Hi everyone! I’m very excited about today’s episode – I hope you join us for a group SIGHT READING CHALLENGE.

In today’s video I’ll explain how it all works and how to participate. And at the end we’ll talk about the awesome giveaway and how to participate!

Note: Today’s video will be using the program Piano Marvel, whom I’m affiliated with. This means that, if you choose to purchase their premium subscription, I receive a small commission.

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get started.

What is the sight-reading challenge?

The sight-reading challenge is simple. All you do is sight read 7 days in a row for a contest entry. If you sight read 14 days in a row, you get two contest entries. And if you sight read 30 days in a row, you get 3 contest entries. (More on the prize soon)

The caveat is I need you to do your sight reading using Piano Marvel, either the free or premium version. Otherwise it’d be impossible for me to keep track of who’s practicing and who’s not.

You’ll notice I’m not specifying a DURATION of sight reading – only that you create an unbroken streak. If I look at your progress and see that you’ve done 6 days but you’ve skipped the 7th, you don’t get an entry. But if you’ve done 7 days in a row of 1 minute per day, you get a contest entry. Every day needs some minutes – even if it’s just one minute!

Piano Marvel has a variety of music to choose from, even in the free version of their program, which you can use for your sight reading practice.

What if you don’t have a digital piano?

If you’re an acoustic piano player, are you still able to participate?

To use Piano Marvel, you typically stick in a cable so that the computer/iPad is able to keep track of what you’re practicing and how much. But what if you only have an acoustic piano?

Piano Marvel uses two modes – Assessment Mode (for digital pianos), and Book Mode (for acoustic pianos). The features in Book Mode are limited, but it’ll still keep track of your practice minutes based on the time you’re spending playing along with the piece.

In other words, as long as you’re playing along with the music on Piano Marvel, you’ll be able to use an electric OR acoustic piano to enter this contest.

Here’s how you enter the contest

So to get entries in the contest, you need an unbroken practice streak of 7 days, 14 days and 30 days for 1, 2, and 3 entries respectively.

How do you sign up for Piano Marvel and get going with this giveaway?

Many of you I’ve talked to already use Piano Marvel, so you’ll be good to go. Just make sure you enter in your piano teacher as “PianoTV”, otherwise you won’t show up on my list.

For those of you who haven’t used it before, I’ll walk you through the sign-up process. First of all, you’ll want to choose your subscription.

Again, be sure to note that your teacher is PIANOTV. That’s how I’m able to keep track of your streak!

This sight-reading contest sounds great – what’s the prize?

I hope you’re hyped up and motivated by this sight-reading challenge. Even without a prize, it’s a great opportunity to build a habit (sight reading) and do it alongside other people.

I’m happy to announce that Piano Marvel has generously offered the winner of this giveaway a brand-new iPad. It’s a great prize, and something that is incredibly useful when integrating technology and piano practice. You’ll definitely want to join this!

When does the contest begin?

This video is going up on Wednesday, July 24. I’ll run the contest for a total of 35 days, until Tuesday, August 27th. Then I’ll announce the winner on Wednesday, August 28th. That gives those of you who don’t watch this video immediately some leeway.

Click here to get started with Piano Marvel and the sight-reading challenge – good luck and I hope you have fun with this!

xo,

Allysia

Posted in Basics