Better Read Ahead before the notes go away – Sightreading with Read Ahead

Read Ahead App for Sightreading

I have had Read Ahead app on my iPad for a while, however, I didn’t get a chance to explore how amazing it is until seeing it in action in MTNA conference a week ago.  My student tried the app this week and after completing the first day sightreading project, she was so eager to try her hands on day 2 and kept asking for more.

What I like best about Read Ahead app

• It’s so well-sequenced and pedagogically sound.

• The music will disappear right in front of your eyes to help you “Read Ahead.”

Yes, you read it right.  The music literally disappear right in front of your eyes.  Students get a sense of excitement knowing that the music and notes will vanish out of thin air.   I find it to be a surreal experience when I first tried it and it’s so addicting.  What a brilliant idea –  you’d better “read ahead” before the notes go away.

See the app in action  ​

Visit Read Ahead website and watch the 2 videos and experience the disappearing beats. Other than disappearing notes, Read-Ahead has warm up and fixed scores that help student succeed in sightreading. This app is developed by Peabody Institute music theory professors Travis Hardaway and Ken Johansen and this is the story of how they started the read-ahead project

“The ability to play an unfamiliar piece of music from start to finish without stopping is an important skill for any pianist. Yet many piano students find it a difficult skill to master – even students at the Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University, one of the world’s preeminent music schools. Recognizing this need, Peabody Institute music theory professors Travis Hardaway and Ken Johansen developed an app to help students learn to sight read.”

The entire curriculum is based on extensive research in the cognition of reading music and years of experience teaching sight-reading classes at the Johns Hopkins University Peabody Conservatory.

Read more on the pedagogical ideas of Read Ahead

Ken Johansen wrote a series of articles on sightreading.  Visit Read Ahead blog to learn more.  My personal favorite is On Developing a Seeing Hand.

Hope you will enjoy this sightreading app.  If you want to learn more about other treasures I found in MTNA Baltimore conference this year, check out my post on Piano Safari Animal Adventures.  Like a kid in a candy store, I am in awe of the arrays of innovative teaching series and technologies!  I’m also so grateful for all the efforts these teachers have put in to develop such wonderful resources for music community.