I've mentioned before that I started going through the Scarlatti sonatas as daily sight reading exercise.

I started in early 2018. As of today, I'm done. All 562.

562 you ask?

I did the 545 catalogued by Longo, added the 10 more that Kilpatrick found (getting to 555), played the one discovered in the Morgan Library ('Cary 703'), and the 6 recently found in the Cathedral of Zaragosa by Yañez.

Wow!! That is awesome!!

So, did you do a strict "sightreading" approach where you play something once and then don't return to it the next day? Or did you play through the same piece a few times (or a few days) before moving on?

Looking back, how has this changed or otherwise affected your playing?

How has this changed or otherwise affected your reading?

I am in awe.

quote:

Originally posted by pianojuggler:
I am in awe.

quote:

Originally posted by ShiroKuro:


Wow!! That is awesome!!

So, did you do a strict "sightreading" approach where you play something once and then don't return to it the next day? Or did you play through the same piece a few times (or a few days) before moving on?

Looking back, how has this changed or otherwise affected your playing?

How has this changed or otherwise affected your reading?

I just played it through once. Skipped the ubiquitous repeats. I found that one sonata gave me the ~10m or so of daily practice I was looking for.

It definitely helped my sight reading. I was always a horrible reader, much worse than my overall skill level. I'm still not great, but I'm much better.

I'm going to keep it up, just move on to another composer.

How many did you keep in your repertoire?

Sent link to son. Thanks!

Wow
I am impressed.

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Originally posted by LL:
How many did you keep in your repertoire?

Honestly none. I didn't stop to learn any, it really was a sight reading exercise.

There are a couple I play but I played those before.

quote:

I just played it through once. Skipped the ubiquitous repeats. I found that one sonata gave me the ~10m or so of daily practice I was looking for.

It definitely helped my sight reading. I was always a horrible reader, much worse than my overall skill level. I'm still not great, but I'm much better.

That's awesome! My new teacher has me doing sightreading repertoire but he wants me to spend maybe a week on each piece, learn it, play close to speed and relatively well, and move on. In the past I've done some "traditional" sightreading practice (what you've done, where you just play through the piece once and then never return to it), but never felt like that made much of an impact on my overall skills. I'm curious to see if this approach makes any difference.

quote:

I'm going to keep it up, just move on to another composer.

Let us know what you choose.

I bought this huge book of Bach Chorales 5-6 years ago, I think there was a big thread about using it for sightreading practice on PW's ABF (I'm not remembering). Anyway, as I recall, I found it to be much too difficult and gave up very quickly.
J.S. Bach 413 Chorales

Right now I'm using this for sightreading repertoire:
Easy Classics to Moderns (Music for Millions series)

Maybe if I can get through a big chunk of this book, I'll go back to the Bach book.

I recently attended a "master class" with one of new favorite pianist/composers (Alexis Ffrench, he's British). Anyway, in response to someone's question, he talked about how important it is to play Bach, so it got me thinking about that Chorales book that is just taking up space on my shelf...

/threaddrift

I'm sight-reading Classics to Moderns, too, SK!

Only with a fraction of the diligence of you two....

MA, awesome!

As for discipline, let's see where I am in a month...

I started using a super high-tech method for practice logging notebook to write down what my goals are, what I do during each practice. It seems to be helping. Here are the codes I use to write in what I do at each practice:
SR = sightreading
T = technique (right now, that's scales and Hanon)
CP = challenge piece (the piece I'm working on that's super hard)
RR = recording repertoire, pieces that are close to being polished that I want to record soon.
MR = main repertoire, pieces that I have polished and are in my "completed repertoire." Since I started this, SR and T take up enough time that I'm not getting to any pieces in main repertoire.

One thing I notice is that doing the technique stuff doesn't seem to make a noticeable difference (which isn't to say it's not making a difference over time), but on days when I do sightreading practice, the rest of my practice seems to go better. So that's interesting to notice.

I've done the same with Scarlatti (and also Mozart), but not nearly as methodically as you, Jon. I basically have my 3-4 books and I go through those and sight read more than once.

Also, given the number of Scarlatti sonatas out there, if I come across good ones I usually dog-ear and return to actually learn it.

I've been a generally decent sight reader, and accompanying has helped a ton. I have really enjoyed it.

Seems like the best sight readers I know grew up accompanying a choir at church.

Agreed. Pipe organ sightreaders are freaks of nature.