In today's episode, sight reading specialist Rebecca Stewart joins Tim and shared with us her top five tips for sight reading (with really cool names). Rebecca has authored and published Sight Reading Secrets, which has now nine books in the series. She also founded Imagination Regeneration to give rural students meaningful learning opportunities at no cost to their families. This episode explores the importance of sight reading and why we should still intentionally teach and practise it. And Rebecca talks about how to teach sight-reading in a way that makes it fun, but also interesting and engaging for everyone involved!

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Today’s Guest

Rebecca grew up listening to her three older sisters practice their musical instruments. She delighted in her childhood music lessons and wanted to teach young children in a fun and creative way. Her piano teacher at Melbourne University recommended the Yamaha method, and Rebecca taught with Yamaha Music Education Centres from 1998 to 2018. She loved being a national teacher trainer with Yamaha. She also enjoyed opportunities to travel to Toronto and Tokyo for Yamaha teacher development events. Rebecca is also a qualified practicing Yamaha grade examiner.

In 2016, Rebecca went to Jakarta where her eight-year-old Yamaha student performed his original composition at the Asia Pacific Junior Original Concert. Her first book "Sight Reading Secrets Grade One" was published in 2004, and there are now nine books in the series. Following the 2020 bushfires and the COVID pandemic, Rebecca founded Imagination Regeneration to give rural students meaningful learning opportunities at no cost to their families. These experiences of musical improvisation, composition and performance, as well as creating original musical works, helped students express themselves following a period of trauma and being isolated.

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