Sheet Music Sight-Reading (Grade 3 Exam Passed)
10 weeks · 3 milestones
Sight-read simple piano pieces fluently.
Milestone map
Milestone map
3 milestones
Reading sheet music begins with single-staff melodic reading — following a line of pitches and rhythms on a single staff in real time, with no instrument available to check notes. Start with simple melodies in treble clef: whole and half notes, quarter notes, and basic dotted rhythms, in keys with no more than one sharp or flat. The proof at this stage is a recording of you reading a new piece of music — not one you have practised, but one presented to you and played cold.
Proof required
Record a video of yourself sight-reading three simple melodies you have not seen before (write the date on a piece of paper visible in the recording to confirm it is current). Melodies should be in treble clef, 4/4 time, and contain no more than one sharp or flat in the key signature. Sing the pitches (using solfege, note names, or neutral syllable) or play on your chosen instrument while following the notation — the recording must show the score and your performance simultaneously.
What gets checked
- All three melodies are genuinely unseen — the recording shows you turning to the piece for the first time; pre-rehearsed versions of familiar tunes do not satisfy sight-reading
- The recording shows the score and the performance simultaneously — the camera must capture both your face/instrument and the written notation; recordings that hide the score while you play from memory do not qualify
- Basic rhythmic accuracy is maintained — wrong notes while reading are expected and normal at this stage, but stopping to count out loud for basic quarter-note or half-note rhythms indicates insufficient rhythmic grounding