The archive contains posts about teaching ADD students music.
Do you want to know a secret about ADD? It is not a deficit of attention. In fact, students with ADD have excessive amounts of attention.
Sensitive to their surroundings, the person with ADD has problems with random stimuli. Namely, a ticking clock can become really distracting when a student with ADD tries to study.
If a noise suddenly happens in the room, it can become very hard for the person with ADD to ignore it. Because they have too much attention, everything grabs their focus.
This makes it hard for ADD students to keep to a task. It gets even harder when there are new and fun things to distract them.
Sorting out sensory data remains an issue. However, what appears to be a self-control issue in school, can become an asset in the real world. Let me give you an example:
What color is the apple?
If you said red, look again. Does it just look red?
When you look closely, you can easily see many colors across the skin of the apple. Dark cloudy patches, white and yellow spots, and a brown stem all appear on the surface of the apple. If you said the apple looks red, then you unconsciously filtered out the other colors to quickly label it by its main hue.
This type of sorting does not come easily to students with ADD. Nonetheless, the talent to look beyond the simple label to see all of the colors that appear on the fruit remains a critical skill if you wish to correctly paint a picture of the apple.
Therefore, the student with ADD can easily connect together outwardly unconnected information, because they do not quickly filter out seemingly unrelated data. This tendency helps fuel their creativity.
Curious George always gets in trouble because of his curiosity. However, it turns out he would have made a good scientist (or he would if he was human).
Similarly, students with ADD often get in trouble for being distractible. However, they are also creative and interested in diverse topics of learning. They have a sense of curiosity about them, an important trait for scientists.
“One of the most important qualities of a good scientist is curiosity. Curiosity makes a scientist ask why things happen. It makes him or her eager to learn more or test an idea” (Spectrum Science Grade 3 8).
ADD students are observant. True, ADD students have a hard time with filtering. However, the flip side is that they may just discover something that no one else noticed before. Kinda like Einstein did with the speed of light.
Creating and interpreting music needs this type of curiosity and creativity as well.
© 2021 Geoffrey Keith
Back to the Successful Music Student Blogs page
“What do you think of the Chord Buddy for special needs guitarists?” I first heard about using the Chord Buddy with special needs students from Sarah Fard at the 2019 Able Assembly. However, I’ve found it works better for some students than for others. Read more to find out who benefits. Estimated reading time 3 minutes.
Do you want to know what the advantages of dyslexia are? How can people with dyslexia seem to have terrible memories sometimes, but not others? “He could remember events perfectly, even those that happened when he was an infant” (The Gift of Dyslexia 96). Episodic memory has a central role in the thinking process of many dyslexics which helps explain this puzzling fact. Also, it’s one of the four benefits to dyslexia. Keep reading to learn what the advantages of dyslexia are and how episodic memory plays a part in that. Estimated reading time 3 minutes.
“Once sheet music is all digital, why not always colour-code notes?” Since most sheet music can now come in digital format, will there be any good reason not to color code the notes all the time? I’ve long advocated using color coding for helping special needs students to learn music from sheet music. However, the opening suggestion (by a person on social media) goes one step further. It proposes making a permanent change to how people read sheet music. Click to find out the arguments for and against adopting universal color coded music notation. Estimated reading time 2 minutes.
Do you want to know some of the positives to having dyslexia? Does all information seem connected to you? Global thinking is the capacity to see cohesive relationships between different domains of knowledge. It’s also one of the four strengths resulting from dyslexic brain structure. Keep reading to learn the details of how everything being connected to everything else can be a positive aspect of having dyslexia. Estimated reading time 3 minutes.
How do I switch from minor key shaped notes to standard notation?” Sight singing minor keys in standard notation can be challenging. Because it can be difficult to figure out if you’re in a major key or the relative minor. Read more to learn how to transition from shaped notes to standard notation for minor keys. Estimated reading time 3 minutes.
“How do I finally get my students to be able to read music without color coding?” In today’s post, we’ll look at the last stage of graduating from the colors: flashcards. Keeping reading to learn how to graduate from color coded music symbols. Estimated reading time 3 minutes.
Do you want your autistic child to play piano? Or are you an adult with autism who’s wondering if piano would be a good fit? Playing piano brings a lot of benefits beyond just the fun of playing music. Read more to find out the answer to the question, “Is playing the piano a suitable activity for autistic people?” Estimated reading time 2 minutes.
Would you like to introduce your kid to piano? (Or are you a music teacher who has a student with learning difficulties?) Multisensory teaching methods will help! Click to learn about playing piano with color coded left hand notes and rhythm. Estimated reading time 2 minutes.
Do you want to sing Eastern European folk melodies and mediaeval chants? Are you puzzled about how the aeolian mode works? Modes have been a feature of music from ancient times to today. Singing Shape Note Solfege Aeolian Melodies lets you explore the exotic sound of the aeolian mode. Estimated reading time 2 minutes.
Can’t read piano music? (Or does your child have difficulty reading music?) Color coded notes and rhythms can help! Click to learn about playing the piano with color coded rhythm, fingering, and notes. Estimated reading time 3 minutes.