One of the most critical skills that many professional musicians will tell you is essential to master is the ability to sight read music. But, learning to sight read music is no small task. Not only do you have to be able to think linearly and perform the music on the page accurately in time, but you also have to be able to think vertically to effectively perform chords and harmonies correctly. Fortunately, world-renowned pianist and ArtistWorks popular piano instructor, Hugh Sung, has a few tremendously helpful tips to get you sight reading more quickly, effectively, and accurately. 

In this online piano lesson, Hugh provides helpful guidance to improve your fluency when reading in both the treble and bass clefs (sometimes referred to as the G and F clefs, respectively). He also outlines a few exercises designed to improve your ability to sight read effectively in time, while simultaneously strengthening your ability to read vertical chords and harmonies more quickly and accurately.      

LEARN MORE: Want to learn how to play the piano from a master musician like Hugh Sung? Try some free online piano lessons now!  

“Learning to read music is just like learning to read a foreign language,” Hugh explains. “The first step is to get comfortable with the musical alphabet within each clef. From there, you want to focus on the very outer edges—the very top and very bottom—of your music.”

You may be wondering, “why should I focus on the very top and very bottom lines of the music on the staff? What’s so important about those two parts in particular?” In most written music, the top line of notes typically makes up the piece’s melody, while the bottom line outlines the bass part. 

These two voices—the melody and the bass—define the framework of the piece. The melody provides the piece’s fundamental tune and the bass indicates the harmonic structure. Thus, when learning to sight read, it’s important to start with those two voices. Once you’ve mastered reading the melody and bass parts quickly, you can fill in the other parts of the piece from there. Eventually, you’ll get to a point where you can read all the parts fluently in time. 

“It’s no surprise that the best way to improve your sight reading abilities is just like improving your ability to speak or read in a foreign language,” Hugh explains. “It just takes practice, practice, practice. The more you read, the better you’ll get.”

To learn more about sight reading music and get some tips to help you sight read more quickly and effectively, dive into this online piano lesson from Hugh Sung:

Tips to Get You Sight Reading Music with Hugh Sung:

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Have you always wanted to learn how to play the piano? Through our comprehensive piano lessons online and Video Exchange Learning platform here at ArtistWorks, you can learn from internationally renowned players, like Hugh Sung, and get personal feedback on your playing.

Hugh’s course starts with the basics and teaches everything from beginner piano to advanced performance techniques, popular piano tunes, sight reading music, and more. So, whether you’re a beginner, intermediate, or advanced player, all levels are welcome and all students will grow and improve their skills as pianists and musicians. 

Sample some free music lessons here and see what makes ArtistWorks courses some of the best online music lessons around!

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