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Music vocabulary · Notation and Reading Music

Sight-read

Meaning in music, with examples

/ˈsaɪt riːd/verbCommon term

In music, sight-read means: To play or sing a piece of written music correctly the first time you see it, without having practised it before.

In Turkish: deşifre etmek, deşifre çalmak, ilk görüşte okumak

How it is used

An important skill for session players, orchestral musicians and accompanists, and a standard part of auditions and exams. The noun is 'sight-reading': 'a sight-reading test', 'improve your sight-reading'.

Example sentences

  1. Session musicians must sight-read charts quickly because studio time is expensive.

  2. The audition includes a short piece that you sight-read in front of the panel.

Common collocations

  • sight-read a piece
  • sight-reading test
  • good at sight-reading
  • improve your sight-reading
  • sheet musicMusic written or printed in notation on paper or a screen, so that musicians can read and play it.
  • practiceRegular time spent playing or singing on your own to improve your skills, learn new pieces and keep your technique in shape.
  • staffThe set of five horizontal lines and four spaces on which notes are written. A note's position on the staff shows its pitch.
  • accompanimentThe music that supports a main melody or soloist, for example the piano part under a singer or the chords a guitarist plays behind a violin.
  • rhythmThe pattern of long and short sounds and silences in music, and how they are placed in time against the beat.

More terms: Notation and Reading Music

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