Child with perfect pitch but difficulty reading music

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Question for the musicians: 8 yr old DS has been very musically inclined since toddlerhood. If you ask him to sing a "G" (without giving him a pitch beforehand) and then check the pitch on the piano, the note he sings matches the "G" note on the piano. He has taken about a yr of piano lessons but his piano teacher is no longer offering lessons. I need to find him a new teacher but will wait til summer. Meantime, i will work with him myself. I have some basic piano skills, enough to work with his level. I notice that he has an excellent ear but difficulty reading music. He is able to do some basic piano theory, but has a difficult time matching the concepts in theory to the advanced level he is capable of by ear. He has learned most of his piano songs so far by listening to them until he learns them. I have been watching to make sure his fingering is correct, etc, so he does not develop too many bad habits.

He is able to play his own compositions by trying notes and chords til he gets a tune he is satisfied; then he plays it over and over til it is memorized. He will ask if we want to hear the "new song he just came out with," and proceed to play it. It is not a random banging on the piano by any means; the tune is consistent and he titles them too--by what he thinks they sound like. Such as "volcano erupting" etc.

My question is this: On the whole, his ear is far more capable than his sight reading. I don't know if i can bring his sight reading to the level he is capable of by ear, to be honest. I learned music far more by ear than by reading. I can struggle through sight reading a piece, but with much difficulty. But if i have a tune in my head, i can sit down and play it with little if any practice.

What is the best method to go about teaching him? Do i plod on, boring him with endless theory? I do want him to understand it, because it is helpful. But i don't want to squelch his love of the piano by boring it to death. Any thoughts from the musicians would be appreciated. Thanks!

Bumping this up--any musicians have helpful tips?

I just wrote in response to your post however, it disappeared into cyberspace, sadly.

I possess Absolute (Perfect) Pitch. I also have a visual processing delay, which effects the length of time it takes my brain to process/interpreter information taken in, visually. I am not saying that your son and I have the same brain function or wiring, however your description of your son matches the way I would describe myself and my experience. I relate to what you have mentioned, regarding his ability to read/sightread vs. his ability/the ease in which he can play/reproduce a piece by ear. May I ask you what 'DS' stands for ? Anyway, when you add hand-eye coordination to the equation, sight reading can be a challenge and hindrance for a person with a visual processing disorder. Playing by ear produces instant gratification, in terms of what I experience. I haven't played piano in a while, but I do play guitar, and I like to sing more than anything and my voice has been my instrument of choice since the age of 10.

Your son is fortunate to have a Mom who plays the piano and understands his needs, has vested interest in his talent and more importantly, holds the level of enjoyment he possess, in equally high regard. I'm no expert, but I would, perhaps, continue to incorporate theory in the work you are doing with him, however, I would not be too concerned about there being a lack of attention to it. That is just my personal opinion. Especially, considering his innate abilities and the fact that his lessons will resume in just a few months time.

By the way, did you know that Joni Mitchell never studied Music Theory ? : )

~All the best to you and your son

if you go to a music store and ask, they will have "note-builder" type books, which teach theory in an age-appropriate way. my piano teacher used to assign one page per week.

That's a good idea.

I guess the "DS" is a mom abbreviation--DS: dear son, DD: dear daughter, DH: dear hubby. Not sure where they come from but i see them on parent discussions. It is an easy way of designating little folks or spouses when you don't want to use their real names on a public forum.

Thanks for the replies and thanks for giving me details Britte. Your comment about being able to play multiple instruments but preferring to sing sounds like me. It is easier to make my voice do what i want it to do, than to use any other instruments. I love acappella music for this reason--that and that i grew up singing it.

I have a good ear, but i can't quite match DS's ear for hearing exact pitches. It is possible for me to get off key but it doesn't usually happen. I have always had more difficulty reading music than hearing and copying what i hear.

I don't think i have a visual processing disorder though--i have no difficulty reading books and in that i am a fast reader with good comprehension. I just have difficulty processing music that i read and getting my fingers to copy it on an instrument. I can do it, but it is a laborious process. People that sit down and sight read a piece and play it well baffle me. DS reminds me very much of myself in this.

I was always made to do theory and i am glad now that i did. I just wondered if anyone had any better ideas or if there is something i should be doing differently.

Back when i took piano lessons, I had no knowledge of aspergers and piano lessons were like everything else--"she's not working up to her potential--look at her talent and ear for music vs. what she is actually able to play when she sits down to play out of a book."

