The primary goal with our piano practice incentive theme this year (Cracking the Crystal Code) is to develop excellent sightreading skills. I have been truly amazed at how much progress each student has been making in this area, and one of the main reasons is the fabulous Piano Adventures Sightreading Coach:
I spent a good portion of last summer looking into various resources to help my students grow in their sightreading skills. The Sightreading Coach handily beat everything else I came across for its simplicity, effectiveness, and affordability.
Simplicity – It does one thing and it does it well: provide loads of short musical pieces for students to play through, record, and evaluate their note and rhythm accuracy and continuity. The interface is clean and intuitive, easy for young students and their parents alike to navigate and utilize. (Some of my students’ parents are even enjoying playing through the pieces themselves!)
Effectiveness – My students LOVE the challenge of trying to get 100% on each piece, even if that means they have to give it multiple attempts. In my Teacher Dashboard when they submit a piece for approval I can see how many attempts they made before submitting it. As you can see from this screenshot, I am not exaggerating when I say there are sometimes dozens of attempts. These are some tenacious students! Not only are they improving their sightreading skills (because they are playing loads of new pieces every week!), they are also learning to listen, learn, evaluate, and work hard to play with excellence.
Affordability – You get full access to the Sightreading Coach with a subscription to the Piano Adventures Teacher Atlas for just $9.99/month (even less if you pay for an annual subscription)! This includes access to the entire library of Piano Adventures Sightreading books (use this affiliate link to get a discount on any order of the physical books), which means hundreds of carefully sequenced musical selections written by real composers. I’ve been using these books in my studio for years, and I’m thrilled that they are viewable in digital form for students to use with their phones, tablets, or laptops. So versatile!
This is one of the best resources we’ve ever found – equally loved by my students, their parents, and me. In fact, one of my students commented recently that whatever I decide to do for our practice incentive theme next year he thinks I should continue to incorporate the Sightreading Coach into it. I couldn’t agree more!
melocool music says
That’s fantastic to hear about the Piano Adventures Sightreading Coach! Developing those skills is always a hurdle. Are you finding the students respond better to the structured approach, or is it the immediate feedback that’s making the biggest difference in their motivation?
natalie says
I think it’s a combination of both. The pieces are short and each unit is based on a specific concept or pattern, so that helps with familiarity while still providing new material. And the immediate feedback is invaluable!