So… how long does it really take to graduate from the color coded music notes? That depends on the student and the instrument. Generally, I’ll color the student’s music for all the beginning level method books in a lesson series.
Here are some guidelines on how long each instrument family will need the color coding:
- It takes guitar students about six months to two years to start the process of moving on from the colors. Violin students will take about the same amount of time.
- Woodwinds and brass will most likely graduate earlier than strings, because middle school wind method books only use one fingering per note. For that reason, Violet Brand, a British music educator, felt that students with LD should be encouraged to study wind instruments.
- Piano students take two to six years to start graduating, because the two clefs make the piano much harder to read. In fact, Katie Overy has stated, “… the discovery of the numerous regions of the brain involved in sight-reading at the piano has led to the suggestion that this may be one of the most complex multisensory activities conducted by humans (Sergent et al., 1992)” (Music and Dyslexia: A Positive Approach 158).
- Mallet percussion will likely take longer than guitar, but shorter than piano.
- Note: some special needs students might not graduate at all. However, color creates an important access point to music for special needs students. In other words, it’s better they play with color than not be able to play at all.
Flash cards work for some students, but not others. Once an LD student has graduated from the colors, flash cards become productive. If you try to go to flash cards too soon, it can actually make things worse for some LD students.