Sight Reading or Memorization?

I don't quite know which one is more important to me, they both are pretty important.

both are definitely equally important (from one's views)

sight reading coz that means you can pick the piece easily....but memorising the piece=you can actually get a better understanding of it rather than just knowing how to play is through and forgotten about what the piece is actually about (ie a dancy one....emotional one....etcetc)

I would actually say that memorizing is more important because I need it for performances. Sightreading is an important and useful skill but not as important and useful as memorizing. :)

Of course, that's only in my opinion. :heh:

Both are pretty important but i think Sight-Reading skill is a bit more vital.
Especially for pianist, be able to sight-read very fast can take so much time off of your practise time

I think they're both important (which is what I voted), but memorization is slightly more crucial because it's better to know hands-down the song you're performing rather than learn a new song on the spot. And it's good to remember songs! Then again, it's still nice to be able to sight-read songs, because you never know when it'll come in handy.

I choose sight reading, it'll be easier to learn a song. I dont really understand the point of memorising your song. I've done it for one or two songs a year, but it was just so that i could play it anywhere without sheet music.

I would rather have sheet music in front of me in exams/performances because you never know when your brain blanks out...it happened to me during an exam, and in the last 4 bars!!! I completely forgot the ending, and i didn't even recover from it, i just sat there, jaw dropped to the ground. I was so shocked because i'd spent the last, let's say 7 months on the song. But it wasn't any major exam, just my yr11 yearly exam. Overall, I still managed to come first with 86% in the class... :D

So, yes, i feel much safer with sheet music in front of me. I guess you would 'look' better if you memorised a song during a performance. People may think it's really hard.... :think:

But there could be exceptions, like what if you had a 20 page long piece of music. Would you rather memorise the whole thing, or risk stuffing it up while turning the pages.

Maybe it's just me....i should have learnt my piece a bit better, and definately should not have let my mind wander off...what was I thinking!

Sight-reading, I think. Sight-reading is a skill which is useful for however long you learn your instrument/sing. It can help you think quickly, and also can help you build on skills for being able to look at a piece of music and work out in your head what it will sound like.

Personally.. I find memorising.. really difficult.. X_X But I've managed to get by without it. Only times when I have had to play a piece from memory are when friends suddenly say "come on, play something amazing." :heh:

I'll say sight-reading. Without sight-reading, it'll take ages to learn a new song imo X_X Not only that, if you could look at some music and play it in your head, that helps by heaps!

Memorizing.. ehh, it's important but only after you've learnt the song I'd say :think:
plus, if you have good sight-reading you should also be adept at playing the song inside your head.. that's.. one part of memorizing :heh:

Maybe I should rethink my position on sight-reading :heh: I guess I take it for granted . . I was just thinking that there are some people who learn music only by ear (Suzuki method?), and in those cases, memorization is critical.

I find sight reading really hard. And its extremely difficult for me to learn a new piece. Got any suggestions on how to better my skill?

Zebra, it really depends on how long you've been playing you instrument for. I gues only practice will improve your skills...over time.... X_X

i prefer memorizing more maybe because X_X i sux at sight reading...

never can get it right anyway...

but i still think both are important...

haha i'm opposite, i can sightread nearly anything but i can't memorize worth nothin. I have zero memory. But then again, i dun like performing so sightreading is perfect for me since i jsut like playing on my own.

sightreading is important especially if you're in an orchestra... hehe, memorising is wonderful- you get to play a piece totally off by heart and it feels as though you've really accomplished something, but then, i don't actually memorise things... it's just, if you practice it frequently, eventually you'll find yourself being able to play the whole thing without looking at the score, naturally.

still, which is more important.... it would be sightreading

Both are very important. Memorizing is not more important than sightreading, because how do you memorize something? You play the piece till you know it. And how do you play that piece? You sight read it. Therefore, to memorize well you need to sight read well.

Memorizing is very very important for performances and such, as you can mess up if you need to turn the paper or something like that, and you understand the piece a lot better. In fact, you can learn more if you memorize pieces then if you just sight-read them. Generally, people who have memorized the piece will play it better then the person who sight reads the piece.

Memorizing can be useful so you can understand music better, sight read better, and in the future you don't have to dig up the music, you have it in your head. Sight reading is good to prepare you for memorizing and helpful for about any song. You don't want to progress super slowly through the song, you want to play it even remotely similiary to the way it should be played.

i say memorization. after sight reading, you could always work on it if you suck. if you memorize it, you could play the music more expressively and watch the conductor if you have one.

They're both important.

Personally I like sight reading better. It's what I'm good at. I hate memorizing, but it is very important for performances.

playing from memory is what i ultimatly want to acheive. so i consider it more important

Both are good skills to have. Sight reading gets you started and memorizations finishes you off.

I think they're both important! I would love to have some side reading skills but right now, I can only memorize ;___; I even have to write out all the notes lol ^^"

Sight Reading is most important, especially when you get into professional playing for an orchestra and such. I've had to learn a piece in 2 days, much too short to memorize, and this was a class 6 piece. All I can say is that it's important to learn how to do it, and keep plugging along. If you do have a hard time, don't give up, and a metronome helps. It will help you keep your rythm.