When I first started teaching one of my students in my Santa Clarita piano studio — let’s call him Alex — I had my doubts. He struggled with reading music, moved through new songs at a snail’s pace, and to be honest convincing him to practice felt like pulling teeth. Maybe I was quick to assume, but the pessimist in me thought, “Maybe music just isn’t his thing.” But then, something unexpected happened: we started working on songs he truly enjoyed. Suddenly, everything clicked. He flew through his pieces, and his practice transformed, becoming more efficient and motivated. Now, he’s racing through his books, learning eagerly and showing real potential to become a skilled pianist. But something more amazing happened - I began to realize that he's actually very naturally gifted, and has quite the good ear.
So, what changed for Alex? And why do some students with strong ears find reading so challenging? If you have a child who just seems to love the piano but struggles to do the work to sit down and read music, this article may help you understand the unique challenges that can come with having a strong musical ear.
Why Good Ears Can Make Reading Harder
For students like Alex, playing by ear is second nature. They rely on sounds, patterns, and intuition rather than on the methodical process of decoding notes. This can be a huge strength, especially in genres like pop music or jazz, but it often creates hurdles in traditional music reading. These students may struggle with dyslexia-like symptoms, finding it difficult to process notes on a page or skipping over details.
Another challenge is their pickiness. With keen ears, they quickly learn what “good” music sounds like, and often find beginner pieces too simplistic, making practice feel unappealing. This aversion can even lead them to rush through songs, hoping their ears will guide their fingers. Instead of taking the time to master a piece, they may gloss over notes and speed through the learning process, which makes structured practice difficult.
It's crucial to identify these issues when students are just beginning piano, before poor reading becomes a habit! I've found it is too easy to let them get away with poor reading habits because you can blame it on being "new and little". Little Timmy can barely read English, let alone music! But don't let that fool you, if you can begin these strategies early enough, you can help nip these bad habits in the bud.
Early Strategies to Support Reading
If students like Alex are to succeed in reading, they need structured, supportive strategies to balance their intuitive skills. Here are some of my methods I like to use that can help students overcome these hurdles and do the work:
1. Note Tracing with Both Hands: Tracing each note with one hand while playing with the other can help reinforce hand-eye coordination and note recognition, giving students a multi-sensory approach to learning the music. If they are often looking up and down between their hand and the music, this can also help them keep track of their place and process the relationship between notes, instead of having to read each note at a time (which takes twice as long!).
2. Regular Sight Reading Practice: Short daily sight-reading sessions help improve familiarity with the written language of music, gradually making it second nature. The Piano Safari sight-reading cards are a great go-to in my studio, and I also find them great for learning how to sight sing!
3. Silent Sight Reading on Electric Keyboards: Practicing on an electric keyboard with the sound off helps students rely solely on their reading rather than their ears, encouraging more consistent note recognition. While this takes away quite literally the point of music (aka, sound), it does create an interesting challenge to encourage students to really truly focus on reading with their eyes and not their ears.
4. Reading Games Like Note Rush: Games like Note Rush add a fun, interactive component to reading practice, making reading faster and more instinctive. You can also create custom drills that allow you to challenge their especially weak areas of note recognition (um hello, bass clef!). Students also love seeing the stopwatch and beating their records!
5. Intervallic Reading: Focusing on intervallic reading (recognizing distances between notes rather than individual notes) provides a shortcut to processing music more fluently.
6.Turning Songs Into Games: Call me old fashioned, but sometimes a buzzer is just too much fun. Are they using their ears instead of their eyes? *Insert buzzer sound here* Not anymore! You can also challenge them to a competition. For every measure they play exactly correct and as written, they get a point! And of course the winner gets a prize.
7.Don't let them look down: One of the biggest early indicators of a student who reads with their ear-balls instead of their eye-balls is that they will look away from the music as they play and often stare at their hands. You can institute another game here - don't look down. I will often cover the student's hands with a book to prevent them from doing this. Trust me when I say it's more of a problem than we often realize!
Turning a Struggle into a Strength
While students with a strong ear face unique challenges, they also have unique opportunities and advantages. Their ear is a powerful tool that can serve them well as they advance into pop music theory and jazz, where improvisation and intuition play significant roles. Encouraging regular ear exercises — which I will explore in more depth in a future post — will continue to support their natural strengths while reinforcing the reading skills they work hard to build.
Closing Thoughts
For ear-oriented students, learning to read music fluently is a challenging but rewarding journey. With time, patience, and targeted strategies, they can develop into skilled readers who can tap into their natural musical intuition. Supporting these students early on with a balanced approach to both ear training and reading practice can set them up for success in classical music, pop music, and beyond.
If you're interested in exploring piano lessons in Santa Clarita that support both traditional reading and pop music skills, reach out to learn more about how we can help your child succeed. Our team would love to help your student find their strengths, push their weaknesses, and grow!
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This post was made with the help of Chat GPT. This is strictly an opinion article.
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