The Instructional Practice That Changed My Students' Lives: Music and Lyrics
Educator Sean Taylor argues that integrating music, rhythm, and lyrics into the daily routine offers a transformative approach for teaching reading to struggling students, especially those with dyslexia and dysgraphia. By leveraging multimodal learning and rhythmic engagement, instructors can effectively train phonetic awareness, improve memory retention, and build fluency without the fatigue typically associated with remediation. Taylor illustrates how familiar melodies and chants can be practically applied to phonics rules, vocabulary acquisition, and background knowledge through a structured daily framework. Furthermore, songwriting empowers students to synthesize information and practice essential summarizing skills while removing traditional writing barriers. Ultimately, this methodology connects fundamental human musical instincts with systematic literacy instruction, creating an engaging and neurologically rewarding path to reading mastery.
Teaching Reading Through Music and Rhythm PRESENTATION SLIDES
By Sean Taylor, M.Ed. | Reading Sage
If you asked me to name the single practice that did the most for my struggling readers across 26 years in the classroom, I would not say a program, a screen, or a test. I would say this: we sang. We chanted, clapped, tapped, and rhymed. We turned the sounds, patterns, and words that print refuses to hold still for into something the body and ear could hold onto.
I am dyslexic, and I have dysgraphia. I know what it is to stare at a page while the letters shift and the words will not stay put. What I also know is that language you hear, move to, and feel behaves very differently from language you only see. That is the heart of this article: music and lyrics are not a reward for finishing the reading lesson. In the right hands, they are the reading lesson.
[Intro] Harper spots a cat today, Quinn has a hat—what will they say? [Verse 1] “Cat,” says Harper. “Hat,” says Quinn. Say those sounds and say them again. Cat, hat—listen close, Same little ending, there it goes! [Chorus: Children] Cat and hat, do they rhyme? Yes, they do! They sound alike at the end! Cat and hat, say it together, Hear that matching sound, my friend! [Verse 2] The cat curls up inside the hat, Quinn giggles, “Look at that!” “A cat in a hat!” Harper asks, “Do those words rhyme?”—you know the task! [Chorus: Children] Cat and hat, do they rhyme? Yes, they do! They sound alike at the end! Cat and hat, say it together, Hear that matching sound, my friend! [Bridge: Call and Response] Lead: Say a sound, then hear it through! Children: Match the ending—rhyming clues! Lead: Forty-four phonemes help us hear, Children: Little speech sounds, bright and clear! Lead: Does cat rhyme with sun? Children: No, those endings aren’t the same! Lead: Does cat rhyme with hat? Children: Yes! We found the rhyme again! [Final Chorus: Children] Cat and hat, yes, they rhyme! Sun and cat? No, not this time! Listen to the sounds at the end, Rhyme detectives, tell a friend! Forty-four phonemes, sounds we can hear, Play with words and learn them here! [Outro] Cat, hat—same at the end! Cat, sun—not the same, my friend!
Why Music Works: The Short Version
Before the classroom strategies, here is why I trust this practice. Each of these ideas has research behind it, and each one fits what I have always believed: oracy is the prerequisite for literacy.
1. Rhythm trains the ear for the sounds inside words
Reading begins with hearing: the syllables, rhymes, and individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken language. Researchers such as Usha Goswami at Cambridge have proposed that children with dyslexia often have difficulty perceiving the rhythmic, beat-level patterns of speech, and that this sits underneath their trouble with phonology. Rhythm and beat are exactly what music trains. Clapping syllables, tapping a steady beat, and chanting in time are not cute extras. They are direct practice on the skill that is often weakest.
2. Melody is a memory hook
A tune gives your memory a track to run on. Studies of text learning with familiar melodies (for example, work by Rainey and Larsen) have found that setting information to a simple, familiar tune can help people recall it later. Every adult who can still recite the alphabet in order, or a string of facts from a childhood song, is proof of it. Melody gives sequence, and sequence is hard for many of my students.
3. Repetition without the boredom
Fluency grows through repeated reading of the same text. Anyone who has taught a struggling reader knows how quickly a child will refuse the fourth read of a passage. But a child will sing a song forty times and ask for forty-one. Researchers such as Timothy Rasinski have long championed rhymes, poetry, and song as natural vehicles for repeated reading, because the repetition feels like joy instead of remediation.
