Sight-reading exercises with sixteenth notes

What level 40 adds

The right hand mixes groups of four sixteenths, an eighth and two sixteenths, and two sixteenths and an eighth with quarters, eighths and halves. The left hand holds single bass notes in halves and wholes. The pieces are in 4/4 or 2/4, in any key up to three sharps or flats, major or minor, at a slower beat to make room for the quick notes.

What to watch for

• Two beams mean sixteenths, one beam eighths. In a beat that mixes them, the second beam shows which notes are the quick ones.
• Evenness: four sixteenths are four equal notes in one beat. Don’t rush the first two and wait on the last.
• The ends of a run: read its first and last notes, and the steps between take care of themselves.

How to practise it

• Count “one-e-and-a” for four sixteenths in a beat, and “one, and-a” for an eighth and two sixteenths.
• Choose a beat slow enough for the sixteenths, then keep it through the long notes too.
• A run of steps fits under four fingers, as in a scale, without moving the hand.

Each exercise is new music, written for this level by the same generator the app uses, so you can’t have learned it by ear. Read it once before you play, keep a steady beat, and play on through mistakes. Play it yourself checks your notes from a MIDI keyboard, the mouse or your computer keys, and Print gives you the music alone, to read at the piano.