Few things can make a good musician shudder more than learning something they don’t yet know. And for many musicians – beginning and advanced alike – sightreading is one of those things. Many of us know how important it is to be able to make sense of a written piece of music, but for those who are uninitiated it can be a difficult task. The truth is that it is not always easy but that doesn’t mean that it has to be terribly hard either.

Thorough work on rhythm will pay great dividends. There’s no reason why you should have a problem with rhythm.

The next etude is quite difficult. In this regard, its pace is 80 beats per minute. Slow down even more if necessary. Play the etude several times until you complete the performance without errors at the original tempo.