The colors of the rainbow really helped this next student to excel at reading music notes. In his words: “Dear Geoff, thank you so much for your patience and dedication to my musical training over the years!
“I don’t think I would be nearly as good a guitarist and musician if I hadn’t been with you. You instilled the confidence to keep working, take risks, and always ask myself ‘What’s the worst that can happen? And, what’s the best that can happen?’
“I applied to four schools, including Berklee and was accepted to all of them… Thank you again, I honestly couldn’t have done it without you.”
This student started lessons with me in seventh grade. He had strengths in some areas, while needing work in other areas. For example, he had a great ear, so I never needed to teach him how to improvise.
However, his IEP said that he had LD and executive functioning issues. He’d had music lessons since second grade. Nevertheless, he couldn’t read music, and his father wanted him to be able to play in middle school jazz band.
Using color coding along with other teaching strategies, he learned of all his jazz band songs. When he graduated from middle school, he earned The George Revelas Award for Music Excellence.
In high school he read and performed music at a high level. About halfway through high school he graduated from the colors, and when he auditioned for music colleges, he didn’t need any accommodations.
If you take nothing else away from this post, I want you to remember that color is a powerful teaching tool.