From theory — Sight Reading. The lessons are on Sight Reading Practice, with the piano on that page. Rhythm room: Dividing the beat names the note lengths you read.

Sight reading

The clef chart, the Italian marks, and the Hanon score are the lookup on this page. The lessons, with the piano drawn on the page, are Sight Reading Practice.

After C: Minor scale · Scales lab · Note values · Time signatures · Sight reading · Highway Game

A note's letter is set by its line or space on the staff. The clef tells you which lines/spaces mean which letters — so always read the clef first. How the bar is grouped — 4/4, 3/4, 6/8 — lives on Time signatures. How long each note lasts lives on Note values.

Grand staff & piano hands

Treble clef (𝄞) — Right Hand / higher notes

The treble staff curls around line 2 (G4). It carries melodies and higher harmony played by the right hand. Middle C sits on one ledger line below the staff.

Bass clef (𝄢) — Left Hand / lower notes

The bass staff centers its dots around line 4 (F3). It carries basslines, roots, and foundation accompaniment played by the left hand. Middle C sits on one ledger line above the staff.

For the complete beginner's guide to the visual landmark reading method, duration pyramids, rhythm counting, accidentals, and Italian dynamics/tempo markings, visit the master Sight Reading Hub.

Hanon — read the sheet music (all 60 exercises)

Hanon's The Virtuoso Pianist (1873, public domain) is 60 finger exercises in three parts. Because the patterns are simple and repetitive, they are perfect sight-reading fuel: your eyes learn to track stepwise motion, read both clefs at once, and recognise the finger patterns that recur in real music. Read a beat ahead of your hands, keep your eyes on the page (not the keys), and start slow — Hanon marks the metronome at 60, rising toward 108 only once every note is clean.

Want to read and hear Part I one exercise at a time — transcribed to notation with a play cursor and keyboard? That interactive lab now lives on its own Hanon Part I page under Technique & practice. This page keeps the full engraved score for all 60, for reading.

Read the score · all 60 exercises

The complete engraved score on the grand staff. Pick a part and scroll through to read — each exercise climbs and returns, both hands moving together.

Can't see the score above? Open the current part in a new tab. Part I: independence & strength · Part II: scales, arpeggios & broken chords · Part III: running octaves, repeated notes, trills & tremolos. Music is public domain (Hanon, 1873).

Hear each exercise & play it in other keys

The score above is enough to read from. To also hear an exercise or read it transposed to another key, open it on hanon-online.com. Part I links:

Parts II & III (audio + other keys):