Aural Skills

Pressure on music educators to accommodate reading initiatives in their schools continues to challenge genuine music-learning experiences. Children are taken out of music classrooms for additional reading time, although mounting research informs us of the value of music as a formidable avenue for developing crucial auditory skills needed for successful reading. For this article, we gather research from four areas—neuroimaging, auditory brainstem response technology, music classrooms, and general education—and cite findings that, through these disparate domains, all point to the significance of aural skills development in children. Because music learning is based in aural skill development, we offer several instructional examples that strengthen phonological and phonemic awareness while honoring musical development in young children.