Along with this, the reading certificate program that I recently completed had me thinking about prosody in reading; reading with good tone, phrasing, emphasis, etc. Basically, reading like you are reading in the same way as you would have a conversation. Prosody is sometimes called "the music of the language".
As I thought about these components of early reading education, a clear connection between the skills that children learn in music education and pre-reading and reading skills began to come to light.
- In teaching children how to identify syllables, we show them to put their hand under their chin while they say a word and count how many times their chin drops; once per syllable. In music education, children are taught to be very aware of the movement of specific parts of their bodies; hand position on a drumstick or bow, mouth position on a mouthpiece, etc.
- Once children can identify syllables, we tap them out in rhythm, to help them see the difference between syllables and words. In music, students develop a solid sense of rhythm.
- We teach children how to hear all of the sounds in a word, instead of seeing the word as one, unchangeable piece. (Children who can't do this often have a hard time with vowel sounds and blends; they simply can't hear those sounds in the middle.) In music, children are taught to listen for slight differences in sounds.
- We teach children how to read with good tone, phrasing and emphasis. As this prosody is known as "the music of the language" this relationship pretty well sums it all up. This is when it all comes together.
Misty
