Hello
I was interested to find out at what level (grade or length of time playing)you were when you could just pick up and sight read a grade 1 standard piece of music.
I can potter through them now but they would not be recognisable to anyone.
I mean that you play within reason the piece as written. timing , dynamics etc.. and it would pass at a good mark for someone doing grade one.

If you can match a grade to this at which grades could you sight read the same for grades pieces 2,3,4,5,6,7,8

BFN Mike

I am really bad at sightreading though starting to improve...The level i could actually sight read grade one was probably grade 3 or 4 level...I can sight read up to about g4 no probs now and g5 and 6 depending on what type of extract it is.

I couldn't do it straight away, but I hadn't done any grades, or played any graded pieces since I didn't have a teacher. I was grade 5 when I was sight reading G3 but I dunno after that!

Around grade 3 (I never done grade 3 but I was playing at that level when I could do it).

I'm not really answering your quesion but I must add that it is quite rewarding to know that only 5 years ago I found grade 1 a challenge and now I wouldn't even bother playing a grade 1 piece as they are too easy.

At the moment I am gearing up for my grade 8 piano and although at the moment I find it a challenge, hopefully in another 5 years I will find grade 8 pieces too easy to be worth playing! Here's hoping!

Stick with it Plink Plonk Man,

Shelton

It's been my greatest challenge so far on the sight reading stage to play some of all the G5 purple book pieces for one of my pupils! On an actual stage, I've had to sight-read the piano parts for much of the Miss Saigon and Phantom scores for auditionists.

I don't know how good my sightreading is having done no exams, but i'm set to do my grade 8, and can sightread grade 4-5 pieces fairly well. I doubt that i could sightread a grade 1 piece perfectly first time, but i find fluency is much more important than perfection (or even than accuracy).

I think around grade 4 I could sight read grade 1 pieces well enough to pass easily. Isn't it a relief that in grade 1, they don't give you a grade 1 piece to sight read (etc)? Nobody would ever manage!

I'm now around grade 7 and sight read the whole of the grade 5 book last weekend, hopefully well enough to pass. In fact, it would be interesting to resit grade 5 without practising just to see if I did pass - but a terrible waste of money!

I heard about a girl who did all her piano grades except grade 3, and passed most of them with distinction. She then thought she'd go back and take grade 3, didn't bother to practise, and got 109 marks!!! I'm not sure how she did so badly, given that the aural, scales and sight reading must have been really easy for her - but it's true. She was a student of my old piano teacher.

Slightly off topic, but one of my friends said he knew someone who sat grade 1 after doing his grade 8. At the end the examiner said "are you not a bit advanced for grade 1" and the lad replied "Yeah, but I haven't got grade 1, and it left a hole in my certificate collection!"

lol, somepeople like to do that.

In general the sightreading tests are 2-3 grades below the standard of the exam (some people say 2, some say 3) either way you should be able to read music 2/3 grades below you. Of course the level of sight reading required to pass the exam isn't what many people would generally be happy with to claim they can play the piece.... So I'd say grade 3 or four, probably about right, having said that though I wouldn't like to enter grade 1 even now sightreading the pieces .