4. It is multimodal by nature
The Orton-Gillingham approach, which I use with children with learning disabilities and dyslexia, works because it combines seeing, hearing, speaking, and moving. Song does all of this at once. The child sees the word, hears the beat, says the sounds, and moves the body. That is the multimodal exposure that helps words map into long-term memory (orthographic mapping).
5. It feels good, and feeling good is fuel
Neuroimaging work (Salimpoor and colleagues, 2011) has shown that music we love triggers dopamine release in the brain's reward system. I call the cycle of effort, success, and delight the accomplishment loop, and it is the neurological fuel for a child who has learned to expect failure around print. Music is one of the fastest ways I know to start that loop turning.
6. Music and language share brain machinery
Research by Nina Kraus and colleagues at Northwestern has linked musical training with stronger neural processing of speech sounds, and studies like Moreno and colleagues (2009) have found benefits for verbal skills after music instruction in children. The research is still developing, and not every claim holds up equally well, so I use it as a reason to try this practice, then I watch my own students to see whether it works for them. It did.
Seven Ways I Use Music and Lyrics in a Literacy Classroom
1. Phonological awareness with beat and chant
Start with the body, before any letters appear. Pat a steady beat and clap syllables in names. Chant rhyme families. Play with changing the first sound of a word to a new sound, in rhythm. Keep it brisk, keep it physical, and keep it a game.
2. Phonics patterns set to familiar tunes
Some rules are too abstract to remember as rules. As songs, they become tools. Here are two original examples, set to public-domain tunes any child already knows. The meter is flexible, so adjust it until it feels natural when you sing it.
The Six Syllable Types (to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star")
Closed syllable, short and tight, Open syllable, long and bright, Magic e says vowel's name, Vowel teams make one sound the same, R-controlled is bossed around, Consonant-l-e, the end we've found!
Magic E (to the tune of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat")
Hop, hop, hop, add e, Now we say hope, hope! Kit to kite and cub to cube, Magic e's no joke!
Notice what these songs do. They give the child the name of the pattern, an example, and a rhythm to hang both on. Then, and only then, we move to print: sorting words, reading decodable sentences, and spelling the pattern.
3. Tier 2 vocabulary through chant
The words that move readers from basic text to academic text (Tier 2 words, like reluctant, predict, contrast) rarely appear in everyday speech. A short chant plus gestures builds a meaning, a sound, and a memory all at once.
Reluctant (clap on the beat)
Reluctant, reluctant, means I'd rather not! Reluctant, reluctant, not eager, not hot! I'm reluctant to jump in the cold, cold lake, But I'm not reluctant to eat the cake!
Then have students write their own verse using the word. Original verses are where the learning really lands, because the child has to use the word in a sentence that is both true and funny.
4. Lyrics as text for fluency
A lyric sheet is a poem with a beat. Reading lyrics aloud, tracking them with a finger, and then singing them gives a struggling reader a reason to read the same text many times. Choose songs with clear diction, a moderate tempo, and age-appropriate content, and use them the way you would any fluency passage: read, echo-read, choral read, and perform.
One practical note on copyright. Published song lyrics are protected, so for classroom use I lean on three sources: songs in the public domain (folk songs, hymns, traditional nursery songs), music I have licensed or that is legitimately available for classroom display, and lyrics the students and I write ourselves. Writing our own is better for learning anyway.
5. Songs for building background knowledge
Comprehension depends on knowledge. Songs can hold the frameworks (the continents, the water cycle, the order of the planets, the parts of a story) so that later reading has somewhere to attach. This is the knowledge bridge that supports decoding: the more a child knows, the more the text makes sense.
6. Cognates and English learners
For English learners, songs lower the emotional barrier to speaking. A repeated, rhythmic phrase gives a child a safe way to practice new sounds without feeling singled out. Pairing songs with cognates (for example, family and familia, animal and animal, music and música) shows Spanish-speaking children that they already know hundreds of English words. That turns a deficit into an asset.
