Practice Competition 2018: 30-Day Sight-Reading Challenge

Every so often at the Piano Academy, we have some kind of practice-focused event (like our PianOlympics or this practice competition) to help keep practicing fun and engaging for our piano students. This year’s event will come in the form of a sight-reading challenge!

For the month of January, students are encouraged to take the SASR as many times as possible. (Not familiar with the SASR? It’s one of the tools in the software we use at piano lessons called Piano Marvel. You can watch this intro video to get a feel for how it works.) Students can take the test both during weekly lessons and at home!

Like last year’s practice competition, we’ll give out prizes for the following categories:

• Highest SASR score
• Highest number of SASR attempts
• Greatest improvement
• Most consecutive days with at least one SASR attempt

Additionally, we’ll have a drawing for a grand prize at the end of the month. Each day that a student takes the SASR earns them an extra chance at the grand prize!

One teacher in Michigan set up a similar challenge in her studio and saw amazing results! You can watch the video she made about her results here, but here’s a quick summary:

This teacher tracked how many times her students took the SASR over 7 weeks. All students were taking piano lessons and practicing at least a little at home.

• Students who only took a pre- and post-test improved by an average of 94 points.
• Students who took the SASR weekly improved by an average of 111 points.
• Students who took the SASR regularly (but not daily) improved by an average of 240 points.
• Students who took the SASR daily improved by an average of 270 points. 

What do these points mean, you ask? Here’s Piano Marvel’s chart of how scores correlate to levels:

So a score increase of 270 points could mean the difference between a late beginner and an advanced score! Being able to sight-read better means that students learn music faster, are more motivated to practice, and become more musical pianists at the same time.

We can’t wait to see what kind of progress our students will make with this challenge. Let us know if you need help getting your digital piano up and running before January so that your child can participate at home!