Music Reading for Students with Learning Disabilities
Abstract
As a career cello pedagogue and as a certified dyslexia instructor, I have been sought out by many string teachers for insights into how to help their students who struggle with music reading. Over time, I observed that this was a hidden problem without a research-based solution. To investigate further, I invited a self-selected cohort of string teachers to fill out a survey concerning music reading difficulties in their classrooms or studios. Fifty-two out of fifty-three respondents agreed that they had students in their programs who did not or could not learn to read music within the context of standard instruction. If you are like the many teachers with whom I have raised the question, you may have experienced this as well.
In academic classrooms, students who are found unable to read or write words will be tested and provided with appropriate resources and instruction for literacy. In our music classrooms, there is no such response. Because there is no academic music reading mandate, there is little research about students who struggle with note reading and no unified approach to remediation. The reality is that, if students are struggling to read music, they most likely are not being provided appropriate resources and instruction and may ultimately quit their music programs.