My lack of ability to sight read was treated as paramount and my ability to play by ear was pooh-poohed as nice, but unimportant. If someone had harnessed that and taught to my abilities rather than downplaying them and concentrating on the parts i had difficulty with, i think i would have enjoyed my lessons far more, and maybe taken them farther. I want to help my son work with his ability, not squash it while overwhelming him with the parts of music that don't click in his brain.

No musician is exactly alike. We all have different strengths and weaknesses. In certain genres, it is more beneficial to have a good ear (jazz, rock/pop) and in other genres, it is more beneficial to have great reading skills (classical.)

I happen to have *exceptional* reading skills. In fact, I would consider my ability to sight-read as a savant-type skill. No other musician I've ever met has read as quickly as me (I'm sure they exist, but I haven't met them yet.) I have an OK ear...good enough to be a good musician but not compared to those who are "blessed" with perfect pitch. My husband, on the other hand, has perfect pitch. He was tested for it and scored in the highest possible category of perfect pitch. He can learn a complicated piece by listening to it and imagining the placement of his hands on the guitar...then play it just almost perfectly the first time. He can hear a simpler song on the radio ONE TIME, then play it back without practice.

Is one of us a better musician than the other? No. But each of us is better at different things. I cannot do what my husband does, and he cannot read as quickly as I can.

That being said, in the long run the best musicians know how to read music AND have a good enough ear to learn things without reading (or can tell when something is out of tune, etc.) Both skills are essential, but one thing may take more time and effort than the other depending on the individual's skill set and even personality.

There is a basic level of music theory that all musicians need to know in order to communicate with one another: scales, chords, keys, time signatures, things like that. Music has a language and it's important to learn it so that we musicians can "talk" to one another. Musical notation is important so that a musician can "talk" to another across the distance of time and space. I can't have Beethoven next to me telling me how to play his piece, so I need the written music in order to learn it. A lot of jazz musicians can get away without learning to read because they are working with other musicians in the same room and can TALK about the music...but they still use the same vocabulary about chords, keys, etc.

Theory can be taught without reading. Much of theory should be learned by ear, anyway. A good musician needs to be able to hear the difference between a major and a minor scale, for example.

If your son is resistant to learning to read, perhaps a back-door approach would work. If you teach him how to play the scales, and show how each major scale has the same sound, then explain the pattern of whole-and-half steps, perhaps that will lead to a curiosity about sharps and flats and how the written music must be adapted in order to keep the pattern correct.

Another back-door approach would be to use his song-writing. Explain that if he ever wants another person to be able to play his piece, he will need to learn to write it out to give the directions the other person needs in order to recreate it.

What are the goals of learning to play the piano? If he wants to learn classical piano pieces, he's going to have to learn to read. OR, he can expect to take an *extremely* long time getting all those notes right by ear. The problem with not being able to read is that it forces one to be dependent on another in order to learn. Reading = independence. One who cannot read must have another person demonstrating or explaining the music. One would require a recording or a teacher who can play the piece in question, or be in a group with a leader who is explaining what to do next.

There are other approaches, too, if the resistance to reading is due to having particular difficulty with it.

Thanks Nerdygirl. I have a little sightreading envy now. I wish i could do it easily but it has always been hard for me. Sounds like you and your husband have very complimentary skills--i consider myself to have a decent ear but cannot play by ear to the degree you describe with him.

**If your son is resistant to learning to read, perhaps a back-door approach would work. If you teach him how to play the scales, and show how each major scale has the same sound, then explain the pattern of whole-and-half steps, perhaps that will lead to a curiosity about sharps and flats and how the written music must be adapted in order to keep the pattern correct. **

We have already done this--DS's skill in transposing is pretty cool too. He easily grasped the concepts of half and whole steps and how the pattern makes the major and minor scale. He will take a song that he has already learned and put it in various keys, finding the half and whole steps by ear.

Sounds like i am on the right track in some things and maybe could be sneakier about working theory into his lessons here and there.

Goals: I would like him to eventually learn to play both classical and popular pieces, so that he has a base for some musical study if he wishes. It is hard to see where this child can make his way in the world yet...i guess he is only 8...but he has difficulty in a lot of areas--i want to capitalize on this skill if possible if this is a window into helping him live independently as an adult.

