If you want to get better at sightreading, improving your muscular memory is an excellent start. In this tutorial, I provide some simple and practical exercises for enhancing your muscular memory, so you instinctively know the interval distance between notes under your fingers.
This is a really beneficial skill to develop because it means you don’t have to look down at the keyboard as often, and instead, can focus on the music and what is coming up in the score.
0:24 Introduction
0:53 Definition of ‘Intervals’ and how to work them out
1:52 Exercises in a 5-finger position - intervals of a 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th with your thumb as one of the fingers used
2:49 Exercises in a 5-finger position – where neither of the notes in the interval are played with your thumb
3:33 Exercises using intervals of a 6th, 7th and 8th (octave)
5:25 Instances where your fingers may have to stretch past a 5-finger position, or where your fingers may have to ‘bunch up’ within the 5-finger span
7:24 Exercises including black keys and incorporating intervals from a scale
9:00 Exercises finding specific notes for the interval done entirely by feel – black key groupings used as a guide to navigate around the keyboard
10:54 Concluding Summary