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Saturday stream 5 Session 11.35 - 12.50 Length 25 minutes
John Westcombe
Abstract
This paper takes the symbol- recognition and short term memory aspects of dyslexia into the music reading arena, and shows how attendant problems of 'time to work it out' and 'camouflaging difficulties' affects practice and performance for both pupils and professionals. There is recognition that several aspects of music's own organisation-instrument construction, traditions of notation, foreign language instructions- do not help. At the same time, dyslexics are the beneficiaries of a move away from notation-dominated music participation. Their creative and improvisatory skills can come to the fore, and new technology assists in the logging of compositions. Many strategies are offered and the views and experiences of both young and established professional musicians and teachers, are relayed. The structured approach from the latter applies in music; the need to learn an operatic part has to be approached systematically and from many angles. At all ages, determination to succeed has often brought a realisation that the ability to solve other problems has been of wider personal benefit.
I offer this as a music educationist rather than formally qualified dyslexia colleague, and hope that it complements Katie Overy's helpful paper on how early music training may offer extra remediation in neurological timing areas.
The following conversation took place 12 years ago at a youth orchestra audition: Smartly presented trombonist says,
"I am going to play Sophisticated Lady by Ben Elton". Music Adviser suggests that perhaps candidate has the composer wrong. Candidate looks in music and says,
"Sorry, I am going to play Sophisticated Lady by Elton John" . Music adviser, seeing embarrassment arising, asks whether it could, er, possibly be by Duke Ellington. Candidate looks in his music again and says, in a perfect put-down,
"You're right. If you knew that in the first place why didn't you tell me?"
I was the music adviser involved and, regrettably, only some time after did I realise that the lad probably had dyslexic traits, was reading inaccurately, and had mixed up his syllables. We invited him to join. It's important to log the notion of success early in this talk!
The struggle for recognition of dyslexia in general has its parallel in music, and examination boards in music have allowed special arrangements for sight reading. The steady course of awareness raising has meant that those of us who tutor each year on the Associated Board's Teaching Certificate always find an increase in numbers who have already amended their teaching methods, having encountered pupils with the well-known traits. As expected, notation is the biggest hurdle and we are familiar with the panic under pressure. There is delay in processing and acquiring automaticity, so that 'it feels like sight-reading every time I look at it'. It takes some intelligence to create the succesful strategies.
Naturally, manifestations in music relate to memory -- both in playing back short fragments (and possibly playing a short tune correctly but not realising that it's a known tune) and in securing lines of music in the 'bank', the last being essential for opera singers who cannot have recourse to their music. There is also a sense of needing to bring to bear possibly 5 aspects: the notes, eye, brain, manipulations and control of resultant sound. The first two are omitted in improvisation of course. Organisational matters need attention: the right room, music and place on the visiting teacher's rota. Laterality needs to be considered (there's a corny reminder in 'Have you brought the right music?' 'No, I've left it at home') as does what I call 'camouflage', where the pupil presents as having made some progress but with odd errors. Probably he/she has tried to memorise to avoid working out the notation, and done so inaccurately, but appears to be reading the music. Beware! Incidentally, it may be wise for a young person with dyslexic traits to start on a single line instrument rather than the piano.
Some traits will stay with musicians into the profession -- indeed they may get past training before some wise colleague alerts them to continuing difficulties. Slowness in processing means very hard work in preparation, but those teachers who have worked systematically and brick by brick are for ever lauded. Singers with dyslexic traits will have no worries in long-arched rehearsal situations such as in professional opera, but would in the 'session' world where a lot of music is recorded within 3 hours of starting, often at sight and in different languages.
We know we shouldn't assume anything when helping folk with dyslexic traits, but particularly not that concepts of rhyme and high-low have been understood. In the case of the latter, watch an Infants class doing movement. In another context, one pupil made no progress until it was realised that she thought the note to be played was where the stalk stopped, not where the blob was.
Normally we read our newspapers and magazines for the gist, and often skip a couple of pages in novels. In music we very highly prize absolute accuracy; we know when tunes and chords are wrong.
Music's conventions don't help. The music page is very crowded, with important directions often being minuscule e.g. the repeat sign. For some people the music lines go watery -- 'like a rock-pool'. The time signature looks like a fraction but isn't, and the two familiarly linked staves can, to some, resemble an up-turned radiator. Again something known in other contexts --the looking up and down from the white-board to the classroom desk -- occurs when players need to look at the conductor and then their music while processing all sorts of other things. Percussionists need to move around between instruments and music stands. Conductors are unfriendly to dyslexics when they say "Right - just want to do that tricky bit. We'll go from 23(bars) before letter H".
Instrument construction has its inconsistencies - half the string instruments work one way, the rest the other. There's a mulitsensory point here, of the left hand going away from, or coming closer to the body.
In all this there are plusses to be celebrated -- the creative minds, strong right-brain non-verbal thought features, sometimes seeing a piece holistically where others cannot grasp that aspect. It seems that choir-training is beneficial, through the required separation of syllables and the importance of clear pronunciation. Music can now be composed via sound-creation and 'play and print' technologies.
Strategies to smooth some of the rough ground include eternal patience (particularly when someone wants to return to the opening every time a mistake is made) the encouragement of improvisation, duetting, giving scales names, recording work in progress, playing alongside not opposite, writing useful clues on the music, and analysing learning styles. Some teachers find the recurrence of the A -G letter pattern can be explained by citing the beautiful physical properties which underline the octave, e.g.one A sounds at 220 cycles per sec., the next one up at 440 cps.
We remind ourselves that music can help us all with alphabet and tables; the more so can its patterns and rhythms help, in aspects of memory, those with dyslexic traits.
The teacher-musician often operates in a one-to-one situation not unalike the swimming coach. That is a privilege, and brings responsibilities.
In the end we have to recognise notation for what it is. It used to be paramount but now, so much music can be improvised without it, in classroom, cathedral organ loft, Ronnie Scott's and the Asian music ensemble.
And finally, let's not teach EGBDF in the old 'every good boy.........' What about, in the vernacular of ex-England football coaches: Excellent Game Beckham Done Fabulous
PAPER Dyslexia, temporal processing and Music; the potential of music as an early learning aid for dyslexic children. Katie Overy, Psychology of Music 2000, Vol.28 No.2
BOOKS Instrumental music for dyslexics, S. Oglethorpe, 1996 Whurr, £22.50
Music and dyslexia -- opening new doors. ed. Miles and Westcombe 2001, Whurr, £16.50
(There are 18pp on music in Philomena Ott's 'How to detect and manage dyslexia')
BDA pamphlet 1995. Music and Dyslexia, £1 + postage
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