Getting started

SightReader gives you music you have never seen, listens while you play it, and marks every note. A few minutes a day is enough to read faster and more confidently, whether you are starting from scratch, coming back to the piano, or working towards an ABRSM exam.

Your first piece

The first time you open SightReader, it starts with a short piece rather than a sign-in screen. It asks one question first: is your piano digital or acoustic?

• Digital piano or keyboard: connect it with a cable or Bluetooth, and SightReader names each key you press, so you know it is working.
• Acoustic piano: SightReader listens through your device’s microphone. A quick check asks you to play middle C and shows you it heard.
• No piano to hand: play on the on-screen piano instead. You can connect a keyboard later.

Then play. You don’t even need to press Play: play the first note and the piece starts.

Finding your level

After your first piece, SightReader asks how much you already read and suggests where to start. If you are new to reading music, it starts you on Lessons, from a single note on the stave. If you can already read, a short placement test lets you skip ahead.

You can change your mind at any time: on your Account page, choose to set up again.

Finding your way around

SightReader has four tabs, along the bottom on a phone and down the side on a computer.

• Home leads with one thing to do next: your teacher’s homework if you have any, otherwise your next lesson or your next piece. Swipe it to see the next step in everything else you practise, and find every practice mode underneath.
• Learn is the Lessons path, from your first note to Grade 8.
• Library holds every piece, and the study books that pick pieces for you.
• Me has your progress, badges, account and preferences, and this Handbook.

Practising before you sign up

You can practise without an account. Pieces and drills you play are kept on your device for a week, and when you sign up they are added to your new account, with the XP and streak they earned. Signing in to an account you already have asks first, so practice on a shared tablet only goes where it belongs.

Everything that is free stays free for good, and Your account and Pro explains what Pro adds.