For a lot of us, the worst thing about music isn’t having to work long hours on a difficult piece, show up for a lesson not quite prepared, or audition for a small group of critical strangers. No, the worst thing just might be sight-reading. Right away, sight-reading reveals what we don’t know about pitch and rhythm, and even if we know a lot, it still trips us up. It’s not just a problem for students; many good professional musicians are poor sight-readers.

The fear and loathing of sight-reading isn’t necessary, according to Leslie Adams Wimsatt. She’s a studio teacher and former orchestra director, and she develops curriculum for the medical school at the University of Michigan. She’s also been the sight-reading adjudicator at a lot of orchestra and band festivals and com­petitions. “I always tell them, ‘Welcome to the best part of the event!’” she says. “They usually have an opposing philosophy.”

Wimsatt defines sight-reading as the ability to read and perform a piece of music previously unseen and unrehearsed. She stresses that it’s an important skill for any fluent musician. “The goal in sight-reading,” she says, “is to aim for the main ideas—getting an outline of the piece, understanding how it’s organized, and what the major supporting details are.

“You’re given a complex set of interrelationships in music, and your job is to figure it out. It’s one big puzzle. It’s better than a video game!”

Wimsatt breaks sight-reading skills into three components: what you already know, how fast you can process information, and the strength of your motor skills.