Dyslexia and Music

[Mommy2plus3]

My DD has been taking piano for a few years now. She loves to play but has had a great deal of trouble progressing through the books. She started learning with the Bastien Method but after almost 2 years she was still trudging through the Primer. We started with a new teacher in January which has been a wonderful change! The previous teacher was very understandably impatient when DD didn't know note names etc. I know nothing about piano so I didn't realize that a typical student would have mastered that by now and there was no communication from the teacher. The teacher would ask DD to play the songs she practiced all week and if they were not correct she would tell her "No, it should sound like this" Well, of course DD could then play the song she just heard. (She has a good ear) Our new teacher is using the Piano Adventures books. She was completely baffled when we started. She has taught piano for decades and said she has not seen someone on so many different levels in so many different areas. I.E. She cap point to a half note and say "This is a half note it gets 2 beats, a dotted half note gets 3 beats , a whole note gets 4 beats," etc. However when she plays it is difficult for her to keep a steady beat or give the notes their value. She can pick almost any melody she hears on the piano given a little time but after years and flash cards and computer print offs, she still can't identify note names, other than middle C, with any consistency. She identifies other notes by finding C and singing up and down the scale as she touches the keys. I heard Ms. Barton say on a video that children with Dyslexia should not be forced to learn to read music because they will learn to hate it. I also have a friend who has her Pedagogy who say's she was taught that although Dyslexic children have a difficult time learning to read music but it is good for their brain development to keep at it as long as they are in a positive environment. Has anyone out there had experience with this? Does your Dyslexic child play an instrument? Is another instrument better suited?  Do they read music? Right now DD's teacher is very loving and understanding and I think with the circumstances she will apply gentle pressure and lots of encouragement. DD adores her and she is breaking down each concept for her. The other side is last week they spent an entire lesson clapping rhythms that DD still can't get. I am eager to hear of another's experience.

[Indian summer]

Has your dd tried putting coloured overlays on top of her sheet music? Some dyslexics find this helps, I'm told, if they have issues with all the lines on the page.

 

Is your dd interested in singing? Learning solfege might help reinforce the notes. My dd's note reading really clicked when we added voice lessons. So if CDE = Do, Re, Mi which of these words would you use to sing twinkle twinkle little star? If your dd could relearn simple songs replacing the lyrics with do, re, mi or even note names?

 

Then there is the music for young children method where they learn stories about characters whose names begin with the letters of the keys, they live on the corresponding keys and visit a house (the staff) where every position is explained in the stories and reinforced with songs. Could you find an MYC teacher who would be willing to work one on one with your dd? Or might you and your dd work together to make up your own?

[Heathermomster]

DS started trumpet in 5th grade.  He has all the issues that you have described with your DD.  Rhythms are a chore, and he must practice clapping them out when introduced to new music.  

 

I've read that Colour Staff Notation was developed by Margaret Hubicki to teach dyslexics music, but I've never been ever to locate the materials.  This link might be helpful.

 

 

[Lecka]

I played in the school orchestra.  We often started with clapping out rhythms when we got new music, and did have to go over them.  It is a recommended thing for sight reading (which is something we did at orchestra contest) -- you get the rhythm first, then add the notes. 

 

I am just saying -- that sounds like a good teacher, it sounds good to me. 

 

If she likes it and you like it -- I think it sounds like it is going well. 

 

Personally -- I am no talent at music, but I still enjoyed piano lessons and orchestra!  I played easier songs than other kids my age at recitals (kindly -- my teacher held several recitals with mixed ages, so it didn't stand out that way).  I was slower.  I did not finish at as high of a level as other kids. 

 

But I did love piano lessons!  I loved my teacher!  And I really enjoyed orchestra, also. 

 

I never really got triplets, either.  I could do it in orchestra, b/c -- I guess I was with a group, and also only playing one line.  In piano -- if one hand was supposed to be a quarter note and one hand triplets ---- well, I just never got that, and I did try to learn some songs that way, but ended up learning different songs instead.  That was just -- really okay!  My piano teacher was like "hey, you tried!"  Then we might come back to it after a few months.  I graduated high school without being able to do it, though, and it is not any problem in any way, and wasn't at the time.  If I had dreamed of having a higher level of piano skill, it would have been different, but I just liked playing my songs and stuff. 

 

I would try the other things too, definitely.  But mainly it sounds like a good deal, and the new teacher sounds like she likes your daughter and has a good rapport with her.

[OneStepAtATime]

We are doing piano here, but using a very different system than is normally taught in piano.  We are using Simply Music and honestly I think this thing was designed with dyslexics in mind (it was actually designed for blind people originally, but it is perfect for those with language based learning issues, too).  We got a life time access through Homeschool Buyer's Co-op for not very much, especially considering how expensive years of piano lessons, with multiple children, can be.

 

Simply Music does NOT focus on learning the names of the notes first.  You learn rhythms and note patterns first.  Names of the notes comes later.  Like how we learn to talk FIRST and THEN we learn to read the language we are already speaking.  The lessons are short and if you put in even 10 minutes of practice a day, you can learn the lesson.  The key is not to move on until you have put in that 10-20 minutes of practice to get those particular note patterns and rhythms down.  

