The Neuroscience of Reading Music: Optimal Brain Development in Children Using Standard Music Notation

Does reading music make children smarter?

Award-winning music educator Barbara A. Moir, M.Ed., believes the answer is a resounding yes—and in The Neuroscience of Reading Music, she explains why.

Drawing upon scientific research, neuroscience, cognitive psychology, and decades of classroom experience, Moir explores a question rarely examined in depth: What actually happens in the brain when we read music notation?

The answer may change the way educators, parents, and musicians think about music instruction forever.

In this groundbreaking book, Moir reveals how music reading develops and strengthens two different forms of spatial intelligence—which help increase a child’s abilities for reading words, mathematics, problem-solving, visual processing, and countless everyday tasks. She explains how the seemingly simple act of reading notes on a staff engages multiple brain systems simultaneously, creating one of the most intellectually stimulating activities children can experience.

Readers will discover:

• How reading music notation is processed differently in the brain than listening to music
• How spatial intelligence governs every aspect of note reading
• How reading music leads children earlier to abstract reasoning and higher order thinking
• The surprising connections between note reading, literacy, and mathematics
• New concepts for the ease of reading notation, including alphabetic logic, linking mode, split focus, chronic mistakes syndrome, and advanced eye-movement techniques
• Practical solutions for developing confidence and success while reading music
• A sequential five-year plan for introducing note reading from nursery school through third grade

Challenging long-held assumptions that schools should delay learning music notation in early grades, Moir presents compelling scientific evidence and classroom-tested strategies supporting the opposite: that reading music notation is so rich in cognitive skills that it should be considered a vital component in early childhood development.

Whether you are a music teacher, school administrator, private instructor, parent, or lifelong learner, The Neuroscience of Reading Music offers a fresh perspective on one of education's most overlooked subjects.

If reading music truly strengthens the brain, the implications for education are profound. This book explains why.