Music Reading for Students with Learning Disabilities
Thursday 22nd February 2024, 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM (London Time)
There are music students in private studios and school classrooms who are not readily learning to read music through standard instruction. Research into dyslexia gives us insight and guidance to how students with learning disabilities can be taught in a way that effectively builds the neural pathways for literacy. Using the style of teaching first created by the dyslexia researchers Stillman and Gillingham, Multisensory Structured Language (MSL), we can redesign our approach to teaching music reading that follows a strict, logical and effective order to build the neural pathways that are necessary for students with learning disabilities to learn.
Music reading is most often taught as a secondary skill to performing skills, and therefore does not follow its own logical, systematic approach. This negatively effects students who are not neurologically wired to learn through our traditional standard instruction. Applying the principles of MSL instruction to music reading instruction reorganises the steps to learning in surprising and effective ways. Adapting this scientifically researched approach to music reading makes it possible for struggling students to have access to music literacy.
This course will review the research surrounding certain learning disabilities such as dyslexia, dyscalculia and ADHD, and the research-based solutions that have been found to work successfully. We will examine current methods of music reading pedagogy, and then compare that to systems specifically designed to accommodate students with learning disabilities.
Dr Elizabeth Morrow
Dr Elizabeth Morrow, Professor Emerita, was awarded the degree Doctor of Musical Arts in Cello Performance from the University of Southern California. As a recitalist, she has concertized extensively in Europe and North America. An award-winning pedagogue, Dr Morrow has been an active presenter for the American String Teachers Association and Texas Music Educators Conference.
Attend this course for as little as £22 as part of the Voice Professional Training CPD Award Scheme.
Learn MoreSorry, this is an archived short course...
We have plenty of upcoming short courses coming soon. See details of some of them below or look at the full list of short courses.
Monday 27th April 2026
3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Tuesday 28th April 2026
3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Wednesday 29th April 2026
3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Thursday 30th April 2026
3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Friday 1st May 2026
3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Tuesday 5th May 2026
3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
(London Time)
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This six-day course is designed to provide an introduction to the neuroscience of vocalization. It aims to provide a foundation for those who are looking to fuse science with art and understand that the voice is so much more than an instrument.
Tuesday 5th May 2026
2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Tuesday 12th May 2026
2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Tuesday 19th May 2026
2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Tuesday 26th May 2026
2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Tuesday 2nd June 2026
2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Tuesday 9th June 2026
2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
(London Time)
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Voice pedagogy has advanced significantly in the last decades in relation to knowledge of the vocal apparatus (anatomy and mechanics), acoustics, and performance psychology (to name just a few subfields) – this is a wonderful thing! Nonetheless, musicianship and the foundations of music theory are still relevant to the teaching and coaching of singers and this course aims to empower voice teachers and coaches with skills to support the fundamental musicianship development of their students.
Thursday 7th May 2026
3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
(London Time)
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Marth Munro
The central thrust of the session will be around the employment of Donald Schön’s concept of ‘reflection-in-action’ and ‘reflection-on-action’ to contextualise the potential interface between the inner and the outer in embodied voice research.