And what I’ve observed is that frustration often comes from just one part of playing the piano. So many issues would resolve if they understood the one piano skill needed to improve all the rest. That one skill is music literacy -  the ability to read and comprehend sheet music.

But I don’t mean just being able to find a note on the staff and locate that key on the piano. Most people never allow themself to graduate beyond Middle-C piano playing. Somehow they manage to learn some pieces but it takes them forever. But when you know and practice correct music literacy reading principles, you learn your music faster and faster.

Unfortunately, most people stall out from just a few bad habits that set them back for years. They just accept the myth that it takes years or decades to learn this skill of reading music, but I've discovered music literacy principles apply to all levels of musician.

You use sight reading skills any time you read sheet music or learn a piece of music.

 For beginning, intermediate, and advanced players - the process of reading music never changes. This course is for anybody who wants to improve their reading ability.

Every new measure you learn requires sight reading.
When you play from your favorite book of familiar songs you are also sight reading.
If you accompany a soloist, a choir,
or a congregation you are sight reading.
Is there sheet music in front of you?
 Then you are using sight reading skills 
no matter how familiar you are with the music.

Basically if you’re not playing by ear or from memory, you will be using sight reading skills. But it's the aspect of piano playing that fills people with the most anxiety, and dread.

WHY should something so fundamental, so foundational to the instrument bring so much confusion, anxiety, and panic to otherwise talented musicians?

I've known tremendously talented people that give up the piano because of this hurdle.

A very small minority of people get through it. And the SECRET is they figure it out fairly early in their piano education, usually in spite of their piano teacher’s approach.

But the vast majority of people don’t figure it out on their own and get locked into habits that will determine the outcome of their inevitable failure. The old piano teacher tricks do more to confuse them than help them.

Most great piano players have been proficient, even fluent at reading music for most of their lives and it results in their ability to grow without hinderance. It means they have more time to focus on other musical skills - technique, virtuosity, speed, and developing their unique musical style and interpretation.

Music literacy removes the barriers for every other piano skill.

The best pianists know how to move through more music in less time because comprehending the dots on the page is no longer a barrier to their music making.

Don’t get me wrong, you don't have to be a piano prodigy or aspire to be a professional pianist for this concept to be true. It’s thrilling to be able to play even one song on the piano - but life is too short to spend weeks or months to learn a single piece.

I have taught piano professionally now for over 15 years and I have a Master’s Degree in piano performance. The students I’ve taught range in age, talent, commitment, interest, and attitude about the piano. I’ve worked with students that run the gamut of musical strengths - those with great rhythm, great pitch, great ears, and great technique - and those with .... none of the above.

During my time teaching I’ve found that none of that really matters.

I’ve sought to identify what’s REALLY necessary and what’s really NOT necessary about learning piano.

The talented students were just as likely to quit as the “untalented” students.

The single most important thing I’ve witnessed that differentiates piano players that succeed and those that don’t is their approach to reading written notes.

Also, I used to be confused when I taught people from other teachers that told me they’ve played piano for years but still have a hard time identifying notes. Now I just expect it because it's SO common. 

1. How to stop relying on mnemonics to help you identify notes and instead locate them instantaneously.

2. How to confidently play piano without looking at your hands (so your eyes can be on the music).

3. How to avoid tunnel vision and getting too close to the music.

4. How to recognize patterns, chord progressions and chord inversions in the sheet music.

5. How to consistently play with correct fingerings. I'll teach you the best fingering principles for piano.

6. How to use the sheet music in a step-by-step way to learn your music faster. Skip the memorizing.

7. How to not double-play, hesitate, and stutter as a result of poor reading habits.

8. How to move through your music and finish your pieces faster.

9. All the Tactile, Visual, and Aural skills that pro sight-readers use (but can't actually tell you)

Music notation is getting a bad rap even though it’s a well-established system that has successfully transmitted music over hundreds of years.

Myth No. 1 - “It take years to read music well”
You may have been told it takes years to learn.

It's unfortunate, but it's stuffy piano teachers who haven't figured out how to help students skip the hurdles.

Written music is a systematic language.

