What is The Zigzag Method?
The Zigzag Method is a method for all keyboard players to learn reliable sight-reading and a thorough learning of musical notation. The point of the method is that you pronounce the name of the note at the same time as you strike the key to which the note refers. Similar methods are known from other ear training systems but what makes The Zigzag Method special is the concentrated design of the reading exercises, which thoroughly and systematically go through all relevant major/minor keys (from zero to seven accidentals) and all relevant chromaticism. You move in a continuous zigzag-pattern from note to note: one in the treble clef – two in the bass clef – two in the treble clef – two in the bass clef etc., or one in the bass clef – two in the treble clef – two in the bass clef etc. This focus on reading, and at the same time striking every single tone, paradoxically makes you able gradually to change your focus on a larger sheet of music and to become familiar with keys and chromatics written in the treble and bass clefs.
How The Zigzag Method was developed
Having finished my training by the Royal Danish Music Conservatory, I had to be honest with myself and admit that my sight-reading was insufficient. During my training to become a pianist I had suffered terribly from being a poor sight-reader and I had not been able to remedy this disability, as I did not understand at that time how to develop my sight-reading. As an adult pianist, with no excuse for being a poor sight-reader, I developed my own system for improvement. I designed it as a structured working through the notation in all relevant major/minor keys (from zero to seven key signatures) and in all relevant chromaticism.
