Looks Like Gibberish to Me: An Analysis of Dyslexia, its Musical Counterpart and the Education System

Music has been considered by many, especially those within the field, to be its own language. It follows that if people who struggle with written language-based skills have dyslexia and those who struggle with numeric-based skills have dyscalculia (mathematic dyslexia), there should be a musical variant. And if so, what would it look like and how could it be combated within music education? The term “dysmusia” or “musical dyslexia” was first used by Dr. Neil Gordon, a pediatric neurologist, in 2000 to better categorize the issue. Numerous studies and works of literature have discussed the ways in which music stimulates the brain and how language disorders might affect one’s musical skills. Macdonald Critchley and R.A. Henson’s book Music and the Brain: Studies in the Neurology of Music (1977) has been a prominent source for many of these writings. Furthermore, these ailments appear to be overlooked in the classroom, with many music educators and prestigious music programs viewing difficulty performing or understanding certain concepts as a minor setback that will diminish over time as skills develop. I believe there is a way such musical setbacks can be addressed earlier on to better aid those students so they are able to reach their full potentials. In this paper, using the research of Gordon, Henson, Sheila Oglethorpe and others, I will explain dyslexia and dysmusia and the similarities between the two, explore how the educational system has adapted to provide tools for dyslexic students; and discuss the ways in which the music educational system might adapt to support students who struggle with dysmusia.