How do I begin to sight read music?

Question:I have an all-parish band audition tomorrow and was wondering some basic steps to take to sight read music. Can you outline some steps?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: I have an all-parish band audition tomorrow and was wondering some basic steps to take to sight read music. Can you outline some steps?

Practice sightreading by making sightreading part of your daily practice. Knowing things like scales/key signatures, arpeggios/intervals, music terminology, approximate rhythm tempos, basic music history of the composer/time period (if given), meter changes, and overall form of hte piece will greatly help in the long run.

So the short list of things to look at is this:
1. Composer/Title/Genre (if given)
2. Tempo and Meter
3. Key signature
4. Dynamics
5. Overall articulation
6. Key signature/Meter changes...definitely don't want to miss those
7. Form (repeating sections, etc)
8. Tricky spots..focus on those and find what they have in common, so that they are easier to breakdown/finger through

My experience has been with sightreading for auditions is that you are usually given approximately 2 minutes to look through the piece before playing it. Take FULL advantage of the time you have. Yes, you may not get everything, but the main key is to see how well you play "on the spot." I'd also highly recommend practising "looking ahead" a bar or two at a time (or even several notes if the measures are long) as you're sightreading, so that you're not totally caught off guard with each individual note, rhythm, etc.

Good luck!

Usually I first look at the key signature(s)/time signature(s), rhythms, notes, etc and make sure I basically understand all of it. Then playing it in sections (like, 1-17 or something like that) usually helps. And playing it slowly at first and as you go on get closer and closer to the actual tempo. That's what we do in my band class usually. Good luck tomorrow.

Just takes LOTS of practice! Of every practice session do a little sight reading at the end. When I have a new piece I look at the basic stuff like time signiture, key signiture, any key changes or unusal pitch changes, etc just to get a sense. Then if I have time I play the difficult passages silently with my fingers! When Im playing I loook two or three bars ahead to see what is ahead. Good luck with your audition

just look at the key signature, finger the notes, and hum the rhythm to yourself. lol im lead trumpet for my highschool, and i suck at sight reading :P