone.

Finding a Key with Flats

If you have flats in the key signature, go to the next to last flat. This is the name of the Major key. If you only see one flat (B flat) in the key signature, then the key is F Major. To find the relative minor, again just count down an interval of a 3rd below the name of the major key. So, the relative minor of F Major is D minor.

Practice the Scale

It can be helpful to practice the scale that corresponds to the key. If you were trying this example on the violin, I’d recommend practicing through a two octave G Major scale. It’ll show you all the finger patterns and placements you’ll be playing in the sight reading example, and it’s just a great warm up.

Find the time signature

The next element to the right is the time signature, which tells us how many beats are in the measure (top number), and what note value equals 1 beat (the bottom number).

Be sure that the time signature is one that you understand. If you’re just practicing sight reading on your own, research anything that you don’t understand. Use it as an opportunity to expand your musical knowledge! 🙂

Observe the rhythms

Next, I like to look through the rhythms in the example. Are there any patterns that pop up? What’s the quickest note value you’ll need to play, and what’s the slowest?

If some of the rhythms look complicated, try clapping, playing (on just one note), or singing through them. (Only do this if you’re practicing by yourself! Don’t do this at an audition.)

Look for accidentals

An accidental is a sharp, natural, or flat that isn’t in the key signature and appears within a measure. This example doesn’t have any accidentals, but it’s important to look for them anyway!

Make a mental note of the accidental(s) that you see. It’s important to get the notes accurate on your first try!

Look at the notes

Next, observe the notes. What’s the contour or range of the music? What’s the lowest note you’ll play, and what’s the highest? Will you need to shift anywhere? Are there any notes you don’t recognize?

What’s the tempo?

Look for a tempo marking right above the start of the music. Examples from Sight Reading Factory don’t include tempo markings. For the sake of this post, I’ll pretend it says “Moderato”, which means just a moderate speed.

If you’re sightreading in an audition, be sure the tempo that you choose is playable. You might read “Presto” or “Vivace,” but can you play the quickest note values at that speed? Choose a speed you’re confident you can play at, but try to infuse the essence of the actual tempo into your playing.

For example, if the piece is marked “Allegro” (fast and lively), but you can’t play it quite fast enough, still try to play the music lively and with energy. Don’t let the notes drag or sound bored. “Fake” the tempo if you can with this strategy!

Find the dynamics

Are there dynamics? There’s only one in this example, mezzo piano. If there are changes, note them, and where they are. Try to make a dramatic difference in the sound when you get to that point!

Look for articulations

Articulations are details like legato, staccato, or accents. They change the texture of the notes.

Look for articulations, and see what you’re in for. Will this call for a specific bowing technique? How will you phrase the music?

Articulations are finer details. It’s understandable if you can’t add all these in on the first play through, but they help give the music its defining characteristics.

Sing through the excerpt

Try to mentally sing through the music, and imagine how it’ll feel to play it on your instrument. What will you need to do in order to play the excerpt successfully? Don’t just skim; be super thorough in this step.

You can sing in your head, out loud, or even try playing it on the piano, if that’s not your main instrument but your skills are good enough!

Try it on your instrument!

Now, you just need to try it. Think of a very steady tempo: imagine the hardest measure in the excerpt, and think about how fast or slow you’ll need to go to be able to play it accurately. That should be your tempo for the whole excerpt (unless there are any tempo changes).

Review

When you’re finished playing, analyze how it went. What went well, and what would you like to do better next time? If you can, listen to the excerpt. The nice thing about practicing with sightreadingfactory.com is that you can listen to a midi recording of the excerpt. How well did you do, now that you’ve heard it?

A few more thoughts

Sightreading is difficult, but it gets simpler once you have a process narrowed down. Try practicing sightreading often with the checklist I shared today, and after a while, the whole process will become second nature.

Remember to download the free sightreading checklist, and keep practicing this skill to feel more and more confident. You can do this!