Music Reading for Students with Learning Disabilities
Thursday 22nd February 2024, 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM (London Time)
There are music students in private studios and school classrooms who are not readily learning to read music through standard instruction. Research into dyslexia gives us insight and guidance to how students with learning disabilities can be taught in a way that effectively builds the neural pathways for literacy. Using the style of teaching first created by the dyslexia researchers Stillman and Gillingham, Multisensory Structured Language (MSL), we can redesign our approach to teaching music reading that follows a strict, logical and effective order to build the neural pathways that are necessary for students with learning disabilities to learn.
Music reading is most often taught as a secondary skill to performing skills, and therefore does not follow its own logical, systematic approach. This negatively effects students who are not neurologically wired to learn through our traditional standard instruction. Applying the principles of MSL instruction to music reading instruction reorganises the steps to learning in surprising and effective ways. Adapting this scientifically researched approach to music reading makes it possible for struggling students to have access to music literacy.
This course will review the research surrounding certain learning disabilities such as dyslexia, dyscalculia and ADHD, and the research-based solutions that have been found to work successfully. We will examine current methods of music reading pedagogy, and then compare that to systems specifically designed to accommodate students with learning disabilities.
Dr Elizabeth Morrow
Dr Elizabeth Morrow, Professor Emerita, was awarded the degree Doctor of Musical Arts in Cello Performance from the University of Southern California. As a recitalist, she has concertized extensively in Europe and North America. An award-winning pedagogue, Dr Morrow has been an active presenter for the American String Teachers Association and Texas Music Educators Conference.

Attend this course for as little as £22 as part of the Voice Professional Training CPD Award Scheme.
Learn MoreSorry, this is an archived short course...
We have plenty of upcoming short courses coming soon. See details of some of them below or look at the full list of short courses.

Thursday 1st May 2025
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Thursday 8th May 2025
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Thursday 15th May 2025
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Thursday 22nd May 2025
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Thursday 29th May 2025
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
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Trauma-Informed Voice Professional Certificate with Dr Elisa Monti

Dr Elisa Monti
This five-part certificate course is designed to help participants learn the theory and practice of trauma-informed approaches. The concepts and activities included are tailored to meet the needs of voice specialists who want to acquire more specific tools to navigate the space with their students and colleagues.


Tuesday 6th May 2025
3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
(London Time)
Mindfulness and Voice: Exploring the Intersection through Peer-Reviewed Literature

Catherine Brown
Despite strong interest, only a handful of peer-reviewed studies have examined the relationship between mindfulness and voice. Emerging research indicates that mindfulness can help voice users learn to respond to stress more effectively and may help them manage performance anxiety. In this course, we will examine several types of peer-reviewed literature: a) mindfulness studies that indirectly relate to voice work. b) We will review research that examines mindfulness as it relates to voice-adjacent fields (e.g., music performance anxiety and stammering/stuttering). c) We will look at the few published studies that have directly investigated the relationship between mindfulness and voice and d) we will examine directions for future qualitative and quantitative research.

Tuesday 6th May 2025
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Wednesday 7th May 2025
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Friday 9th May 2025
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
(London Time)
Acceptance & Commitment Coaching for Beginners: An Overview and Guide for Using it to Address Common Performance-Related Problems of a Psychological Nature (3-part course)

Dr David Juncos
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy or Coaching (ACT) is an empirically-supported psychotherapy & coaching intervention for a variety of common issues facing student and professional musicians from across the world. Some of these include performance anxiety, perfectionism & self-criticism, procrastination, and work-related stress & burnout.