SightReader SightReader
PRO Get every exercise for £5/mo or £48/yr →

Learning to read piano music is hard.
SightReader makes it fun.

Sight reading, from beginner to Grade 8.
Every note scored: right or wrong, early or late.

Try an exercise → I’m a parent or teacher →
Reviews

Five-star reviews, and what pianists tell us

The best sight reading app

This app is absolutely amazing! 🎹 As a music teacher, I find it incredibly helpful for both my students and my own practice. I love that it offers Grades 1–8, giving students a clear path to improve and keep challenging themselves as they progress. You can connect your piano directly through MIDI, and the app can also listen to you play through audio, which makes practicing feel much more interactive. The real-time feedback, different difficulty levels, and variety of exercises make it an excellent tool for building sight-reading skills. It’s especially helpful for students because they can practice on their own and immediately see how they’re doing. I highly recommend it to any piano teacher or student looking to become a stronger sight-reader! 🎼🔥

Sethy1217 🎓 Music teacher 6 Sept 2026

Great Experience

Polo S 27 Aug 2026
Sent by email

I’m a complete beginner at piano, and after trying several services for learning to read sheet music, I’ve found yours to be by far the best.

Artúr Working towards Grade 1 5 Sept 2026

Helps make piano practice more fun!

I have been really enjoying using the app for sight reading practice! I enjoy the different modes, which keeps practice feeling fresh, and the app makes it easy to find new repertoire. Highly recommended!

JHolifield4 29 Aug 2026

Great App & Support

Loved the look of the app but had a few technical problems with the app not playing sounds while phones are on silent. Emailed Bret and he sorted it for me. Wonderful app and support.

Sutes1 27 Aug 2026

Great app for sight reading!

This is an extremely helpful app for sight reading! It’s very easy to navigate and I like the variety of different practice modes. You can follow specific grade-based exercises or explore the extensive library, which adds a lot of flexibility. The virtual inbuilt keyboard is also so handy to use on the go. I wish I’d had this app back when I was doing grades many years ago!

FrostyTheSnowgirl1 20 Jul 2026

Brilliant app

Absolutely brilliant app, made me improve everyday. 100% recommend

Joel_009 20 Jul 2026

Brilliant

Such a well laid out app, with clear instructions on how to use it and how to better yourself on piano. Really handy app to have. Highly recommend it🎹

Lauren . H 20 Jul 2026
Platforms

Practise anywhere

Practise in your browser, or get the app for iPhone, iPad and Android.

Open SightReader in your browserDownload on the App StoreGet it on Google Play
SightReader on an Android phone, showing a piece open in the player with the on-screen keyboard
SightReader on an iPhone, showing the daily practice list on the Today screen
Who it’s for

Who is SightReader for?

For learners

Read on sight

Stop memorising every piece note by note. Learn to play new music straight from the page.

Start practising →
For parents

Practice they look forward to

Daily piano time as a 5-minute game. Grade-aligned progress you can read at a glance.

See it for parents →
For teachers

See where students are stuck

Assign the right exercises. Cut your lesson prep.

See it for teachers →
Find your level

Not sure where to start? Find out in three minutes.

The placement check gives you a grade to start from. Pick a rough level, adjust it against a real piece until the difficulty looks right, then play it and see how you did.

  1. 1

    Pick a rough level

    Beginner, intermediate or advanced. It’s only an opening guess — the next step corrects it.

  2. 2

    Adjust it against a real piece

    Listen to a piece at that grade, then move up or down until it looks like something you could read.

  3. 3

    Play it

    We follow the score and mark every note as you go. You finish with a grade to start from.

Find your level

About three minutes. No account and no card, and you can use the on-screen piano if you’re not at a keyboard.

How it works

How does SightReader work?

01 🎹

Plug in

Connect a MIDI keyboard or use the on-screen one. Works in your browser; nothing to install.

02 👁

Play what you see

A note appears on the staff. Play it. SightReader listens in real time and tells you what you missed.

03 ↗

Choose your level

Pick pieces that match where you are and move up as you grow — from middle C through late-grade repertoire.

Lessons

Never read a note? Start at the beginning.

Lessons takes you from a single note on the stave to Grade 8. Each one explains a new idea, then gives you a short piece that uses it. We mark every note as you play it, so you can see how you did without a teacher in the room.

