Jennifer Hess

Content Area: Music Education

Music and Reading: Finding Connections From Within, by Suzanne N. Hall and Nicole R.
Robinson
Abstract: Increasingly, music teachers are required to assist, tutor, or teach reading skills in the
music classroom. In the effort to meet such mandates, music teachers may be challenged to either
relinquish valuable music instruction time or attempt to combine instructional strategies of both
music and reading into singular lessons, units, and classroom activities. It may prove beneficial
for music educators to understand common characteristics inherently shared between the two
subjects. This article details terminology, learning processes, and instructional strategies shared
between music and reading instruction. Activities demonstrate ways reading instruction is
naturally supported in the music classroom.
Citation
Hall, S., & Robinson, N. (2012). Music and Reading: Finding Connections from
Within.General Music Today, 26(1), 11-18. Retrieved April 6, 2015, from
http://gmt.sagepub.com/content/26/1/11.full.pdf html
Interesting/Important points
1. 1/3 of American population do not possess the functional literacy skills to perform basic
tasks, ensure individual opportunities, and contribute to the national economic infrastructure
based on a report by The National Institute for Literacy. Statistic sets up the issue discussed in
article.
2. Music and reading share 3 learning processes: auditory, symbolic representation, and coding.
3. Sound discrimination exercises are found in music instruction and aids in students phonemic
awareness.
4. Music instruction assists students with vocabulary, left to right reading, creating, phrasing,
expression, visualizing, and perception which directly correlates to reading skills.
Discussion Questions
1. Why do you think music teachers feel unequipped to incorporate reading and literacy
strategies in the classroom?
2. What information in the article surprised you the most, or made you ask additional questions?