Reading Music 1

(part 1 of 6 from the article Reading Music)

A common criticism of the Suzuki Method is that students play everything by ear and never learn to read music.  Hopefully the questions and answers in this article will address those concerns and explain how reading skills are developed and strengthened in your student.

 Back to the language learning idea…

The formation of language begins at birth with listening.  Babbling starts soon after birth, but words don’t emerge until somewhere around the first year, and sentences and paragraphs come later.  Reading and writing develop even later, normally between four and six years of age.  Once a student begins learning to read and write it takes many years for them to gain the proficiency needed to write a cohesive essay or read and comprehend a textbook.  As with any other language, learning the language of music also takes time and develops in different stages.