I'm not a musician but I have to tell you about Mom. She could play the Grieg piano concerto at age 5. Her parents got her a teacher. Mom was stubborn and refused to have anything to do with reading notes. So her parents cancelled her piano lessons. I'm so glad you're not like them!

I can imagine Mom at 5 years old, pounding out the Grieg (I think she had anger issues), and being told to stop that and concentrate on dots and lines. It's not even remotely the same thing, is it? I have wondered what her parents could have done, because she dreamt all her life of walking on stage to play but never got to sit on the piano bench in the dream. She could play anything but she couldn't read a note.

Maybe your son isn't in the same boat but I'm grateful to read that you're not giving up. I really do think that playing and reading are two completely different activities for the first 5 or 10 years. Can he sing a page to you? I think that's what makes the connection. I get that idea from my brother, who took up trumpet at 16 years old (no music before that) and learned scales first. It's a sort of eye-hand coordination thing, maybe.

The leader of my choir says that her eye sees the note and it comes out her voice box, completely by-passing the brain. Or at least that's what it feels like to her. That's why it seems to me that your son must learn a new activity - route it through the brain until it's automatic.

Sorry to be mouthing off like this!

Oh, no problem. You are not mouthing off. How sad about your mom. I don't want something similar to happen to my kids.

My oldest has a beautiful baritone singing voice--smooth and uncracked--at age 14 and he easily hears and sings bass/baritone harmony in both men's music and mixed choral music without looking at a book. My daughter we had to work with more--i thought she was tone deaf as a toddler--but she now can hear and sing a tune and has a good ear for piano and violin, which she plays with some basic skill. Youngest is by far the most innately talented both with his ear and with piano.

I grew up singing acapella music as a child in a Mennonite church, most of which was learned by ear and by rote by the congregation; guided with a pitch pipe and shaped notes in the songbooks. No piano or other instruments in the church--they were considered "worldly." It would most certainly be considered a little backwards and closed-minded by most people, but the reality is also that it developed beautiful congregational singing. I still love to go back in my memory of my own personal surround-sound acapella choir as i sat on the church bench as a child. It is one of my favorite memories.

I would say that rather than my eye seeing the note and it coming out my voice box, it is an ear-to-voice-box connection for me. And totally bypasses my brain. I never really thought about it but it is a pretty apt description of the way i sing too.

The acapella pitch-pipe approach that i learned in church as a kid was the basic approach i began teaching my children when they were toddlers. They then graduated to piano lessons and learning basic theory. My oldest has no interest in instrumental lessons anymore but loves to sing. I think he probably entertains dreams of a stage someday, from the way he talks. My younger two just love to sing and play for their own enjoyment. Most of all i want it to be personally fulfilling; if it turns into a career for any or all of them, so much the better. But no, we aren't giving up by any means.

You're welcome! I had the same negative experience with regard to my piano lessons. In addition, my teachers would become extremely frustrated with me. My love of playing piano had, in turn, diminished, and that is when I asked my parents if I could play the guitar. My father agreed, if I'd agree to learn classical guitar, which turned out to be much more enjoyable to me, than the piano, although I have an incredible passion for listening to classical piano (among other genres). My guitar teacher became a positive entity within various aspects of my life, as it turned out. He had a passion for working with children, and he understood me and my style of learning. He respected my needs and was patient and kind to me. If I had not had that experience after the initial introduction I had into learning to play an instrument, I believe things would have turned out much different for me.

I'm wondering if part of the problem is that his understanding of *music* is beyond his ability to read, so he gets frustrated with reading because it doesn't go fast enough? When I read, I do not read individual notes. Maybe I did when I was younger, but that was so long ago I don't remember. When I read, I see the patterns. In other words, I see how the notes relate to each other rather than interpreting individual notes.

What you say about the scales sounds very good. Perhaps if you were teaching intervals or chords, you might start by ear. Help him identify the sound of the interval or chord and then he might be enticed to learn what they look like on paper (and then even transpose all of those!) Chords (esp. in inversions) are also a great way to see the patterns.

Whenever I teach a new piece to a student, I always identify the repetition (or help them find it.) This breaks it down into a more manageable project because they then realize that "Oh, even those this song is 6 lines long, it really is only 3 lines long because some of the lines repeat." Even within lines, melodies often have repetition.

I think you hit the nail on the head here Nerdygirl. I have not tried teaching intervals yet; I have worked with some simple chording with him in conjunction with songs he is learning. I am not so good at seeing patterns in music--I hear patterns in music rather than seeing them if that makes sense.

