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There is already a large body of technical exercises for pianists based on common-practice music, such as major and minor scales and arpeggios or the books of Czerny, Hanon, etc. These exercises are indispensable for my own practice of sight-reading, since these patterns frequently come up in common-practice music.

I would like to strengthen my sight-reading of non-common-practice music. Are there techniques that I can practice which distill the "molecules" of the much broader musical practice of the 20th and 21st centuries, to improve my sightreading? Are there specific excercises that can improve those techniques?

For example, recently I have been playing Messaien's Modes of Limited Transposition in all positions on the keyboard.

Joshua Mundinger
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  • Briefly, many composers wrote Etudes that reflect their techniques: Ligeti and Philip Glass come to mind immediately. – Aaron Mar 02 '21 at 16:37
  • @Aaron Thank you for your comment. Indeed, I am familiar with these sets of Études, but I am looking for something more on par with exercises and scales: the "molecules" of non-common practice music instead of those great purified solutions. – Joshua Mundinger Mar 02 '21 at 16:39
  • Hi Joshua, unfortunately external resource requests including exercises is off-topic. If you have a specific area you want to study or practice, we can focus on answering that instead. – Dom Mar 02 '21 at 17:08
  • @Dom Please consider re-opening. Although this is a request for resources, I think it's one of genuine and lasting value for the site that does not run afoul of the "opinion-based" reasoning behind the usual resource-request closures. i – Aaron Mar 02 '21 at 17:18
  • @Aaron we've closed similar questions in the past and we should try to keep the site consistent. Another thing is questions looking for example typically turn into just and endless list of examples that you can always add more to and none are more correct than others. – Dom Mar 02 '21 at 18:04
  • @Dom I see part of my comment got dropped: it said that the question lends itself to a fairly small number of concise answers, and if not, then it could be closed or protected. But allowing the question stays closed, do you see a way to rework it? I think there's a lot to be gained here (maybe as a community wiki?). I'll chime in if I come up with a good alternative question. – Aaron Mar 02 '21 at 18:07
  • @Aaron retroactively moderating thing like this is hard and wikis are not always a good path. Very few wikis on the site seem to be working the way we want, most have problems that have needed more advanced moderation. I think there is a good specific question to be asked here that isn't as open ended and leans away from just listing exercises. We can continue in chat if you want. – Dom Mar 02 '21 at 18:10
  • @Dom I have revised the question to attempt to address this issue; please let me know if this fixes the issue or if I should revise differently. – Joshua Mundinger Mar 02 '21 at 20:41
  • @JoshuaMundinger I'm going to edit it a bit more so it focuses on techniques rather than exercises themselves. – Dom Mar 02 '21 at 21:01
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    I've personally found pieces with several parallel quartal chords in a row (e.g. some video game music, Rautavaara, Sonny Chua) to be quite helpful at sight-reading quartal harmony. – Dekkadeci Mar 03 '21 at 13:43

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I've personally used Bartok's Mikrokosmos for practicing sightreading. It helps me pay more attention to what notes are really there, and avoid trying to anticipate the harmony of the piece (which, for most contemporary music, is impossible).

The Mikrokosmos also has a wide variety of difficulty levels, so you should be able to find something easy enough or difficult enough for your sightreading needs.

jstl
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First of all, technique doesn't come from exercise books or more practice, it comes from moving properly. You can practice ten hours a day but if you move incorrectly, you won't improve. If you are unlucky, you will brow beat your technique into the wrong muscles which will result in eventual injury. You will know you are moving wrong if you wake up in the morning with stiff arms and hands.

Sight reading comes from your knowledge of music theory and having a technique which can play what your brain sees. Your ear will also aid in discerning what is coming next. Much like reading words. It deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Music is the same.

You don't need exercises nor exercise books. Only real music. You'll get all the technique you need from therein.

Malcolm Kogut
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  • This doesn't answer the question, which is about developing the "knowledge of music theory" and "technique" that you mention. Of course one learns from playing real music, but it is an extreme to say, for instance, that one should not learn major scale fingerings on their own and merely learn it piecemeal whenever it comes up in a piece. – Joshua Mundinger Mar 03 '21 at 14:50