Music and Literacy (Part 1)

Sharon Seely contributed this post. Click here to read more of Sharon's thinking. 

This past fall one of our district music teachers, Kathy Wacker, attended the American Orff Schulwerk Association National Conference.   When I saw her on her first day back, as I asked, “Hey! how was the conference?” she smiled and excitedly answered, “We need to talk.  I have so much to share with you.” She was so fired up about what she had heard/learned about the correlation between music and literacy.  This was the beginning of a learning opportunity.

We have now presented at two district-wide training opportunities for K-8 teachers.  It has been an amazing partnership. I have learned so much from her and she tells me that it goes both ways. 

So, what are we sharing about music and literacy….

Music and Reading Comparison Chart

Reading Skills	Music Skills	Example Songs
Letter Recognition	Note Recognition	ABCs
Sound/Symbol Association    (decoding)	Sound/Symbol Association	ABCs Decoding YouTube
Syllabication	Performing Rhythm Patterns	Raps
Vocabulary Development	Vocabulary	Dr. Seuss (color coding rhyming words)
Rhyming	Rhyming Lyrics	Down By the Bay The Ants Go Marching Nursery Rhymes
Parts of Speech	Elements of Music	Schoolhouse Rock-Grammar
Sentence Structure	Phrase Structure	Schoolhouse Rock
Punctuation	Articulation	Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed
Story Writing	Composition	Song Lyrics
Comprehension	Aural Analysis	Song Lyrics
Silent Reading	Audiation	Song Lyrics
Fluency	Fluency	Over the River and Through the Woods
Phoneme Awareness	Pitch Awareness	Apples and Bananas
Letters, Words and Sentences	Notes	Bingo
Phrasing	Phrasing	Shoo Fly
Visual Focus	Visual Focus	Row, Row, Row Your Boat
Expressive Skills		Stomp
Speech Signals Listening Skills	Auditory Signals	Pop Goes the Weasel Witch Doctor Choral Presentation
Rhythm	Rhythm	Chants (word wall)
Communication	Communication	Abiyoyou
Thinking  - higher level questioning	Thinking – higher level questioning	Adding/changing lyrics Writing new song/story
Memorization	Memorization	Fifty Nifty – states song

By Linda Brown, May 21, 2008 National Association of Music Education

Kelsey Tarbert 2012 Oneota Reading Journal Learning Literacy Through Music

Jean McIntire, Developing Literacy through Music