You could think of sight-reading as learning a piece… instantly! An ability to compute a score quickly, i.e. ‘at sight’, implies an ability to assimilate information on the hoof, instinctively and reliably. Therefore, it stands to reason that we must first be competent readers – only then can we quickly drink in the most salient bits of information dotted about the page. Reading, and for that matter, sight-reading, involve that irksome word ‘analysis’, though don’t be put off. Practised regularly, analytical skills gradually become more subliminal. We eventually get to a point where we feel less need to follow a laborious checklist: key signature, time signature, tempo, clefs, etc. But initially, this process is absolutely necessary – it will partly remind us how we first learned to read (and connect together!) words.