  • ✓ Foundation starts with one note on one line. No jargon, no exam, and it’s free in full.
  • ✓ One idea per lesson, then a piece that uses it. Nothing to work out on your own.
  • ✓ Read a bit already? Pass a checkpoint and skip to where you actually are.

Foundation is free in full, then the first five lessons of every stage up to Grade 5.

See how Lessons works →
Studies

Are there free pieces I can practise?

Try a study. Schäfer Book 1 is fully available on the free tier.

All studies →

Exercise 1

Christian Schäfer

Difficulty 1 C major 4/4

Exercise 2

Christian Schäfer

Difficulty 1 C major 4/4

Exercise 3

Christian Schäfer

Difficulty 1 G major 4/4

Exercise 4

Christian Schäfer

Difficulty 1 D major 4/4

We write our exercises to match what ABRSM asks for at each grade: the keys, time signatures, length and hand position.

Will this help me pass my ABRSM sight-reading exam?

From Initial to Grade 8. Exam-aligned exercises, sight reading first. Newly composed pieces follow the ABRSM syllabus grade by grade. Finish a grade and it’s marked complete.

InitialGrade 1Grade 2Grade 3Grade 4Grade 5Grade 6Grade 7Grade 8
See grades →
What’s inside

Features

Built around short daily sessions, with feedback on every note and music worth coming back to.

Library

Four centuries of piano.

Baroque (Bach, Scarlatti, Purcell, Pachelbel, Carolan), Classical (Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven), Romantic (Chopin, Liszt, Schubert, Schumann, Brahms) and Modern (Debussy, Satie, Bartók, Rachmaninoff).

BaroqueClassicalRomanticModernFolkStudies
Difficulty

Levels for every stage

From first-time readers working on middle C through to late-grade repertoire. Pick your level, or work up through them one by one.

Feedback

Instant feedback, every note

Notes you nail turn green; misses turn red — and with the metronome on, early notes shade blue and late ones yellow. No vague “good job”. You see what you played, and how you timed it.

Analytics

Practice journal

Every session is logged. See which keys, clefs and intervals trip you up — down to the individual note.

See everything SightReader does →
In time, not just in tune.

Does it check my rhythm?

It does, as of July 2026. Turn on the metronome and the music moves at the beat while every note is judged on when it lands, not just whether it’s right.

In time
Early
Late
Missed

At the end you get the breakdown: how much you played on time, early and late, and your average tendency in milliseconds. “94ms early” means you’re rushing; “94ms late” means you’re hesitating. No other sight-reading app we know of reports a number like that.

It’s new, and the strictness is still being tuned — the metronome switches it on, and switches it off again.

See how the two grading modes work →
Why sight reading?

Why is sight reading worth practising?

Three things we know about sight reading, backed by published research.

Just over a fifth of UK children have taken a graded music exam. Structured progression keeps them learning longer.

Source
ABRSM, Making Music 2014

Peer-reviewed meta-analysis: sight reading is a skill that improves with practice, not a fixed trait.

Source
Mishra (2014), Journal of Research in Music Education

Across 92 studies, structured sight-reading interventions (aural training, controlled reading, solfège) measurably improved accuracy.

Source
Mishra (2014), Psychology of Music
Progress

How do stars, levels and streaks work?

Earn XP, level up, build streaks — the same things that make games hard to put down, applied to learning music.

Levels XP

Every star you unlock earns XP. Watch your level climb.

Stars ★★★

Up to three stars per piece. Beating your best feels great.

Streaks 🔥

Practise each day and your streak grows. A small nudge to come back tomorrow.

Grade certificates 📜

Finish a grade and we issue a certificate. Download it as a PDF or share the link with your teacher.

Sample Grade 1 completion page
Library

How many pieces are in the library?

Newly composed exercises, including ABRSM-aligned grade exercises, alongside excerpts from the classical canon, all set up for sight reading.

