Sight reading is such a valuable skill. It’s a shame most students find it so boring. Here’s my latest attempt to make it something other than torture.
What You Need:
- A bottle to spin
- 8 index cards or pieces of paper
- 6 of them should say “Sight Reading”
- 2 of them should have something more fun. Mine said “Review Song (your choice)” and “Drumming”
Setup:
- Arrange the cards in a circle on the floor with the bottle in the middle.
How to Play:
- The student spins the bottle. We do whatever is on the closest card it points to.
- Obviously, it will usually fall on sight reading. Here are the cardinal rules of sight reading.
- Choose music that is otherwise too easy for the student. I generally go about one full level behind wherever they are.
- Remind them to look all the way through the passage before starting.
- Choose a slow tempo.
- Don’t stop.
- If the bottle pointed to drumming, we alternated making up rhythms and playing them back on the drums.
- If the bottle pointed to review song, they picked and played whatever previous song they wanted.
- Spin again for the next round.
Modifications:
- If they get frustrated, remove some of the sight reading cards to give them a better chance of getting the fun cards.
Lori Davis Studio 