Improve Your Sight-reading! Piano, Level 3: A Progressive, Interactive Approach to Sight-reading (Faber Edition: Improve Your Sight-Reading)

There are 8 books in this series and the "Search Inside" showed very little of any of them. I knew I wasn't a complete beginner but not sure how to choose any other level. (Several months of lessons as a child--many years ago--and kind of playing around "fake book" style ever since. Can play single notes in the treble clef easily --but not without looking at the keyboard and can't read combos/chords on sight. The bass clef is harder. I can identify single notes about low C but can't play simultaneously with treble notes. Lower than that, and I have to think about it too long.)I share this in case it will help anyone else identify the level this book would be suited for--what the author considers "late elementary". It assumes you know or can figure out the names of notes in treble and bass clefs-- no letter identification-- "A, G#, etc". So you need to be able to identify the notes already.Also important is that there is nothing faster than eighth notes, and not very many exercises with them. What worked very very well for me was that the exercises were written with both treble and bass clef parts BUT rarely played together. There might be a note overlapping at the beginning or in the middle of a measure, but you're not playing both hands simultaneously very often (this is good as it helps with sight reading--individual notes (a few two-note chords in treble or bass but they repeat in the measure--you're not asked to change very quickly. Similarly with the treble and bass notes mainly alternating measures (with a little single-note overlap), this is very manageable. It was very "doable" in that my sight reading improved and I didn't feel overwhelmed.I imagine in the next book -- Low Intermediate-- there are more notes in combination, and more overlap between bass and dtreble clef. Probably also more eighths, sixteenths and complicated rhythm patterns (the rhythm here is pretty straightforward--if a measure has eighth notes, it probably is ALL eighth notes, or a beginning quarter or half note. You don't have to count out patterns in advance ("sight reading!") and its perfect for practicing with a metronome.Great book!

I'm a pianist at the intermediate level, but my sightreading skills are well below par. This book arrived today, I completed the first three exercises and used Harris's method on an arrangment of a Haydn piece from the Haydn-Shaum book (Book I). Much to my delight, I was able to play through the piece correctly and musically despite never having played it before. Harris has you clap the rhythm, make a note of key and time signatures, as well as scan the piece to make a note of finger changes - these are based on finger changes made while playing scales. This kind of prep prior to playing a piece ensures that one sight reads fluently and well.The exercises are musical and incorporate rhythms and finger changes (dotted quarter notes followed by eighth notes etc.) that one would encounter in any piece of music. The rhythm moves from treble to bass clef so both hands are given equal importance.I strongly recommend Harris's books (they are graded, so start at whatever level you're comfortable sight-reading) to anyone who wishes to improve their sight-reading skills, and wants to play a piece musically and fluently from a score at first sight!

How do you rate a textbook?I need it.I bought it.I received it.I am using it.

I'm working through the 'first' book of this series and like it so much that I look forward to more learning with books 2 and 3. The author has the right 'pace' for me and a nice feeling of success comes early on. very pleased with this purchase. I'm 83.

This series of sight reading books by Paul Harris are an excellent method to use for improving your sight reading ability. I bought them for my students, but I am also using them. I started with book one and I'm going through the entire series.

good book

Have to self teach because of where I live. This is exactly what I was looking for. I've made this a regular part of my practice regimen.

My student love this book a lot, fast shipping, nice price

I like these books. They have many good short exercises for sight reading.Why did I deduct a star? It might be a bit unfair, but I have a few old four-star books (four star in the sense of brand, not rating), and the examples they have are more thought out in a musical sense (simplified compositions from actual pieces). The short segments in this book aren't very fun musically most of the time. I mean, they're not horrible but they are a bit weird.On the other hand, that could be a good thing. The slightly jarring quality of this pieces means that they are a bit harder to sight read, so I suppose that's a good thing.One other negative is that I wish some of the pieces were longer. Even with simple music, it helps to have a few 3-line pieces to try.In the end I recommend them because it's a really good supply of sight-reading exercises.

Este es un muy buen libro de lecturas a primera vista. Las dos claves tocan cosas diferentes, es decir, que no están octavas, sino que llevan notas y ritmos distintos. Es recomendable para quien ya sabe leer en las armaduras de do, sol, fa, re, la y si bemol. Incluye ritmos con corcheas y sus contratiempos y negra con puntillo.Lo recomiendo ampliamente.

Muy buen libro para continuar practicando y aprendiendo la lectura musical, lo recomiendo.