Four years ago, when I was just starting out as a parent on my dyslexia advocate journey and researching accommodations for my son’s first 504 Plan, my internet searches did not turn up any sample accommodations for music instruction.
I created accommodations based on my husband’s advice since he was helping our kids learn to play recorder and violin for their music classes at school. My husband has dyslexia, dyscalculia, and is a naturally talented musician. In fact, our “dining room” looks more like a music room, full of instruments and spontaneous playing….and yet not full of sheet music.
For my husband, and my children, reading sheet music is difficult due to their variety of dyslexia (dyslexia comes in many variations, so not all with dyslexia will have difficulty reading sheet music).
Reading sheet music involves another layer of decoding abstract symbols, and then converting those symbols mentally into a physical location for one’s fingers and associating those symbols with particular sounds (pretty similar to decoding written language for reading and writing).
This decoding process is difficult if your strengths do not include processing abstract symbols quickly and holding them in your memory while decoding and translating to finger locations. “Slow Processing Speed” and “Weak Working Memory” combined with normal to high IQ are classic neuropsychological assessment signs of dyslexia.
Does this mean that dyslexia will prevent someone from learning to play a musical instrument? Definitely not, if the right accommodations and teaching style are available to the student. Many famous and talented musicians have dyslexia and/or ADHD. Just as difficulty with reading and writing does not prevent one with dyslexia from becoming a successful author, as many successful authors have dyslexia.
What type of music instruction did work for my husband and children?
Learning to play music by “Numbering” or a.k.a. “Fingering,” instead of reading sheet music, helped my children’s music practice immensely.
When our son first started taking violin lessons using the Suzuki method, he made great progress and excelled at violin, learning by watching his instructor’s fingering. When instruction shifted a few years later to reading sheet music, he hit a wall and lost interest in playing violin. We spoke with our son’s music teacher inquiring as to why fingering wasn’t being used anymore, and the instructor replied that “they were trying to teach everyone to read music,” and that fingering “was *cheating* and wouldn’t lead to their goal of everyone learning to read music.” Despite the fact that violin and recorder were compulsory for all students at the school, the only students who graduated able to read sheet music were those students who had private music classes outside of school, so it was an unrealistic goal and an unnecessarily harsh policy and attitude for dyslexic learners.
My husband had a private guitar tutor at age 13 and learned by watching his tutor play and listening (similar to the Suzuki method) and was allowed to improvise and enjoy experimenting, before being forced to learn to read music. My husband did learn to read sheet music eventually, though it takes him a very long time to decode and it is not how he plays music. He will use the sheet music as a bridge to learning a particular song, practicing until he can hold the song in his long-term memory and no longer uses the sheet music. He thinks YouTube videos are excellent for beginners learning an instrument.
Here is how my husband helped our kids learn violin: fist they sang the songs with the violin notes as the words, phrasing and using pitch to go along with the notes: “threee….twooo….one. three-two-one. One, One, One, …three, three, three, …..three..two..one.” Then they would play singing the notes as well as using the fingering placements.
Here are few links for learning violin or guitar with fingering/numbering:
Tablature and Fingering for Guitar Chords
“Considering that dyslexic learners frequently mix up stimuli, teaching has to be structured, cumulative, and thorough. A learner should never become uncertain, because after anything has been mixed up, it will be unstable knowledge forever. In that respect, less is more. New material should not be introduced before the previous knowledge has been safely acquired. Repetition is the mother of learning, and even more so for dyslexic learners.
Effective methods can be grouped as follows:
+ Multi-sensory approach – it uses different modalities and cross-modalities to deepen the effect of the stimuli.
+ Associations – information can be stabilized if it is connected to another, already stable knowledge or anything that can be a connection to the new information.
+ ‘First holistic then sequential’ approach – rather than starting with step-by-step methods, it gives the large picture and builds the details to it methodically. Multi-sensory learning is the normal way of human learning, yet this approach is often not used. Using more modalities means that poorer senses get support from better senses, and that senses support each other. The more supporting points we have, the more stable the learning will become.”
Existing Music Teaching Programs that Include Dyslexic-Learning Styles
“There are well-developed programs to teach music, and the approach and the elements these programs use are very close to the needs of the dyslexic learner.
Suzuki method
Shinichi Suzuki’s music instruction method mimics the learning of the mother tongue. This approach to teach children music is effective also for dyslexic learners. It is similar to second- language learning, which is no problem for a dyslexic learner among native speakers, following the learning of the mother tongue.
The Suzuki approach seems to address many of the problems identified in the research literature for young musicians with dyslexia.
The Suzuki method is helpful for the dyslexic learners, summarised by the following:
+ Structured and systematic learning.
+ Cumulative, there are enough repetitions and learners maintain their past repertoire.
+ Initially playing by ear although learning notation from the earliest stage;
+ Musical and technical point in one piece before progressing;
+ Uses aural, visual and kinaesthetic senses;
+ Lots of feedback and demonstrations by recordings of their pieces, observation of other learners’ lessons, and watching their teacher’ demonstration;
+ Safe learning by playing rhythm games and singing activity games with other children in unison, duets, or other ensembles at group lessons;
+ Emphasis on technique from the very first lesson, they learn to be aware of every movement;
+ Emphasis on musicianship, they learn to listen carefully to the sounds they are making
+ Natural, any child who can speak his/her native language has the potential to learn to play music
Kodaly method
Zoltan Kodaly was a Hungarian composer, author, educator and expert on Hungarian folk songs. The method was developed by his colleagues and students based on his teachings. The approach and the practice of the method are very close to the ways dyslexic learners need.
Here are some important notes:
+ Everyone is capable and has the right to musical literacy.
+ Singing is the foundation of musical learning.
+ Music education must begin with the very young.
+ Games, movements, instruments, reading and writing music with singing are incorporated.
The process follows a child’s natural learning development:
+ Aural – Oral – Kinesthetic
+ Written – Visual – Abstract
A modified version of the Curwen’s hand signs is used in the Kodaly Method to teach students how to sing in pitch. The multi-sensory method is one of the most effective parts of this music learning approach.
Orff Method
Source: “Teaching Music to Students who Have Dyslexia,” Erasmus+, Series of Special Education Teaching Guides, Project no: KA201-2015-012 . This is an excellent guide with several links to dyslexia-friendly music learning resources and apps.
This approach is a way of introducing and teaching children music on a level that they can easily comprehend. Musical concepts are learned through singing, chanting, dance, move- ment, drama and the playing of percussion instruments. Improvisation, composition and a child’s natural sense of play are encouraged.
Lots of music devices are used during the Orff lessons: xylophones, castanets, bells, triangles, cymbals tambourines, timpani, gongs, steel drums and conga drums and many other percus- sion instruments are part of the teaching.
Reading quotes by Carl Orff explains why his method is especially useful for dyslexic learners:
“Experience first, then intellectualize.“
“Since the beginning of time, children have not liked to study. They would much rather play, and if you have their interests at heart, you will let them learn while they play…”
“Elemental music is never just music. It’s bound up with movement, dance and speech, and so it is a form of music in which one must participate, in which one is involved not as a listener but as a co-performer.”
Music Resources for Dyslexia
FAQs About Dyslexia and Learning Music from Understood.org
New Research Examines Professional Musicians, Dyslexia, and Music Learning from University of Michigan, DyslexiaHelp
Famous Musicians with Dyslexia and ADHD from Understood.org