Simpedia

Leeanne I., Australia

He’s 8. He doesn’t really know what he want for life yet. I tell my students I am going to teach them anyway. He will probably discover a piece of music he really wants to learn and that’s where he will discover you were right all along!

Leon Moore, California

I still don’t connect well with reading. I much prefer to go on feel, instinct, and expression. Reading is so technical, and I wouldn’t rush the process if they just want to “speak”. This is the beauty of SM. True, reading is a valuable tool for some, but come the time to perform, playing from the soul is far more genuine. Continue instilling those beautiful tools of self expression.

Laurie Richards, Nebraska

It sounds like he probably has a strong ear. Those students almost always will avoid reading when possible, because it’s just a lot more work for them. Teach it anyway. It opens up another musical world. However, you might want to take it slowly and try supplementing with easy music that he likes. My daughter struggled with reading, but she would always sit down with a Disney book and work through the RH melody because she loved the songs. Eventually she added the LH. I believe this really strengthened her reading skills.

I agree with Leon regarding playing by instinct and with expression, but I don’t think that that and reading music are mutually exclusive; i.e. you can learn a piece of written music and then interpret and play it from your soul.

It might be a good exercise to take a short, easy passage of written music, have him learn it, and then develop it. Like a theme and variations, or adding an improv section. Then he is practicing and also using his strengths with it.

Jacqui G., Canada

I am wondering if this boy is having trouble with the note reading and not wanting to admit it (maybe not even recognizing it).

As an adult, I took Royal Conservatory piano lessons and made it to Grade 7, but it wasn’t until I became a Simply Music piano teacher that I realized what a bad note reader I am. The vertical lines all run together, and those tricky little black notes keep jumping around! I find myself counting up from the bottom staff line. The stacked notes of chords defeat me. For me, reading music is a painstaking process of breaking the song down, line by line, into patterns and sentences. I realize now that most of my earlier “note learning” was a kinesthetic mix of counting, memory, ear, and faking out the teacher!

I have been reading up on musical dyslexia (dismusica). Apparently reading music is much more complicated for the brain than text reading. Written language is horizontal, but written music uses a vertical spatial arrangement to indicate pitch, with stacked notes requiring simultaneous performance, and a series of symbols adding duration, volume, etc. In the brain, reading music is a widespread, multi-modal activity involving motor, visual, auditory, audiovisual, somatosensory, parietal, and frontal areas in both hemispheres and the cerebellum.

While text and music reading share some networks, they are largely independent. The pattern of activation for reading musical symbols and letters is different across the brain.

Jan D., Ohio

What I do with students who resist reading for whatever reason – too hard, good ear, learning issues, etc – is to break the process down as small as possible. With rhythm, we take our time and do several types of activities using rhythm instruments. Do two examples as duets or three examples as trios. Take a popular song and write out several different rhythm parts to be played together with the recording using whatever concept you are working on.

With notes, you can follow the book, but expand upon it. Start with no guide notes or clefs (any starting note will do because we’re only reading intervals) then one “guide note” in each clef, hands separately, and practice reading repeats (unisons) and seconds for as long as necessary in two or four measure examples. Keep them over five notes so there are no fingering issues. Once they have mastered repeats and seconds, work on repeats and thirds only.  Then work on repeats, seconds, thirds, and fifths, and then repeats, seconds, thirds, fifths, and fourths. You can write examples out yourself or buy them.

Some students can process the information almost immediately and others need massive amounts of repetition. Several of my students balk at the idea of reading an entire piece of music, even if it is only 8 or 16 measures long, but love this type of practice because they don’t feel any pressure to “perform”. When we do tackle a reading project, I pick pieces that are so easy, they can’t fail or struggle – starts on a guide note, only over 5 notes, maybe quarter and half notes only. First hands together reading can be parallel motion on the same notes in each hand, or fifths on beat 1 in the LH to accompany a RH “melody”. We also always talk through the example before playing so that the student knows what is going on before hearing or playing it.

For the ones with good ears, they are scared of playing something when they haven’t a clue what it sounds like.I have done something similar with certain students whose ears are exceptional when learning foundation pieces and arrangements. We process the entire piece away from the piano on the paper keyboard so that the first time they hear it is when they more it to the piano. They are flabbergasted that they can play something they have never heard before!

When they are ready, we start notating the foundation level pieces and anything else they compose or play by ear. Always prepare students beyond the point of the skills they need for the project they are working on. They will have much more confidence and much less resistance. Don’t forget the “however long it takes” mantra with every new skill.