 

DD just took off with this program and within a little over a week she was composing her own songs and we were playing her songs as duets.  She loved playing on our old, portable electric keyboard because she could play anywhere.  She could play in the family room or outside or up in her room.  At 13 it was important to her to be somewhat independent.  We really enjoyed the program.  

 

Unfortunately, two things happened right before Christmas that have temporarily (hopefully) kind of derailed our daily piano lessons.  One, our keyboard sort of died and we bought her a new one, but it isn't portable.  It sits in a corner of one room.  She hardly touches it now.  We are considering buying a cheap, portable keyboard again as a gift for "completing" 7th grade in May...  The second thing is I feel so exhausted all the time these days that I am having trouble keeping piano in our day to day schedule.  We just seem to be taking too long with all the teacher intensive stuff we are doing right now that piano gets left behind.  But DD and I LOVE LOVE LOVE Simply Music.  I highly recommend the way they teach piano to any child that has language based learning issues.

[alef]

I also think Simply Music might be a good fit, I am not familiar with the online program but a friend's children take lessons from a Simply Music teacher and she has been very pleased, I think you can search for local teachers on their website. A Suzuki music program might be worth considering as well, if you go to the Suzuki Association website you can look up teachers who have been trained in the method. Suzuki emphasizes listening regularly to the music on CD so children learn to play by ear. I like Suzuki better for strings or flute than for piano, cello might be a good choice for someone who struggles with note reading if she ever wants to play in an orchestra or ensemble as the lower orchestra parts often have fewer complex passages with lots of fast notes, they tend to follow a simpler base line and let the higher pitched instruments take care of the ornamentation. Cello has a lovely tone and nice solo repertoire, but you can memorize that as needed! Also, string instruments usually play one note at a time, which I find easier to read than piano music where you need to be able to follow along for both hands at the same time.

 

BTW, my dyslexic sister is an accomplished pianist and organist, but after years and years of playing she still struggles with sight reading. She will work at a piece until it is mostly memorized and she sounds amazing, but playing even simple hymns is a struggle if she has to rely on reading the music. It was actually her music teacher who initially prompted her to seek evaluation for dyslexia as her music reading skills were lagging so far behind her playing ability.

[FairProspects]

Our piano teacher also uses a program developed for dyslexics called Colorkeys. It has been incredible for ds and his playing has jumped several levels since she implemented it. My younger son does Suzuki strings and uses a program called Music Mind Games for rhythm and that has also been a great experience. So I would agree with others to look at Suzuki as a option or to a program written specifically for dyslexics on piano.

[Splash]

My dd is dyslexic and learned to read music pretty well within two years. She was older,11, when she started piano and had a wonderful, patient, creative teacher who used clapping, singing, movement, etc to get my dd to learn.

 

I have a ds who has dyspraxia, vision issues, plus some other issues. We used different colors, sizes of print, highlighting, computer programs, etc. I think he learned a lot in high school advanced choirs when he could separate the note reading from the playing of an instrument. He started violin at 7. He is very, very musically gifted, can play anything he hears. However, he couldn't read music until sophomore year of high school, sight reading and rhythm patterns are still weak points. I will say that by senior year for all state choir auditions he got all perfect scores except one rhythm pattern he lost a few points there. Highest score in school. So it can happen, just takes time.

[PeterPan]

I don't think it's a problem to continue since you say she's enjoying it.  If there's serious stress (anxiety), a change is in order.  If she's enjoying it or enjoys working with the teacher and having positive sessions where she learns persistence, that's awesome.

 

The rhythm thing is EF and you can work on it with HeatherMomster's metronome homework.  Suffer no longer.  Download and app and do the homework.  :D

[Jyniffrec]

I don't think it's a problem to continue since you say she's enjoying it. If there's serious stress (anxiety), a change is in order. If she's enjoying it or enjoys working with the teacher and having positive sessions where she learns persistence, that's awesome.

 

The rhythm thing is EF and you can work on it with HeatherMomster's metronome homework. Suffer no longer. Download and app and do the homework. :D

I just googled the metronome homework and couldn't find it. Where is it to be found? :)

[Terabith]

I would be tempted to look for a Suzuki or Musikgarten teacher who could incorporate a more ear-based approach.

[LaughingCat]

Calling Heathermomster or another metronome guru

(link goes to thread on this forum)

 

DD didn't have much luck starting with clapping to a metronome - but was able to jump on the trampoline or bounce a (very large) ball while counting by ones.  After she 'got' that and practiced it for a bit she was able to clap along to a metronome. We have never done it for the kind of time talked about by Heathermomster though (or even regularly enough either for that matter).

 

A lot of EF/VT activities also use a metronome to make activities harder.  For DD this still remains incredibly hard and I have reverted to the ball bouncing for those as well (although she's probably ready to retry the metronome at this point).