Let's Sightplay!, Book 2: Elementary Piano Book

Book 2 reflects what a working piano teacher actually observes in her students' struggles with sight-reading. Rather than generic finger exercises or disconnected drills, these pieces scaffold the skill progressively while remaining genuinely musical. Your students will build confidence because they're reading real music that sounds intentional, not busywork dressed up as repertoire.

These exercises maintain a playful, approachable character while introducing genuine musical thinking. They don't feel like drills; they feel like short, purposeful pieces that reward careful reading and present small musical ideas worth playing well.

Elementary pianists who have moved beyond level 1 and are ready to tackle increasingly varied rhythmic patterns, hand positions, and musical figures. This book serves students preparing for auditions, competitions, or festival sight-reading requirements where consistent daily practice with fresh material matters.

• Encourage students to scan an entire piece before playing. Looking ahead prevents panic and helps them anticipate intervals and rhythm patterns within the exercise.
• Keep hands relaxed and maintain steady tempo even when encountering an unfamiliar passage. The point is fluency, not perfection on first read.
• Return to earlier exercises periodically as warm-up reading. Revisiting familiar material reinforces growth and builds the automaticity that enables sight-reading fluency.

Assign one or two exercises at each lesson as the core sight-reading work of the week. The cumulative effect of regular exposure to new material trains the eye and hand to work together without the intimidation factor of full-length repertoire sight-reading assessments.

• Fluency reading mixed rhythmic patterns and syncopation
• Interval recognition and accurate hand positioning across the staff
• Tempo stability and confidence reading unfamiliar material on first attempt
• Independence between treble and bass clef coordination