Evaluating new approaches to teaching of sight-reading skills to advanced pianists

This paper evaluates three teaching approaches to improving sight-reading skills against a control in a large-scale study of advanced pianists. One hundred pianists in four equal groups participated in newly developed training programmes (accompanying, rhythm, musical style and control), with pre-and post-sight-reading tests analysed using custom-made software that provided four scores on accuracy: two on pitch and two on rhythm. Mixed-design ANCOVAs were used to analyse the performance data, showing improvement in one rhythm and one pitch variable for each of the training groups and progress in pitch for the control group. The results suggest that training does develop various aspects of sight-reading and that additional sight-reading activities enhance post-test performance. The curriculum combining all three teaching strategies is being currently trialled. Future research needs to focus on instruments other than piano to formulate generic approaches to teaching of sight-reading skills.