Getting familiar with the black/white key relationships from memory in the two octaves around middle C helps first then learn to navigate to the other octaves from there. It helps me to sight read scanning each beat quickly from the bass line up also. Finally, I wouldn’t stress over sight reading “perfectly” tedious and/or difficult virtuosic pieces. Those can be picked up easily imo by starting slowly first by reading the score away from the piano to become familiar before getting it under your hands.

Thank youuuuu for the great tip ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤ You are one of the best teachers in the world.

@PianoSightReading

11 ай бұрын

You're welcome! It's David you should thank.

Just started learning and I instinctively was doing this. Glad I am on the right track at least in that aspect

Thank you for sharing your knowledge !

Very helpful, and exactly what I need to practice. Thanks for posting.

This was super helpful for me. I’ve never heard of anchor notes before or even thought about moving my hand around using this idea. It changed the way I read music, actually, because I started thinking about the distances between notes - skips and steps - more carefully. Compositions where I often make the same mistakes over and over again on the big jumps became much easier to play because I am so much more aware of where my hand is on the piano. It’s really fun to play this way! Thanks for all the great videos.

@PianoSightReading

3 ай бұрын

That's excellent! Glad it helped.

Thank you so much for sharing! 🙂👍🏿

Good stuff.! Thanks.

An excellent exercise that I’ll add to my daily practice … thanks!

@PianoSightReading

2 жыл бұрын

Yes, give it a go. And try to see how you can apply it to your pieces.

@david_holter

2 жыл бұрын

Glad it's helpful! Let me know if you have any questions about it.

Very new concept !

The approach is quite similar to Howard's "super sight reading secrets" where in one of his drills, the fingers 1 and 5 exchange when playing octave to octave (with some contractions) espcecially for leaps. Personally, I once have thought about imagining anchor points of the fingers but it wasn't totally emphasized in my practice sessions and I was too focused on relying adjacent black keys on which Howard emphasized in keyboard orientation drills. Nevertheless, I think I have to incorporate different approaches to have reliable leaps. Thanks for the idea. Definitely include in my next practice sessions.

@PianoSightReading

2 жыл бұрын

Hm, interesting. Will need to check it out. Yes, I think the more tricks we can use, the better.

Thanks Manu for this suggestion of David Facebook videos. I have just completed the first 12 in 2 days.

@PianoSightReading

2 жыл бұрын

That's excellent! Good work.

This was really helpful! Best video for me this month!

@PianoSightReading

Жыл бұрын

Glad to hear it!

Excellent Thank you so much.

@PianoSightReading

Жыл бұрын

You're welcome!

Can’t wait to try this interesting theory

Thank you so much, this really helps me with my learning path on piano

@PianoSightReading

4 ай бұрын

You're welcome!

Interesting idea, good explanation!

@PianoSightReading

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks, BT!

Thank you very much for this. Though I was already "anchoring," I didn't truly realize it. You bringing attention to this has made me conscious of it and has immediately improved my playing. There's a greater sense of swinging the thumb around knowing it's going to land to the key right next to the anchored note (when I'm creating runs moving up the keyboard), it's like to make the smooth transition I just think of the note I'm anchored to and the rest just follows very easily. Thank you again!

@PianoSightReading

Жыл бұрын

Yes, just being aware of this concept really helps.

I kind of figured this out on my own and it works reliably when I can actually leave one finger in place while I replace it with a different finger. However that only works for some intervals and it takes extra time that I don't always have. It also prevents me from keeping the shape of my hand fixed (at a fifth or an octave for example) as I move around. Another thing that makes everything more difficult is that you're not really moving your arm/hand by distances but by angles. The change in angle from A3 to A4 (for example) isn't the same as the change in angle between A1 and A2 even though the distance is the same.

@PianoSightReading

2 жыл бұрын

I know what you mean about the angles... although when playing in the lower or upper ranges of the piano, you would normally shift your body to one side (lean on one bum cheek) so that you can keep the angles relatively the same. You want to avoid staying rooted in one place on the piano bench and only moving the arms around. The upper body should move too. Hope that makes sense.

