Sight-reading (how good you think you are at sight-reading, how much you practice sight-reading, or how many years of sight-reading instruction you’ve received). 
Perception (some measure of how quickly individuals can perceive stimuli – like the Group Embedded Figures Test which asks you to find a simple figure hidden within a larger more complex figure. grades in ear-training class, dictation test scores, ability to play by ear) theory class grades or scores on other tests of music achievement) Music study (years of experience studying music). Music aptitude (as measured by various musical aptitude tests). There was some degree of overlap between variables, so most ultimately fell into one of seventeen different categories: 17 factors?Ī recent study sheds some light on (a) the age-old debate about whether sight reading is an innate ability or if it is a skill that can be developed, and (b) what factors may be related to being good at sight-reading.īy pulling together all the relevant studies in the area, and studying them as a whole, the author was able to tease out some insights from the data that would otherwise be difficult to see if you were to look at each study separately.Īltogether, there were 154 variables across 92 studies, that had been associated with sight-reading in some form or fashion. factors that might be related to sight-reading, but don’t necessarily make you a better sight reader) of sight-reading awesomeness.Īll in all, this has resulted in a rather confusing area of the literature with no clear theory or consensus explaining the phenomenon of sight-reading, or what we can do to increase our (or our students’) skills in this area. So this has led to a boatload of different variables – ranging from IQ to technical proficiency to improvisational ability – being studied as potential predictors or correlates (i.e. There are also way more studies out there than I would have guessed – more than 90, in fact (though many are unpublished dissertations). Of course I shouldn’t complain since I never really made a point of practicing sight-reading, but I always just assumed that I was a lost cause.īut is sight-reading ability really one of those innate qualities that we can’t change very much? Or is it a skill that can be improved over time with the right kind of practice?Īs it turns out, sight-reading has been an area of research interest for quite some time, with studies going back nearly 100 years. 
I did get better at it over time, but always thought of myself as a relatively poor sight reader. I grew up learning music by ear, so when I first began playing in an orchestra and saw how some of my friends could simply look at a new piece of music and play it in real-time, I was totally impressed (and more than a little intimidated).
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