Sight reading isn't about the notes — it's about recognizing rhythmic patterns on sight, the way a fluent reader recognizes a word instead of sounding out each letter. A 2/4 march has only a handful of possible rhythmic shapes total; once you can instantly recognize each one, an unfamiliar tune stops looking like a wall of notes.
A jig is built from exactly two rhythmic words: an even triplet and a quarter-eighth pattern. That's really almost the entire rhythmic vocabulary of the tune type, which is exactly why jigs are the best place to start practicing sight reading.
A tied note is really two separate notes in your head, even though only one gets played. Mentally keeping them as two individual notes, rather than just holding vaguely and hoping, is how you nail the timing exactly right, even after decades of sight reading.
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About this class
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