Many beginner organists have a problem when they have to play organ without looking down at their fingers. This is crucial if you want to be a truly good sight-reader. In this article, I would like to share with you my personal recommendations how to learn to read music without looking at the keyboard.
At this point, you have to understand why the beginners at the organ (or piano) always want to look down. When we first start playing an instrument, we do not know where each note is located on the keyboard. In addition, usually we are slow on reading notes as well. All of this creates a situation, where we naturally want to see what exactly is we are pressing.
However, to facilitate your advancement, try to resist the temptation to look at your fingers. In other words, force yourself not to look down. Do not be discouraged if you hit the wrong notes; just remind yourself that developing this skill takes time. You see, the fingers have the ability to memorize the distances between the keys. Provided you are practicing regularly and resisting the temptation to look at the keyboard, after a few short months, you will already start feeling the difference in your progress.
Developing this skill requires time. The great blind organists like Louis Vierne, Jean Langlais, Helmut Walcha and many others have been able to master such a complex art. If they could achieve that level being blind, we obviously have a chance, too. We just have to have patience and practice regularly. I hope you understand that there is no magical way to learn to sight-read music overnight. The amount of time needed to see the progress varies from person to person but I think that if you spend at least 30 minutes a day for 3 months practicing sight-reading wisely, you will start to see some real changes.
In 3 months that will be more than 44 hours of practice. Wouldn't you think that you would be better at this skill if you had 44 hours of serious practice under your belt? Compare that to driving a car. After 44 hours of practical experience, we would still be at the basic level but certainly not freshmen anymore. Just keep practicing your organ music, stick to it for 3 months, and enter the next level after that.
If you have the patience and do not quite practicing regularly, you will certainly see much improvement in your sight-reading abilities. Just force yourself not to look at your fingers and you will reap the rewards.
By the way, do you want to learn to play the King of Instruments - the pipe organ? If so, download my FREE video guide "How to Master Any Organ Composition" http://www.organduo.lt/organ-tutorial.html in which I will show you my EXACT steps, techniques, and methods that I use to practice, learn and master any piece of organ music.
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