Sight-reading a tune

Before you play

Sight-reading means playing music you’ve never seen before, straight from the page. Here’s what to check before you play a single note:

The clef: treble or bass? That tells you what the lines mean. The key signature: any sharps or flats right after the clef apply to every one of those notes in the whole piece. A sharp on the top line of the treble staff means every F is played as F♯. The time signature: how many beats are in each bar?

Tips for sight-reading

Read ahead. Your eyes should always be a note or two ahead of your fingers.

Look at the shape. Is the melody stepping up, jumping down or repeating? You don’t have to name every note from scratch.

Keep going. Missing a note is fine; stopping is what breaks the music.

Pick a tune below. The highlighted note is the one to play: press its key on the keyboard to move on. Press Listen to hear how it should sound, and switch on note names if you get stuck. Ode to Joy is in D major, so watch for the two sharps.

Quick quiz