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How to teach dd to learn to read music?

13 replies

Hairyfairy01 · 11/11/2018 14:14

Dd is 8 and has been playing the baritone for a bit over a year now. Whilst she knows how to play all the notes she has been taught she does not seem to be picking up the skill of reading music. I end up writing the notes underneath the music for her but I think she is relying on that rather than learning to read the music. Does anyone have any ideas for teaching children how to read music? She is currently being tested for dyslexia at school so i’m Not sure if that is making it more differcult for her?

OP posts:
Endofthelinefinally · 11/11/2018 14:15

What does her music teacher suggest?

1805 · 11/11/2018 14:51

Do you read music or play an instrument?
If so, I often start with asking them to "be in charge of all the C's" Then I play the music but leave out all the C's for the pupil to play. This ensures they are following the music. Then I add in notes for them to play, discussing intervals / patterns along the way as the range of notes increases. Throw in some simple sight reading along the way to test the recognition of the notes they know.
Also, make sure she knows the rhymes for naming the notes.
Dyslexia may be combined with a slower processing speed, and difficulty with scales too.
Also playing in groups is a sure fire way to improve note reading once she starts to gain a bit of confidence with sight reading.
Good luck!

1805 · 11/11/2018 14:53

Oh, and start rubbing some of the note names out!

ilovesushi · 11/11/2018 15:47

Following with interest. My DCs are both around grade 2 on their instruments and both have dyslexia. Both struggle with reading music to different degrees. My DS who has very severe dyslexia really struggles. He learns new pieces by ear and the sheet music is more of a back up/ memory aid. I write lots of notes, reminders and fingerings on the music or get him to add his own notes.
Scales take FOREVER to commit to memory. I had a bit of a break through when I got DS to try them out on the piano first so he could visualise them. He doesn't learn piano but it helped his trumpet playing and his understanding of what a scale is.
DD manages okay with reading music but seems to need constant reminders about really basic stuff. Have got both DCs the beginners books from the Blitz music theory series and they are very useful.

ilovesushi · 11/11/2018 15:51

Just to add - don't worry about annotating her music. With dyslexia, I think you have to do a lot of figuring out alternate routes. Whatever it takes is fine.

TheMadGardener · 11/11/2018 16:03

Have you tried an app on a tablet to make learning to sight read more fun? My DD2 used a couple of apps, mainly Music Tutor but also Vivace I think. And there's one for younger children called Learn Music Notes which I haven't seen in action but looks colourful and fun. DD2 was much more engaged with learning the notes on the app than learning them on sheet music.

MomOfTwoGirls2 · 12/11/2018 00:07

I feel your pain. We are Suzuki family. Dd2, also dyslexic, jumped into grades at grade 5. We got second teacher to work on sight reading and aural. DD2 srruggled, but got 18/20 in both in exam. My recommendation is to spend as much time as possible on sight reading. Practice really really makes such a difference. Best of luck to your Dd.

CloudsAway · 12/11/2018 08:49

If she's dyslexic, some practice on alphabet sequencing - forward and backwards - can be helpful, as I know that some of my pupils haven't really realised that music notes are actually in an order and not random, particularly as they often start on C (or another note for their instrument) and not A. (And because it goes back to A after G, so to a child who is shaky on alphabet order, they may not have noticed the pattern). Many music teachers assume that is really obvious to a child and just never mention it explicitly, but I've worked on a bit of music reading with my dyslexic pupils, and some of them haven't known this.

And even if they do know it, they may still need practice simply knowing, for example, what letter comes after E, quickly (and without having to say the alphabet up to that point to find out!). 'What comes before C' or whatever can be even harder, as they're not used to doing it backwards.

The teacher might also need to point out that although the order of the notes on the staff is vertical, it still matches up (bottom to top) to the direction of letters in the alphabet that we usually write left to right. So making sure a child is clear that when the teacher is referring to a position on the staff, and then talking about 'the next line/space' or whatever phrasing is used, that the child is clear that the one above means the next letter of the alphabet, and the one below means the previous letter. Piano can be beneficial for explaining the whole concept on the scale and matching up to the staff, because all the notes can be seen at once and in order, unlike some instruments where there are different finger patterns for each note that don't have quite as obvious sequence to them. Showing the children how the keyboard turned sideways can match up to the staff is sometimes useful too.