7. Songwriting as paraphrasing, summarizing, and writing
This is the one that surprises teachers most. Asking children to turn a passage, a historical event, or a chapter into a four-line verse requires them to find the main idea, choose the key words, and restate it in their own language. That is paraphrasing and summarizing, the skills that standardized tests demand, taught through an activity children actually want to do. For children with dysgraphia, a spoken or recorded verse removes the handwriting barrier and lets the thinking show.
A Ten-Minute Daily Routine You Can Start Tomorrow
In Reading Boot Camp's 20-day structure, a short, predictable music routine keeps the energy high without taking over the lesson. Here is a template you can adapt.
- Warm-up (2 minutes): Steady beat and syllable clapping. Everyone moves together.
- Pattern song (3 minutes): Sing the song for the day's phonics pattern or vocabulary word, with gestures.
- Print connection (3 minutes): Show the words from the song. Students read them, sort them, and spell a few.
- Make it theirs (2 minutes): Students write or say one new line, rhyme, or example sentence.
Repeat the same song for several days, then retire it and bring in the next. Review earlier songs as quick warm-ups so nothing is lost. This is mastery and spiraled review in action.
Making It Work for Children With Dyslexia and Dysgraphia
- Start with the beat, not the voice. Some children are anxious about singing. Tapping, clapping, and stomping are just as powerful and far less exposing.
- Never force a solo. Group singing and choral chanting protect self-esteem. Offer solo as an option only.
- Keep the print simple. Use large, clean type, generous spacing, and a finger or ruler to track the words.
- Let them record instead of write. A child with dysgraphia can compose a verse aloud, and a teacher or aide can scribe it. Then the child reads it back. The thinking is theirs, and the barrier is gone.
- Pair every song with a decoding step. Singing builds memory and joy. Explicit, systematic instruction turns that memory into reading skill.
At Home: Five Easy Ways for Families
- Sing the alphabet and then play with it. Change the tune. Go backward. Whisper it, then shout it.
- Make up silly songs for chores. Rhyme the words for "shoes" and "coat." Rhyming is phonological awareness in disguise.
- Read lyrics together. Print a children's folk song, read it aloud, point to the words, and sing.
- Write a family song. Choose a familiar tune and write new words about your week. Everyone adds a line.
- Pass the beat. Take turns making a rhythm with claps, taps, or spoons, and have the family echo it back.
Pitfalls to Avoid
- Song as decoration. If the music does not connect to a specific skill, it is entertainment. Entertainment is fine, but call it what it is.
- Too many songs at once. Depth beats variety. A few songs repeated thoroughly teach more than twenty heard once.
- Skipping the print. A child who can sing the Magic E song but never reads or writes a Magic E word has memorized a song, not learned a pattern.
- Ignoring what the child tells you. If a song overwhelms a child with sensory sensitivities, adapt it. Lower the volume, shorten it, or switch to a clapping version.
- Treating it as a cure-all. Music is a powerful tool inside a complete system of explicit, systematic instruction. It does not replace it.
How to Know It Is Working
Do not rely on a feeling. Measure it.
- Check whether students can name and apply the pattern in unfamiliar words, not just in the song.
- Track oral reading fluency (words correct per minute) on short passages every week or two.
- Use a skills inventory such as the Brigance to see which foundational skills are closing.
- Listen. Do students quote the songs when they get stuck on a word? That self-prompting is the strongest sign the learning has gone inside.
The Bigger Lesson
I spent decades looking for many roads and bridges to literacy because no single road works for every child. Music was one of the widest bridges I ever found. It turns the abstract into the concrete, the lonely into the shared, and the dreaded into the delightful.
Humans sang before they wrote. Long before anyone invented an alphabet, children learned who they were, where they came from, and how to live from stories and songs passed from mouth to ear. When we bring music back into the reading classroom, we are not being sentimental. We are going back to the oldest and most reliable teaching technology we have.
So tomorrow, before you hand out the worksheet, start with a beat. See who joins in. And watch what happens to the child who has been sitting at the back, certain that reading was not for them.
Try It This Week
- Choose one phonics pattern or vocabulary word your students need.
- Write a four-line song or chant for it, using a tune everyone knows.
- Teach it for five days, connecting it to print every day.
- Have students write one verse of their own.
- Tell me how it goes in the comments. I read every one.