He usually sees the repetition in a song even before I point it out. His previous piano teacher was pretty good about teaching him to look for it. Oh, i really wish you were close enough to me to teach him and were taking new students. I have a feeling you and he would get along famously and you sound like an excellent teacher.

Actually, i have no idea where you live and i am not hinting that you should reveal it to me or anyone else on a public forum. I just meant it is sometimes hard to find music teachers who are good at working with autistic kids. His former teacher was really good with him but retired from teaching instrumental lessons outside of his school job; he is getting older and it was getting to be too much for him. So sad for us; we really liked him. But i am sure i will find someone sooner or later and i have some ideas for working with him in the meantime. Thanks very much everyone.

It might be worth considering that piano may simply not be the best instrument for your son. As others have said, a good ear and hand-eye coordination are two completely different things. I was a naturally good reader, but I just simply didn't have the coordination to play different things with each hand. I'm not saying abandon the piano, but it may be worth trying to take up a 2nd instrument, one that just reads and plays a single line, for example voice, or an orchestral instrument. I would argue that with string and wind instruments it is actually more important to have a good ear than with piano. On piano you just read the dots, on strings and winds you have to actually pitch the note, as if you are singing.

Like many children, I had a disastrous experience with piano lessons as a child, but I realised that I could read the music, but simply couldn't play it. My Dad is an amateur guitarist and we always have guitars lying around the house, so I got myself a method book and taught myself, and became one of the very few people who actually learn to read music on the guitar. When I finally got to high school I picked up several instruments very easily; because I could read music already all I had to do was learn a few fingerings and I was set; I eventually ended up on the saxophone.

I teach guitar in primary schools and I have come to believe that a lot of talented children 'fail' at music simply because they haven't found the right instrument for them, I have often come across students who are obviously musically talented but who are useless at guitar, I often think 'he'd be a great singer' or 'she'd be a great trumpeter'. Long story short, I fully believe that if I had simply persisted with piano, I would not be a musician today.

I agree with everything written here. Kids need to "find" their instrument. Before that, they may not be interest or willing to practice. Or, it just might not "gel" with them physically.

It is true that piano requires less of an ear for music than other instruments (in terms of intonation, not in terms of learning a piece by ear.) But, it is far superior for learning theory.

Your description of your son sounds exactly like me to a T when I was a child! Even down to the ability to compose coherent pieces of music by finding my own way around what plays well and then practicing that for that song.

My piano teacher once remarked: "You have an amazing ear but that gift is actually hampering your ability to properly learn to read music."

I eventually gave up piano lessons and I never have been able to learn to read sheet music and play from it fluently, despite several further attempts of an autodidactic nature during adulthood.

That's not to say your son is doomed to the same -- I think this kind of thing may simply need different methods of teaching, in order to achieve it.

I have always felt sad that I can't seem to get to grips with being able to read and play from sheet music, even though I'm very able in every other way musically, and my composing has never needed that skill.

By the way, "music theory" is not just something that has to be taught but is also something some musicans have "naturally." Some people have to be mechanically taught harmonic intervals, for one example, and they wouldn't know them without have deliberately learned the theory and the mathematics behind them.

Others, and I'm one, never had to learn deliberately because I have an innate sense of it. I did have to learn chord names for piano and guitar, but beyond that, "theory" doesn't matter.

Bear in mind that unless he wants gainful employment in an orchestra, what does it really matter?

Some of the most successful and musically gifted musicians never learned to read or write music -- Paul McCartney plays multiple instruments by ear and composes beautiful music but can't read music, and there are plenty more like that.

As someone else mentioned, Joni Mitchell, who composes extraordinarily sophisticated music for her songs, never learned theory. Innate ability is creature some theory-oriented people don't even understand and they think you just can't get by without "learning theory".

Seriously for SOME musicians that is complete bull.

Not that you should give up, but just saying maybe it's not important. If he's musical naturally with a great ear, as he seems to be, and he's already composing coherent pieces due to a natural and inherent understanding of intervals, which I have too and it's served me well in a semi-professional career, you've already got a musician on your hands.

I wish I could sight-read just because it would be "nice" but unless you want a formal music career where it's an essential skill, it really isn't actually the be-all and end-all for a person with musical ability otherwise. It's BULL when someone tries to tell you it's essential for all musicians if they're any good. Rubbish.

McCartney is laughing all the way to his several banks on that one.