standard notation for dyslexics

[lola99]

This is a really weird question for which I apologize. My ex-husband (we get along very well, long story) wants to take up either the violin or the bass (don't ask).

The problem is that he's seriously dyslexic, and he says that when he looks at standard notation, everything blurs, and he has to count up, locate the note, identify it on the strings, then look at the notes one line up or down from it, and identify them, and then he can play those notes. However, everything sort of blurs for him quickly, and he forgets what was what. Once the notes get below or above the lines...he's completely lost.

Is there a method for this person to learn to read standard notation? I'm figuring that given the lines, he'll have the same problem with tab. He's a very bright guy--Ph.D, teaches at the university. But he can't read music. He's totally frustrated. He asked me for help.

Any ideas?

[tzadik]

It might help to get some kid's piano music books. The ones with the BIG staves and BIG notes. Sometimes bigger is way easier to read.

[Cloggy]

Odd!
I remember seeing a cool documentary some time ago in which reading music was heralded as almost a cure for dyslexia!
Notation has much more in common visually with what you hear than any written language.
When it goes up so does the pitch,and the rhythms have a reasonable concurrence with the durations...
ah well....
There goes another theory.

[lola99]

Cloggy, the theory might be right for most people, and it could be that my ex is weirder than most. It could also be that his difficulties have nothing to do with dyslexia.

Poor guy, he's frustrated, and needs help.

Tzadik, that's a great idea.

[niftydog]

Saw the end of a doco the other night where a dyslexic kid could hardly read a paragraph of text... until he put on some purple tinted glasses, then he could read the whole page as fast as any kid his age. Don't know if it's applicable to all dyslexics or musical notation for that matter!

[lola99]

Purple glasses? Maybe I should get some purple glasses for my ex! Were they dark or light purple?

Oh, another possibility could be those glasses they pass out for 3D films

[Depth_Charge]

I would recommend sending your husband to an optomologist to discuss the problem first hand to see whether tinted lenses or some other form of assistance may be useful.

[IanStephenson]

(in my experience)Adults -especially inteligent adults are very bad at learning music. The trouble is they can "learn" the information faster than they can understand it. You ex sounds pretty typical (though of course I'm generalizing, and know nothing about his specific problems).

It sounds like he's "learnt" the notes on the stave, and now he knows the names expects to be able to read them. Young children don't learn to read music like that - they learn one note (b on recorder!), and spend a week playing that one note. They then add one note the next week, and spend the next week just reading and playing a,b,a,ba,a,b,b,a.

It's REALLY hard to get an adult to learn in this way - they just don't have the patience. Instead of embedding the ideas in their motor memory, they consciously can identify the notes (exactly as you describe), and because they can do that, think they're ready no move on to more complex exercises.

Write out some exercises just using bottom E (start with just whole notes, and then add minums, and crotchets). Then when he can do them, add in F and so on.

Basically walk before you can run - and don't LET him run untill he can walk.

Ian

p.s. tab would be much worse for dyslexics than notation.

[lola99]

Thank you, Ian, I hadn't thought about that. You have there an excellent description of my ex.

Yes, when he said that he can play one note and then play the ones above and below it, but gets confused once he moves on from there, I should have suggested that he spend a good long time getting familiar with those three notes before moving on!

However...I think that he figures he's got a Ph.D and a prodigious memory, and he should be able to read music easily He's gotten so annoyed that he now believes standard notation is a seriously flawed system.