Knowing the SYSTEM of music is much easier than memorizing everything you want to play. There’s a more efficient way to learn for adults - it’s learning the skills of sight reading. You've had a lifetime of education, and most of it relied heavily on reading. You just need to translate that skill to sheet music.

It reminds me of Dr. Jones Senior. He recorded the secrets to the Holy Grail in his notebook.

And it doesn’t take years. You just have to know the steps. In the Sight Reading Secrets course I’ll show you how to look at any piece of sheet music and confidently know the simple steps you should take to learn it.

Myth No. 2 - The EYE-HAND coordination fallacy
Some people claim to not have very good “hand-eye coordination”. They seem to think it’s something you’re born with. In Sight Reading Secrets, I’ll break down how we navigate the keyboard with tactile reference points. If you struggle to play without looking at your hands it’s because you’re paying attention to the wrong things. The SECRET is simply a matter of knowing where to concentrate.

This is honestly the part of sight-reading secrets I'm most proud of because you cannot learn this skill from a book. It has to be demonstrated.

Myth No. 3 - Other “NOTATION” Systems.
Some people are so frustrated with traditional notation that they avoid reading notes altogether. Instead they learn pieces from keyboard visualizers.

These videos are really cool and can be helpful for some things, but it’s a mistake to try and make this your primary means of learning music, not least because there is no rhythmic system in these visualizers. Rant over.

Myth No. 4 - “I’d Rather Learn Another Way”
You will limit yourself by avoiding reading. You will also make it a hundred times less likely that you'll learn it later as you gain playing proficiency.

The gap between what you can play and what you can read will grow wider and wider until it feels hopeless. It's not.

If you've been delaying reading because it's easier for you to play without music, this is your course! I can't think of any other course that is willing to show already-proficient players the skills that will fill in the gaps.

Myth No. 5 - “I don’t want to learn classical music”
You and I ... we are not Paul McCartney.
 Written music works equally well for every genre of music. I believe it’s even helpful for developing your improvisation skills.

It’s the medium for learning music theory. It’s the method of preserving your musical ideas for composing and song-writing. It is the medium for music education.

If you’re teaching yourself piano, don’t fool yourself in thinking you can do without this skill, no matter what style of music you want to play. I honestly get so many ideas for my songwriting from classical music.

Myth No. 6 - Practicing is Boring / Too Hard / I Don’t Have Time
If you can sit down and learn four measures of music, you’ll have had a successful practice session.

Learning these reading skills is more about identifying and correcting habits than it is about spending hours and hours at the piano. I’d rather see you sit for 10-20 minutes of quality practice than 2 hours of wasted effort.

Myth No. 7 - It’s too expensive
I struggle with the fact that piano is an expensive skill to develop, mostly because instruments and traditional lessons are expensive.

I’ve invested 100’s of thousands into my own piano education at this point, including piano lessons, college tuition, and purchasing instruments and equipment for my studio.

As I consider the cost of getting this information through formal lessons, you’ll honestly save thousands approaching it with this online video courses. I'm so excited to help as many people as possible with this turning point in their playing.

Myth No. 8 - Music is unreadable “hieroglyphics”
Some people exaggerate their frustration with sheet music. “It’s impossible to read these strange markings” they joke. 

We’re talking about DOTS on LINES.

In Sight Reading Secrets I will show you how to overcome the human nature habits that needlessly complicate things. You will learn to get over those unhelpful habits and replace them with functional and systematic practices to move through the sheet music.

Myth No. 9 - "My Eyes Aren’t Good Enough"
I’ve worn glasses since the 4th grade. I know what poor vision feels like. Honestly, if you can read this text right now you can learn to read music. Even with astigmatism.

Yes, there are some tiny markings on the page, but most of the reading skills we cover in Sight Reading Secrets are about seeing notes in context and their relationships to one another.

Those relationships have very distinctive shapes that can be seen from across the room. Even if you can’t see crisp edges and differentiate the lines on the staff, you can still read music. It’s more about “bottom, middle, top” than it is about magnifying the notes.

In other words, instead of using a microscope to read music, I’ll show you how to zoom out and read with a wide-angle lens. I actually prefer if you have a little vision problem - it may help you to overcome the instinct to get tunnel vision.