I received an email from a listener recently, a piano teacher in North Carolina. She had purchased a set of my tonal pattern cards and was looking for ideas and suggestions for how to incorporate them into her teaching this year.

This prompted me to sit down and think through the importance of building a musical vocabulary (rhythm and tonal), how we learn to read music, and creative ways to engage our students through listening, pattern recognition, matching, imitating, and improvising using a basic set of tonal pattern cards.

In this episode, you'll learn about the mental process behind how we read music, the importance of reading patterns vs. individual notes, a 5-step sequence for musical skill development, and seven creative ideas for using tonal pattern cards in your teaching on a regular basis.

For show notes, click here.

Resources Mentioned

Understanding Dyslexia and the Reading Brain in Kids (H. Korbey)

The Gordon Institute for Music Learning

Printable Tonal & Rhythm Pattern Card Set: Older Elementary

Printable Tonal & Rhythm Pattern Card Set: Younger Elementary