Need help teaching how to properly read music
Hi all. I am a 17 yr old pianist (completed grade 8 a few years ago) and about 6 months I started teaching my girlfriend’s little brother (11 yrs old) piano. He had been playing for a little bit before but without a consistent teacher, which has now become a bit of a problem as I have become aware of gaps in his knowledge. I’ve been working with him on his grade 1 pieces, and we plan for him to take the exam at the end of this year. His playing has become really good, and he’s managing to play with expression and dynamics really well which I think will make him stand out a lot in grade 1. However, he really doesn’t know how to read music much. When I started teaching him he was already playing with his dad’s help, but he’s just been memorising the notes with his and my help (which I’ve realised was a big mistake). I try to encourage him as much as possible to read the notes himself (which he can kind of do if I give him the starting note and he counts up and down from whatever line or space it’s on), but he tends to get frustrated, which is understandable. I’m starting to get really worried about sight reading, and I was thinking about making him work through the Pauline Hall Piano Time book he has (I learnt from them and they are great) but I think it’ll be a little patronising for someone his age, especially when his playing ability is much beyond that tbh. I’m gonna talk to my piano teacher about this and I’m sure she’ll help me but any tips/resources from here would be amazing