Sheet Music Sight-Reading (Grade 3 Exam Passed)

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

Common mistakes

• Practising a piece until it is memorised and then recording it as a 'sight-read' — sight-reading is a specific cognitive skill distinct from performance; the video proof must show genuine first-contact reading, and reviewing the video makes substitution obvious
• Learning only treble clef for one instrument and stopping before the notation becomes automatic — sight-reading speed depends on automatic note recognition, which requires weeks of daily short-duration practice rather than long sporadic sessions

Resources

What a verifier looks for

• The score should be visible in the recording at the same time as the performance — if the notation is not visible, the recording does not demonstrate sight-reading
• Ask the submitter to sight-read one additional simple melody during the review conversation (share a PDF or hold up a page of new simple notation) — this is the most reliable live verification of sight-reading ability
• Wrong notes are expected and normal at the basic level; the key quality bar is whether the submitter is following the notation in real time, not whether the performance is note-perfect

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Proof required

Record a video sight-reading three two-part pieces or exercises you have not seen before: the recording must show both staves of notation and your performance simultaneously. At least one exercise should include a moment where the two voices have different note values at the same beat (e.g. a half note in the top voice while the bottom voice has two quarter notes). Your chosen instrument does not need to be piano — vocalists can use two singers, guitarists can use a two-voice arrangement.

What gets checked

• All three pieces are genuinely unseen — the recording date should be visible and the submissions should not be exercises from a well-known method book the submitter has clearly worked through
• At least one exercise contains independent rhythms between the two voices — two voices moving in parallel rhythms throughout is melody-and-accompaniment reading, not two-part counterpoint reading
• Both staves are visible in the recording simultaneously with the performance — the verifier must be able to confirm that the submitter is following the notation and not playing from memory or by ear

Common mistakes

• Practising only hands-together piano exercises where both hands share the same rhythm — rhythmic synchrony between voices is much easier than independent rhythmic control; the milestone specifically requires at least one exercise with independent rhythms
• Stopping at treble clef for the right hand and never internalising bass clef — two-part reading on the grand staff requires automatic note recognition in both clefs; asymmetric practice leaves the bass clef slow and forces guessing during sight-reading

Resources

What a verifier looks for

• Both staves should be visible in the recording — if only one clef is visible, the recording does not demonstrate two-part sight-reading
• Ask the submitter to identify the key signature and time signature of one of the exercises from the recording — someone who sight-read the piece can answer immediately without re-examining the score
• Independent rhythm between the two voices (different note values at the same beat) should be visible in at least one exercise — look for moments where the note heads appear staggered or the beam patterns differ between the two staves

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Proof required

Record a video of yourself sight-reading one complete intermediate-difficulty piece you have not seen before (4+ pages, keys up to 3 sharps or flats, includes dotted rhythms and at least one compound or triplet passage). Read through the piece from start to finish without stopping; the score must be visible throughout the recording. At the end of the recording, hold up the score and state today's date aloud to confirm the recording is current.

What gets checked

• The piece is read from start to end without stopping — stopping mid-piece to count, replay a section, or correct notes is not sight-reading but practised-run behaviour
• The score is visible throughout the recording — verifiers must be able to confirm that the notation being followed matches the performance
• The piece includes both dotted rhythms and at least one compound or triplet passage — a piece with only straightforward quarter and half notes does not meet intermediate difficulty

Common mistakes

• Looking for easy pieces at intermediate key signatures rather than genuinely intermediate rhythmic complexity — a piece in D major with only quarter and half notes is not intermediate; intermediate difficulty is primarily about rhythmic complexity (dotted rhythms, ties across bar lines, triplets) not key signature alone
• Rehearsing the first 8 bars before starting the 'sight-reading' recording — the no-prior-exposure rule applies to the entire piece; scanning ahead mentally during the recording is acceptable, but any prior performance run makes the recording invalid as a sight-read

Resources

What a verifier looks for

• The score should be visible throughout the recording so you can follow along in the notation as the performance proceeds — if the score disappears or is obscured, the recording cannot be verified
• At the capstone level, ask the submitter to discuss one moment in the piece where they nearly lost their place or where the notation was ambiguous — genuine sight-readers encounter these moments and can name them specifically
• The piece should contain dotted rhythms and at least one compound or triplet section that is visible in the score — if both of these elements are absent, the piece was not at intermediate difficulty

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