Estimated reading time 3 minutes
Table of Contents
Introduction
Do you want to learn how to read music, but just can’t? Are you a teacher that has students with good ears who struggle with reading? Having a good ear can be a two-edged sword. The student can pick up music quickly by ear. However, the same strength can create challenges for score reading. Read more to learn why it’s so hard for someone with a good ear to learn to read sheet music.
This post has links to music definitions, which you’ll find in the Glossary at the end.
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The Challenges of Teaching Talented Students Shows Us Why It’s So Hard for Someone with a Good Ear to Learn Sheet Music
It can be a challenge to teach a student with a good ear. You need to be careful about playing music for kids with really good ears. If you play the song before they’ve tried to read it, they’ll often skip reading the notes and just play the music in their heads.
For example, my wife has an extremely good ear. She told me a story about taking piano lessons as a girl. She’d listen as the teacher played the song. Then, she’d play it back from memory. Once, when she played a song, her teacher said, “Uh… good, but you played it in the wrong key.”
That explains why Charles Rosen suggests that teachers should avoid playing for students with good ears. Because they’ll give the impression that they can read music when they really can’t.
It’s also my experience that if you play for them, they’ll avoid reading, because they find it easier to play from memory. I had one little boy with killer ears who once asked, “Can you play me the song?” I told him, “No, if I do that you’ll play by ear and skip reading the music.” Then, he got a darn-he’s-on-to-me expression on his face.
This shows why it’s so hard for someone with a good ear to learn sheet music. Because some students want to take the easy way out. However, many students legitimately struggle to learn to read.
Once We Know Why It’s So Hard for Someone with a Good Ear to Learn Sheet Music, We Can Do Something About It
We’ve discussed why it’s so hard for someone with a good ear to learn sheet music. So, how do we help them?
Kids with good ears will be used to playing at a much higher level than they can read. This can make them feel like they’re going backwards when they start to read music.
I deal with this by color coding the score. These links show you how I do it:
Video: How Effective is the Color Coding
Concluding Thoughts to Why It’s So Hard for Someone with a Good Ear to Learn Sheet Music
Why is it so hard to learn sheet music for someone who plays by ear, and how do we deal with it? It’s easier to learn to speak than it is to learn to read text. Likewise, it’s easier to sing than to sight sing, and for many students, it’s easier to play than to sight read.
Your goal should be to get as close to the student’s playing level as quickly as possible. The color coding will help. In time, students will graduate from the colors to reading a color free score:
Related Content:
- How Does Your Brain Learn to Play the Piano with Two Hands?
- Ways Around the Difficulty of Playing the Piano Due to Short Fingers and Small Hands
- How to Overcome the Fear of Performing in Front of an Audience
- Why Do Minor Keys Sound Sad to Me?
- Do I Really Have to Learn Music Theory to Learn How to Play Piano?
- Why Do Pianists Occasionally Play Their Hands at Different Times as They Perform
- What Are the Small “>” Signs Above or Below the Notes?
- After They Can Sight-Read What’s Left for Musicians to Learn?
© 2023 Geoffrey Keith
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Glossary
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