Date
8-20-2026
Department
School of Music
Degree
Doctor of Music Education (DME)
Chair
Melody Morrison
Keywords
sight-reading, improvisation, ear training, aural skills
Disciplines
Higher Education | Music
Recommended Citation
Witt, Kimberly, "Improvisation, Ear Training, and Sight-Reading Ability in Class Piano Students" (2026). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 8858.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/8858
Abstract
Sight-reading is considered an essential functional piano skill for music majors and a component of keyboard proficiency exams in the university setting. While many studies have been completed on sight-reading over the years, research on developing sight-reading as a skill is lacking or incomplete. Additionally, conflicting results among studies have created uncertainty about how to develop sight-reading as a skill. Developing sight-reading skills is crucial for class piano students who need functional piano skills relevant to their future profession. Studying the correlation between improvisation, aural skills, and sight-reading development may show how sight-reading can be built as a skill and improve over time as musicianship grows. The results of this applied experimental study show that sight-reading improves with consistent practice over time and that focused training in pattern recognition, through ear-training exercises and improvisation, may lead to better musical prediction when encountering the same patterns in new music.
