Music, Language and Literacy

In 2010 Howard Goodall – the composer and National singing ambassador – said, “There is a pernicious myth that in order to concentrate on maths and English we should not concentrate on singing. In fact, it’s the other way around. Schools that do the best in maths and literacy have the best music programmes.”

 Research from many countries over many years has proven this to be true, so it is astounding that music in primary schools in England is rarely taught by qualified specialists, or seen as an important part of the curriculum.

As both a music teacher and teacher of English as an Additional Language I am very interested in the connection between learning music and developing language and literacy. I have been running Music Matters for over twelve years and have families who have been with me for many years, not just because they enjoy the musical aspect of the classes, but because they can see how advantageous the classes are for their children in other areas.

Parents tell me, for example, that they are often asked how old their toddlers are because they are talking so well! Once they start school teachers frequently comment that Music Mattters children are also very receptive to learning phonics, learn to read quickly and know how to listen and concentrate.

Music Matters classes are based on the Kodály Approach which was developed by the Hungarian composer Zoltan Kodály in the early twentieth century. Kodály believed that a good music education was the right of every child and that all could achieve in music if taught properly, in a logical step by step progression.

The Kodály approach, I believe, provides the best music education for children and makes a profound connection between learning music and developing language and literacy.

It is probably obvious that in order to develop language and literacy, children need good listening skills, otherwise they will be slow to understand speech or to talk, which will then affect their ability to learn to read. Teaching children listening skills, therefore, has a direct impact on their learning.

Because the songs used in Kodály classes are unaccompanied, the children are able to listen to the words and melody without the aural distraction of a piano, guitar or CD. From the songs, specific listening skills are developed such as recognising whether the song is sung higher or lower; faster or slower or the children may identify songs from hearing the melody hummed or the rhythm clapped. Later, they will listen to then write down the rhythm followed by the melody of simple songs. The children, therefore, develop both advanced musical and listening skills.

Songs present a microcosm of the language, introducing children to vocabulary, sentence structure and grammar. But learning music has a much more profound affect than this on helping students develop language and literacy.

Always when singing songs or reciting rhymes in Music Matters, the children are keeping the beat in some way, whether stamping, clapping, or performing other actions. It is now recognised that a child’s ability to keep a steady beat before they start school is one of the best indicators of later academic success. This is because English is a stress timed language which means that we speak to a fairly steady beat. Some syllables are stressed and others are unstressed. The distance between one stressed syllable and another is roughly the same, no matter how many unstressed syllables come in between.

To give an illustration, look at where the beat falls (indicated by the vertical line above the syllable) in the following phrases. [There is a silent beat at the end of each phrase which is represented by ^ ]

|                          |                          |             ^

John             hates                 jazz

|                          |                         |              ^

Johnny           hates               jazz

|                         |                           |              ^

Johnny         really hates       jazz

So, despite the addition of syllables, the three phrases take approximately the same amount of time to speak, and these stressed and unstressed syllables give the language its rhythm.

Children need to be able to feel the beat in the written language in order to understand punctuation and to read expressively. While this is important for all children it is particularly pertinent for children who speak a syllabic language such as French, Spanish, Italian, Gujerati or Punjabi, where the syllables have equal stress. A syllabic language by definition does not have the rhythmic variety of a stress-timed language such as English. Singing songs that follow the natural rhythm of the language while performing lots of beat activities will, therefore, help all children learn to read well but is particularly pertinent for children whose mother tongue is a syllabic language.

Students who experience difficulty reading often have poor coordination. Linking learning to movement and improving children’s coordination actually helps them learn, as movement activates the neural wiring through the body. Music Matters is a very active music programme and all the songs and games involve movement of some sort, whether stamping or slapping the beat, moving the parachute up and down or performing actions to a song. As the children get older the games become more demanding and lead to performing complicated hand, stick and ball games while singing.

Although there is a serious intent behind each of the lessons, Music Matters is lots of fun as the children are learning through singing songs and playing games. They are not just being entertained, nor are they writing down facts about music.  They are on their feet much of the time, actively involved throughout the lessons; singing, reciting rhymes, bouncing balls to the beat, stamping rhythms on coloured spots and playing coordination games. They learn so much while having a great time; and they love it!

Melva Lyn Thomson B. ED. (music); GDIESE Melb.; CPP Early Years (Kodály)

Voices Foundation Advisory Teacher

© Melva Lyn Thomson