Another problem that dyslexic children might have is perceiving the subtle differences between notes quickly enough, so really making it clear what they have to look at (which line or space, is there a tail on the top of the note, is there a dot), and giving them more time at first to process all of that instead of expecting it done as quickly as a non-dyslexic child. A few seem to find the coloured lenses helpful, or eye exercises to work on tracking and focus control.

Some children will just learn patterns on the page and how it matches up to their instrument, without necessarily knowing note-names, for quite some time.

Anyway, those are just a couple of the language and direction issues that can make it harder for dyslexic children, and for some of the ones I've taught, it's made a big difference just to have a few obvious things pointed out that everyone thought they knew already.

ilovesushi · 13/11/2018 18:34

CloudsAway, I just asked my two if they were aware that the note names were in alphabetical order. DS did know, but surprisingly DD who is much better at reading music and further on with her scales and arpeggios had not made the connection. She was quite embarrassed! Thanks for your insights. It makes me more confident about my approach supporting their music as a parent!

Witchend · 13/11/2018 18:57

I taught myself to read music one evening when I was about 6yo. Dm always put the notes under when I was playing the recorder. One day I wanted to play some things from a book and dm was tutoring and couldn't be disturbed.
So I spent the next hour writing the notes myself. Towards the end of the hour I realised that I wasn't having to look up each note and concluded I didn't need them written underneath. Never bothered with the notes again. (for treble clef anyway)

DrWashout · 14/11/2018 11:38

Really interesting thoughts Clouds. There is so much going on, it's amazing anyone ever learns to play anything.

I got my G8 without being very good at naming what notes I was playing on the treble recorder. I just knew how the dot on the line translated to the fingering. I could still identify notes by their correct letter but only if I flipped into "descant brain". While in "treble brain" I could only play them.

It's not ideal but it had little practical impact at the level I was playing. Had I gone on further or been more musical, maybe it would have done. Personally I found it really hard to hold stave, note letter and fingering all in my head together, so I would suggest pushing stave-to-fingers rather than stave-to-note-name-to-fingers. But that might just be me, and you do need to learn the note names from the stave somehow (in my case, I got away with being lazy and flipping into "descant brain".)

Our kids' beginner piano book had cartoons for each note and gave them nicknames. Maybe an app's the way to go these days. But for me, the name of the note is not as essential to the process of stave-to-note-name-to-fingers as you might expect.

Picking up on what Clouds said, I wonder if it might help to blow up some of the music so the notes are easier to discern. Beginners' books often have very large staves, and as the player gets their eye in they get smaller. If your DD has skipped the stave-to-note-or-fingers bit, it's harder for her to learn that now, when the music's got harder to discern. Just a thought.

AlexanderHamilton · 16/11/2018 09:19

Is she doing music theory alongside her lessons?

catkind · 17/11/2018 12:47

I found this really good:
www.musictheory.net/exercises
If you go to the note identification exercise, pick the right clef,
no flats or sharps, and you can restrict it to just practising spaces or just practising lines to start with.

Has she got a method for working out notes slowly if she doesn't instantly recognise them? E.g. a mnemonic for lines and/or spaces? If DC freeze about what a note is I can prompt "well is it a line or a space" to which they usually respond "G" or whatever.

Also helps to pick things apart a bit. So I might first ask them to clap the rhythm. Or to go through the music naming notes before trying to play. Or to go through saying step up/skip up/step down/skip down/jump up or down for bigger intervals.

It really helps to go through lots of really easy music. I'd really recommend going back to the beginning of a beginner book (ideally one she didn't use as a beginner!) and working through as sight reading practice. This time instead of building up how to play the notes, they already know that so can build up how to read them instead.

You could also try a beginner theory book which will build up note names and lengths. Again separating out from the playing aspect. It is just hard doing everything at once!

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