@kanefsky

2 жыл бұрын

@@PianoSightReading Yes, I've found that it's almost impossible to play some of the two-hand multi-octave arpeggio exercises I'm doing in Piano Marvel without leaning left and right. I'm not sure how it's supposed to work if you need to reach for a low note with the left hand while the right hand continues to play in the upper octaves (or vice-versa).

@PianoSightReading

2 жыл бұрын

@@kanefsky Ah yes, if you have to play in the lower range and the upper range at the same time, then you don't have a choice other than staying in the middle. Good point!

Thank you very much for the "anchor note" tip!. I only have one self leaning experience and can play some music piece from Memory. but I have no skill for site reading. Your tip is very important for me. I will start use the "anchor note" idea for develop my site reading skill. Thank you again!!😊

@PianoSightReading

Жыл бұрын

Excellent!

This is a great tip. Getting it employed in a really good excercise is the challenge. Tried a few things today triggered by this tip thanks for this.

@PianoSightReading

Жыл бұрын

That's great!

OMG! tried to do a full practice without looking and it really seemed impossible because when I got dissoriented, my knee jerk reaction was to look. Well all I could think was were is that inflight sleep mask? Lucky for me I found it very quickly after a short prayer because yesterday trying to feel out where I was and not look down from my chord changes was a real task but today was harder by far attempting to find where I was without looking qnd execute those anchored jumps back or forward to change up or down to the 4th or 5th chords for imporovised arpegio or octave unison for the bass notes. Kindo' enjoying the challenge of this and really thankful for this tip. So thank you Manu excellent advice from David thank you both.

@PianoSightReading

Жыл бұрын

The sleeping mask? haha yeah, that would be handy way of blindfolding oneself. I do think it's better not to use anything to block your view though otherwise you'll rely on it. Besides, there's nothing wrong in throwing quick glances done (without moving the head too much) when really necessary, as long as you're able to find your spot in the music.

Thank you for this. I am just starting sight reading so these tips will help me out. I will definitely check out your course. Are you doing videos in French?

@PianoSightReading

Жыл бұрын

No, only in English :)

I tried registering on manu’s site to get the exercise but not received yet.

You shared the Schaffer's sight reading book in this video plz suggest more such easy progressive sight reading books especially free ones.

@PianoSightReading

Жыл бұрын

Have a look at my video descriptions. I list quite a few sight-reading resources there. Also check out my blog article on sight-reading books: www.pianosightreading.com.au/sight-reading-books/ If I come across other books, I will mention them on this channel when I get the chance.

Another good example of using muscle memory to achieve the goal of playing the music without looking at the fingers.

@PianoSightReading

Жыл бұрын

Yes, or "distance memory"!

@patrickwells4014

Жыл бұрын

@@PianoSightReading Yes. New explanation. Distance memory. I like it. Thank you.😀

Thanks for this video. The concept makes sense - if you stay within the range of one octave :-) . But what if you really have giant leaps over two or three octaves, e.g. in the left hand (Chopin, or Stride Piano), which you want to play without looking at your hands. Can you use anchor notes for that, too?

@PianoSightReading

Жыл бұрын

Probably not... you'd have to use the black keys as a guide. You could also quickly glance down (without moving the head) or use your peripheral vision. You can still look down, as long as you're able to find your spot again in the music. If you're learning a piece with these types of leaps, then I would first practise the leaps looking down and then eyes closed or looking up to learn the distance.

I also have a fascinating story of how I became a bad sight reader

A lot of words and time just to tell you to navigate by feel.

the first 3 + mins is a waste of time. You could edit all that out. He explained how a piano isn't a clarinet.

@antysmith606

11 ай бұрын

It wasn’t a waste of time at all. It was making a very good point using a very valid analogy.

What trick? There are no tricks to learning to play the piano. If you what to learn tricks, sell your piano and go to a magic school and learn tricks. 👎👎