The best way to improve your music sight reading is to read more new music. Period.

There is an idea out there that the skill of sight reading is somehow different from the skill of reading music, but it is not. They are one in the same.

Sight reading a Beethoven piano sonata is simply the skill of reading music in real time much the same way that sight reading a Shakespeare monologue is the skill of reading English in real time.

Having said that, there are some additional insights to scoring high sight reading points in an All-State audition. Improving your scores in this area is by far the secret to getting into All-State Band. We will explore some tips & tricks to reading in an audition in future articles.

In the context of the audition, the purpose of the sight reading portion is to measure a student’s ability to read music with little preparation. In some states, the time frame a student has to look at a music selection is as little as 30 seconds.

So, how do we improve our ability to read a brand new piece of music we have never seen before in 30 seconds?

The answer is that we need to make the reading of new music a regular part of our practice routine.

Read more new music on a regular basis, and you will improve your sight reading skills.

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Everyone in middle school and high school band programs across the United States all desire to get into the exclusive All-State Band. Don’t they?

The question is: What do students that make the band have that the others that don’t make the band don’t have?

The answer to this question is very simple.

The secret to getting into All-State Band is to develop the skill of sight reading music.

If you consider that all of your classmates have access to the same piece of solo music, the same set of scales, and the same musical terms, then you realize that the only unknown in this equation is sight reading.

The main differentiating factor among students that make the band and don’t make the band is the skill of sight reading music.

Once you have a basic grasp of the skill of sight reading, you are well on your way to making your All-State Band!

If you like this article, I invite you to leave a comment below and spread the word by clicking the buttons below to share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, or any of your other favorite social media sites.