Using English Language Arts to Teach a Song

Abstract

Music and reading domains require similar auditory processing skills. Students employ these skills when learning a new song through an oral/aural or rote-teaching approach. In this article, I review literature on the effectiveness of immersion and phrase-by-phrase approaches for teaching a song with or without words. Then, using an amusing analogy, I suggest a process for using the English language arts to teach a song using a rote approach. Two lessons are described that include prompts to aid teachers in analyzing songs to teach music through language.