Browse the library →
Baroque G3
Portrait of Johann Sebastian Bach
Bach
Invention No. 1, BWV 772
Classical G3
Portrait of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Mozart
Sonata No. 16 in C, K. 545
Classical G3
Portrait of Ludwig van Beethoven
Beethoven
Für Elise
Romantic G4
Portrait of Franz Schubert
Schubert
Ave Maria
Romantic G3
Portrait of Friedrich Burgmüller
Burgmüller
La Pastorale, Op. 100
Romantic G4
Photograph of Frédéric Chopin
Chopin
Prélude in E minor, Op. 28
Modern G3
Photograph of Claude Debussy
Debussy
Clair de Lune
Modern G4
Photograph of Béla Bartók
Bartók
Romanian Christmas Carols

Composer portraits in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

For parents

Will my child actually practise?

Practice without the nagging. SightReader turns daily piano time into a 5-minute game your child wants to come back to. Progress they can show you at a glance. A “Grade 3” certificate you’ll put on the fridge.

  • ✓ Aligned to ABRSM Grades 1–8
  • ✓ Daily streaks, stars, and levels keep them coming back
  • ✓ See which notes, keys and intervals they’re working on

Every grade track follows the published ABRSM sight-reading parameters, Initial through Grade 8.

See how it works →
A child practising piano
For teachers

Can I track my pupils’ practice?

Create a class, invite your pupils by email, assign real graded repertoire. Free for verified educators.

Apply for free teacher access → Running a school music programme? Get in touch →
“As a music teacher, I find it incredibly helpful for both my students and my own practice.”
Sethy1217, App Store review
Murphy Piano Studio 14 pupils
Sophia L. Grade 3 12-day streak
James R. Grade 5 31-day streak
Ava P. Grade 2 3-day streak
Noah K. Grade 4 8-day streak
Mia T. Grade 6 24-day streak
Bret Cameron
A note from our founder

I’m an adult learner picking piano up on the side. I wanted something to sharpen my sight reading, but nothing I tried went deep enough for real progress, or was fun enough to keep me coming back. So we built the thing I wished existed.

Bret Cameron
Founder · 2026
Read the blog →
How we compare

What most sight-reading apps leave out.

We reviewed 21 of them. Here’s where SightReader is genuinely different — and the full breakdown is there if you want to check our working.

Most other appsSightReader
What it listens to
A microphone, buttons on screen — or nothing at all Your MIDI keyboard, note by note
What gets scored
The notes only, almost without exception Notes and timing, scored separately
What you practise
Generated exercises or real pieces — rarely both 3,700+ real graded pieces, plus generated drills
Exam preparation
Rarely aligned to a syllabus ABRSM, Initial to Grade 8
Getting started
Most charge up front, or time-limit a trial A free tier with no time limit

Based on our own review of 21 sight-reading and piano apps, with features and prices checked in August 2026.

See the full comparison
Pricing

How much does SightReader cost?

Free
£0 / forever
Everything you need to start.
  • ✓ Notes & Chords — unlimited
  • ✓ Scales — all types
  • ✓ Lessons — all of Foundation, then the first 5 lessons of Initial through Grade 5
  • ✓ Grades — first 5 levels of Initial through Grade 5
  • ✓ Library — 54 pieces (Schäfer & Schytte)
  • ✓ Virtual piano (no MIDI keyboard needed)
  • ✓ Placement check — find your starting grade
  • ✓ Exercises — 10 generated a day, 3 to play
  • ✓ Rated exercises — 5 a day, sight-reading rating included
Get started
Pro
Most popular
£5 / month
Or £48/year — save 20%
The full library, unlocked.
  • ✓ Everything in the Free tier
  • ✓ All lessons — Foundation to Grade 8, with a certificate for each stage you finish
  • ✓ All grades — Initial to Grade 8
  • ✓ Full Library — 3,700+ pieces
  • ✓ Daily Practice — curated sessions
  • ✓ Grade certificates — a downloadable PDF for each grade you finish
  • ✓ Upload your own pieces
  • ✓ Download pieces to practise offline
  • ✓ Exercises — generate and play as many as you like
  • ✓ Rated exercises — play as many as you like
Upgrade to Pro →
FAQ

Frequently asked questions

No — you can use a virtual keyboard or play any instrument and report your results (honour mode). But for the best experience, a MIDI keyboard is recommended: it lets us mark every note as you play it, so the feedback is note by note rather than a score you enter yourself.

Five minutes today.

Enough to notice the difference in a few weeks.

Try a drill