It’s widely known that music can aide mathematical skills, memory skills, brain development and learning – but did you know that learning to read music also lays the groundwork for reading skills in our pre-readers? A four year old may not be quite ready to read words but piano lessons and introductory music classes such as Kindermusik for the Young Child can help prepare your little one for reading and literacy.

Many parents aren’t aware of the synonymous nature of music reading to language reading:

• Music teaches your child to read left to right, top to bottom across the page on a staff in the same manner as reading language does.
• The musical alphabet is the first 7 letters of the alphabet, written in capital letters. Children begin their reading skills by focusing on the alphabet and capital letters.
• In piano lessons, children learn the music alphabet forwards and backwards solidifying and creating confidence in the knowledge of the musical alphabet – setting the stage for confidence in reading readiness.
• As we learn the music alphabet in relation to the piano or glockenspiel (in Kindermusik), we sing the letters as we play, adding vocal inflections that can aide your child in speaking and reading aloud with enthusiasm and exploring the inflections necessary for public speaking.

Each week I can clearly see the thoughts, ideas, groundwork and small steps my students are making towards reading, whether in a private piano lesson or my Kindermusik for the Young Child classes. It is a slow process and it takes patience, understanding and knowledge of how to engage a young child’s mind and understand their thought processes. But the connections are made, and with patience and perseverance they are strongly made, setting the stage for excellence in school. What an incredible privilege it is to be such an influence and on these young children’s lives, aiding them to achieve, set goals and succeed.