Super Sight-Reading Secrets: An Innovative, Step-By-Step Program for Musical Keyboard Players of All Levels [Paperback]

Howard Richman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1986

Written for all keyboardists (classical, jazz, rock), this book is a goldmine for students, teachers, and professionals alike. The book reduces the process of sight-reading into individual components. Through a series of progressive drills, your mastery of each component is comfortably and scientifically paced. As you improve, the parts merge as one and your reading reaches the highest level.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A pianist's main asset is to be a good reader. This book will be an invaluable asset toward that goal. -- Delores Stevens, Pianist/Artist-Teacher

All pianists can benefit and some will experience the transformation into 1st-class sight-readers - something they may have thought was an impossibility. -- Leonid Hambro, Concert Pianist/Teacher, New York

His ingenious exercises cannot fail to help people become better sight-readers. -- The California Music Teacher, Vol 10, Number 2

I've used it in the studio, on tour, and in playing classical music. -- Vonda Shepard, Recording Artist for Reprise Records

It is elegantly simple yet comprehensive. -- Todd Winkler, Professor of Music Theory and Solfege, California Institute of the Arts

It present a series of progressive drills that help all keyboard musicians overcome their weaknesses and develop into better sight-readers. -- Piano Guild Notes, Vol 36, Number 2

Richman has gone a long way toward de-mythologizing the process of sight-reading. Highly recommended. -- American Music Teacher Magazine, September/October, 1988

Thank you for providing piano educators with a most useful tool. -- Jeanine M. Jacobson, Assistant Professor, Piano proficiency class for piano majors, California State University, Northridge

The drills and lessons are well thought out, and sincere application of the material he presents will improve a pianist's sight-reading ability. ...his enthusiastic encouragment to all struggling sight-readers keep this method from being dry and tedious. -- Clavier Magazine, July/August 1989

From the Publisher

Most sight-reading books simply offer sheet music to sight-read. Instead, this is a text that explains actual drills to do that will give you the results you want.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 48 pages
• Publisher: Sound Feelings Publishing; 3rd Revised edition (May 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0961596309
• ISBN-13: 978-0961596309
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.3 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,054,037 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #77 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Entertainment > Music > Reference > General

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

109 of 114 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Examine Before You Buy!, April 6, 2004

By 

Robert E. Welcyng (Anchorage, AK USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Super Sight-Reading Secrets: An Innovative, Step-By-Step Program for Musical Keyboard Players of All Levels (Paperback)

I am embarrassed that I actually bought this book of 48 pages without first examining it. I found no "super sight-reading secrets." In fact, I found nothing about reading music that I had not already learned from grade school music classes.

I did not find the following sort of advice especially useful:

"Get a book of all major and minor scales. Begin practicing all 24 major and minor keys."

"Play every note of the Bach Chorales hands alone, without looking, one octave displaced."

I was able to follow much of Richman's text only because I recognized what he was trying to say. I found little clarity in his writing and I was annoyed by his many ungrammatical sentences.

My advice is to buy an old standby such as "Learn to Read Music" by Howard Shanet.

70 of 73 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Poorly executed and misleading., August 22, 2004

By 

M. Mazza (Elizabeth, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Super Sight-Reading Secrets: An Innovative, Step-By-Step Program for Musical Keyboard Players of All Levels (Paperback)

This book has a gimmicky title and a cheap price, but it fails deplorably on several fronts. For one, the lay-out and print quality are absolutely embarrassing considering the times we live in. One of the few musical examples actually looks as though it were rendered by a dot-matrix printer. Further, the unrealistic exercises are ambiguously described and seldom illustrated. They are also a complete waste of time since one is better off sightreading real compositions. That's why it's better to invest in sheet music/ etudes that suit one's tastes. The Musician's Institute Sightreading for Keyboard book is far more helpful and complete at a comparable price, offering several chapters of exercises and etudes without making ludicrous promises--very professional indeed. There is really no substitute for practice; forget the nonsense of "secrets" and invest elsewhere.

33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Definitely helpful, October 22, 2003

By 

L. Power "nlp trainer" (San Francisco) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Super Sight-Reading Secrets: An Innovative, Step-By-Step Program for Musical Keyboard Players of All Levels (Paperback)

I play piano for a choir, and recently bought this book to improve my sight reading.

The method here uses a simplified counting method which breaks the music down to its essence and gives me a lot more confidence in playing trickier pieces with syncopated rhythms etc. It certainly makes it possible to pick up the piece a lot more quickly, and does improve the speed and accuracy of my reading. So, I find it to be a very good book.

It is a short book which I think is good, the drills are short and easy to run through, especially with practice. Some of the later references in the book are a little confusing, and the book could be better organized.

This book does not have all the answers, which is why I do not give it the full 5 stars. It is good value for money. Most people should be able to improve their sight reading using this book.

It is well worth the small amount of money I paid for it here on Amazon.

I also haveMusic Reading For Keyboard: The Complete Method (Musicians Institute Essential Concepts) book which is more about the theory of sight reading, and does have some examples in different styles of music and rhythms to work on. If you are looking for a definitive sight reading book the Steelman book is better. Yet this book has insights and techniques which are very useful. I would not be without this book