Advanced Sight-Reading Curriculum

The Advanced Sight-Reading Curriculum is derived from nearly twenty years of experience teaching the freshman sight-reading class for piano majors at the Peabody Conservatory. It consists of an extensive collection of annotated scores dealing with every aspect of sight-reading, together with detailed suggestions on how to practice. It covers everything from training the eyes to read more efficiently, to recognizing patterns, playing by ear, improvising, simplifying complex textures, mastering difficult rhythms and rare key signatures, and much more. It includes music of all kinds, from nearly all periods, by dozens of composers, both the well-known and the neglected. This curriculum is at once an exploration of music, of musicianship, and of the individual musician who works through it. For it is through exploration that we discover ourselves: our musical tastes and preferences, aptitudes and challenges.

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Ken Johansen

Ken Johansen is a pianist, teacher, and writer based in Baltimore, where he teaches at the Peabody Conservatory. His projects include the iPad sight-reading app Read Ahead, a keyboard harmony textbook Harmony at the Piano, the From the Ground Up series and an advanced sight-reading curriculum.

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