Rhythm and music support children's development of phonological awareness through several interconnected auditory, cognitive, and physical mechanisms:
- Making the sound structure of language audible: Spoken language inherently possesses rhythm, including patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables, pauses, and emphasis[1]. Musical activities—such as tapping steady beats, clapping syllables, or chanting—make these subtle speech patterns explicit, helping children attend to syllables, rhymes, and individual speech sounds (phonemes)[1].
- Training rhythmic and temporal perception: Reading and speech perception depend on perceiving beat-level rhythmic patterns[3]. Research indicates that children with reading difficulties or dyslexia often experience underlying challenges perceiving temporal and rhythmic speech patterns; practicing musical beats directly trains these auditory timing skills[3][4].
- Strengthening speech sound discrimination: Engaging with music and lyrics encourages careful listening and trains the brain to better distinguish, encode, and process speech sounds[2].
- Engaging multiple senses simultaneously: Combining rhythm and movement (such as clapping, stomping, or tapping) with vocal repetition creates a multimodal experience—linking what children hear, say, move to, and feel[2]. This physical grounding helps lock speech sound patterns into long-term memory[3][6].
- Providing joyful, low-anxiety repetition: Developing phonological skills requires repeated practice with sounds and rhyming patterns[7][8]. Songs and chants turn repetitive practice into an inviting game, reducing anxiety and encouraging frequent engagement without frustration[2].
While rhythmic activities provide foundational support for perceiving speech sounds, explicit instruction remains necessary to teach children how to blend, segment, and connect those sounds to printed letters[3]
Here are several concrete examples of rhythmic chants and phonics songs provided in your sources, designed to connect auditory rhythms directly to reading skills:
1. Phonics Patterns & Rules (Set to Familiar Tunes)
- The Six Syllable Types (Sung to "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star"):
> Closed syllable, short and tight, Open syllable, long and bright, Magic e says vowel's name, Vowel teams make one sound the same, R-controlled is bossed around, *Consonant-l-e, the end we've found!*[1]
- Magic E (Sung to "Row, Row, Row Your Boat"):
> Hop, hop, hop, add e, Now we say hope, hope! Kit to kite and cub to cube, *Magic e's no joke!*[1]
2. Sound Blending & Word Family Chants
- Short Vowel & Phoneme Blending Chant (Tapping steady beats with fingers or body):
> Tap the sounds and say them slow, */m/ /ă/ /p/ — now blend and go.*[2]
- Rime Pattern Chant (e.g., -ight Word Family):
> Chanting words like light, night, and bright in a steady rhythm while clapping or tapping helps children notice how different initial sounds combine with the same word ending[3][4].
3. Rhythmic Vocabulary Chants
- Academic Vocabulary Chant (Clapping on every beat):
> Reluctant, reluctant, means I'd rather not! Reluctant, reluctant, not eager, not hot! I'm reluctant to jump in the cold, cold lake, *But I'm not reluctant to eat the cake!*[1]
Implementation Tips from the Classroom Framework:
- Always connect rhythm to print: Chanting builds auditory memory, but following up with letter cards, written lyric sheets, or decodable sentences ensures the memory transfers to reading print[1].
- Start with body beats: For students who are shy about singing aloud, clapping, tapping, or stomping steady beats provides the exact same phonological benefits without public anxiety[7][8].
Selected Research to Explore
These are starting points for further reading. Please verify details against the original sources before citing them in your own work.
- Goswami, U. Work on temporal sampling and rhythm in developmental dyslexia.
- Rainey, D. W., & Larsen, J. D. (2002). The effect of familiar melodies on initial learning and long-term memory for unconnected text. Music Perception.
- Rasinski, T. Work on repeated reading, fluency, and poetry and song in reading instruction.
- Salimpoor, V. N., et al. (2011). Anatomically distinct dopamine release during anticipation and experience of peak emotion to music. Nature Neuroscience.
- Kraus, N., & colleagues. Research on musical training and the neural encoding of speech.
- Moreno, S., et al. (2009). Musical training influences linguistic abilities in 8-year-old children. Cerebral Cortex.
- Overy, K. (2003). Dyslexia and music: from timing deficits to musical intervention. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.
Sean Taylor, M.Ed., is a 26-year educator, curriculum developer, and the founder of Reading Boot Camp and the Reading Sage blog.
