A Different Approach to Sight-Reading

One of my objectives this summer in my piano camp for elementary students was to build better reading skills. In addition to other activities, I decided to try this different approach to note identification and intervallic playing. I emphasized using Cs as landmark notes and then playing intervals from those landmarks. (This is not geared toward developing fluent sight-reading skills as much as it is just to note identification and interval application.)

We covered one interval at a time. The student would open up to the appropriate page in their Piano Camp workbook and would begin by writing in the names of each note. Once completed, the students were paired and sent to the piano or keyboard to play the patterns for each other. One played while the other observed and checked for accuracy. Since doing this, several of the students have a much more solid understanding of notation and can much more readily identify and play the correct notes.

Here are the different worksheets that I developed for this purpose:

Across the C's
Click here to download Across the C’s.