Music, Dyslexia and Technology

Nick Sermon spoke at the British Dyslexia Music Conference. He ‘lets us in’ on what he spoke about; how to utilise technology to help dyslexic students studying music. Part 1.

Starting a new blog where do you start? Well on Saturday 20th Oct I spoke at the British Dyslexia Music Conference after being on the committee for less than a year. I felt incredibly privileged to have the opportunity when you consider some of the people that were with me like Paul Harris, Karen Marshall and Sally Daunt.

Equally when I started to consider there were 100 people in the room from specialist HEIs, Schools and Music Hubs – Terrifying!

However being Dyslexic myself has made me passionate to share my ideas on the wider stage. We all carry hundreds of pounds of technology with us everyday and these items are extremely powerful and can be used effectively when supporting a Dyslexic pupil studying music.  One area of difficulty can be remembering lines of pitch or rhythm, so the use of apps can support this by recording the music to share with the pupil.

There are many apps for iOS and Android that record audio or video. These can be easily used to share at the end of the lesson in a variety of options. Google drive, dropbox, email and messaging are just some of the few.

However if you use video be sure that you conform with GDPR and you have a conversation with the Designated Safeguarding Lead for your institution to ensure that you use your device safely.  

Additionally there are many other apps that have been developed that can help.

ABRSM have created some fantastic apps that support aural and scales practice, plus so many other apps for creating scores, creating music and more are available to you as the user.

So the message that I wanted to convey at the conference was use our technology. It’s great and can make such a big difference and that’s the point I want to start with on this blog…*

*this blog will continue in a second part

The author

Nick Sermon

Nick Sermon is a Primary School Teacher with subject leadership in the Arts and Maths. He has worked in music education for 20 years with the majority of the time being within Further Education, but he has also supported his local Music Hub and has been a Director of Music for The RAF Air Cadets establishing two national ensembles. Being Dyslexic himself he has developed a passion for technology as he has used this to support his career in education. He wants pupils to have these opportunities so to have the opportunity to express themselves and succeed. All aspects of mobile technology are considered if ultimately they raise the attainment of the pupil.