LEARNING BY ROTE AND BY READING

KEITH A. BROWN
Purpose and Questions
The purpose of this study was to analyze the differences between
teaching students by rote and teaching students to read notation.
Different cultures seem to take different approaches and
emphasize different parts of it. With that being said, most systems
do incorporate both to a certain degree. Furthermore, more and
more ensemble directors are beginning to utilize methods of rote
teaching and improvisation in rehearsal and concert settings.
These directors often say that doing so improves the overall
musical quality of the ensemble and instills another layer of
learning into their students.
Inquiry Questions
• How do experts and students view teaching music by rote and
teaching through notation; does one or the other produce
better musicians?
• If not used in conjunction with each other, which one is
preferable, and why is that so?
Themes
• Learning by rote and by reading build off each other. Many
studies started off with experiences of learning by ear
(Suarez, 2006) but then also stated the importance of
teaching students to read later on. Some students, even
after being exposed to the rote system, have an easier time
understanding and interpreting music, and thus teaching it
to others when there is a visual representation (Gromko,
2004). Those who are proficient in both are able to perceive
music in a variety of different ways.
• Students in general seem to enjoy learning by rote than by
reading (Hess, 2009). The more natural and hands on
approach especially draws younger students towards it, and
some students even imply that reading is unnecessary and a
waste of time. But those who were able to learn to read
music fluently say that it greatly helped them (Musco, 2010).
• Whether intentionally or not, learning by rote tends to be
associated with lowbrow culture and reading notation tends
to be associated with highbrow culture (Suarez, 2006). This
could perhaps be due to western cultural norms taking
precedence over others (Hess, 2009).

References
• Gromko, J. E. (2004). Predictors of Music Sight-Reading Ability in High School Wind Players.
Journal of Research in Music Education, 52(1), 6–15.
• Grutzmacher, P. (1987). The Effect of Tonal Pattern Training on the Aural Perception, Reading Recognition,
and Melodic Sight-Reading Achievement of First-Year Instrumental Music Students. Journal of
Research in Music Education, 35(3), 171-181.
• Hess, J. (2009) The oral tradition in the Sankofa Drum and Dance Ensemble: student perceptions. Music Education Research, 11
(1), 57-75.
• MacKnight, C. (1975). Music Reading Ability of Beginning Wind Instrumentalists after Melodic Instruction. Journal of Research in
Music Education, 23(1), 23-34.
• Musco, A. (2010). Playing by Ear: Is Expert Opinion Supported by Research? Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music
Education, (184), 49-64.
• Suarez, E. R. (2006). Proceedings from the International Society for Music Education (ISME) 2006
Seminar of the Commission for Community Music Activity. International Society for Music
Education, 55-68.

Process
To find my sources, I used Google Scholar and JSTOR.
In my searches, I included phrases such as “by rote” “by
ear” “reading notation” and “reading music.” To
determine if the sources would be valuable, I first Research Suggestions
skimmed through the abstract evaluated whether or • Study how this affects instrumentalists vs. vocalists – All of
not the article would be useful. the research done here pertains to students primarily studying
instrumental music. Would the results vary if research was
conducted on vocalists as well?
• Switch methods and materials – folk music is often taught by
Practice Suggestions rote and concert music is often taught by reading. What if
these roles were switched? How practical would that be?
• Begin with rote – especially at the younger ages, it has repeatedly Would it be beneficial to the students’ sense of musicality?
been shown to be more successful by starting to learn by ear, then • Study how music was taught before western notation was
to connect that to a visual representation. Reversing this method standardized – earlier cultures still taught and learned music,
often leads to more confusion among students. as it was passed down from generation to generation.
• Create unique notation systems – allowing students to create their Whether or not they wrote it down, how could those methods
own way of representing music visually gives them the have influenced how we learn and teach music today?
opportunity to be creative in different ways. Furthermore, then
they could teach their system by rote to other students.