4 Smart Steps: Old to New Sight Reading Method

January 25, 2021 Leslie Young

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Teachers who consider a new approach for a struggling student who just doesn’t “get it” when it comes to playing piano may become a hero for that student who just needed a change from an old to new sight reading approach. A new thinking method may just solve the problems for that student who is having difficulty progressing. Here are four steps to changing to a different way to thinking about the staff and the keyboard.

What’s the best way to start a transfer student on The Revolutionary Piano Method after the student has used other methods unsuccessfully?

Evaluation

1. The first step in considering an old to new sight reading method would be to evaluate the student’s current ability level in reading notes and finding their locations on the keyboard. Have the student play just several measures from multiple pieces in the current piano lesson book. Choose pieces from the beginning and middle of the book.

How well does the student sight read right now? Do you easily see that an approach change from an old to new sight reading is really needed? If the student struggles and has little comprehension, a totally different learning approach seems called for, since previous methods have not been successful. It’s “reboot” time!

Explain to Parents

2. During my first contact with parents of a potential new student, I usually explain that I often find it necessary to change a struggling student from an old to new sight reading approach. Reassure parents that you will first evaluate the student’s ability before making that decision. Any previous piano books already purchased most likely can be used in the future successfully.

Prior to the first actual lesson, you may recommend that the parents review the website piano4me.org and read through the introductory description of The Revolutionary Piano Method books. Point out that this method is built on the principles of Instructional Design, where one concept at a time is introduced. It’s also based on a thinking process (a cognitive approach), rather than just memorizing note positions and playing only or mostly with finger numbers.

Explain to the Student

3. Show the student the difference between an old to new sight reading by having him play a page from his old book. Then bring out Lesson 1 of The Revolutionary Method and show the first lesson page of playing the four spaces, using Center F as the orienting key.

Show how after “A” comes the “B” key; after “C” comes the “D” key. Have the student use the space keys to find a few line keys and explain that this is a new thinking process to sight reading notes. If the student follows all instructions, then in a very short time he will read and play the line notes and keys without having to first think of the space keys that he already knows.

Out with the Old, In with the New

4. Since this is a totally new way of thinking, it’s best to go “cold turkey” and use only this one approach. Mixing the methods will not produce desirable results. Stick with the one approach to truly sight read, rather than the old rote/memorizing way.

Regardless of age, all students should start in The Revolutionary Piano Method Lesson Book 1, on page 1. The young four and five-year-old student should start with The Revolutionary Piano Method for the Itty Bitty Student Lesson Book 1, page 1. At this stage, I believe the correlating Theory Book to be essential, even mandatory. It uniquely reinforces the Lesson Book material with writing experiences.

I recommend you review the blog info dated January 18, 2021 to better understand the differences, if necessary.

So, as I said in the beginning, teachers who consider a new approach for a struggling student who just doesn’t “get it” when it comes to playing piano may really become a hero for that student who just needed a different way to think about the staff and the keyboard.